Staten Island Cultural Sites – Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical

The Staten Island Zoo

614 Broadway

Staten Island, NY 10310

(718) 442-3100

http://www.statenislandzoo.org/

Open: Sunday-Saturday 10:00am-4:45pm

Fee: Adults $10.00 (15 and older)/Seniors (60 and over) $7.00/Children (3-14) $6.00

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g48682-d110278-Reviews-Staten_Island_Zoo-Staten_Island_New_York.html

The front of the Staten Zoo on Groundhog’s Day in 2025

The ceremony for Groundhog’s Day in 2025

I wanted to celebrate Groundhog’s Day this year and had fully planned to go to Punxsutaway, PA to see the Groundhog’s Day festival again (see Day Thirty-Seven of ‘MywalkinManhattan’) but a ‘Arctic Vortex’ swept all over the Midwest with its fringes reaching the middle of Pennsylvania. It would be 30 degrees on Groundhog’s Day with a temperature of 4 degrees that night. The thought of sitting in Gobbler’s Knob in almost 0 weather had no appeal to me and I changed my plans. I had remembered that there was a festival on Staten Island at the Staten Island Zoo with ‘Staten Island Chuck’ on Groundhog’s Day so off I went early the next morning to see the groundhog see his shadow.

Staten Island Chuck during the ceremony in 2025

The Staten Island Zoo had a fun and engaging Groundhog’s Day ceremony (see Day One Hundred and Thirty One of ‘MywalkinManhattan’) with a musical concert with the students of P.S. 29 and a private band who made up a song to go with the festival. At 8:00am, they presented Staten Chuck to the audience and he told us that there would be an early spring (its still freezing out!).

The Groundhog’s Day ceremony in 2025

The video on the event in 2025:

After the ceremony was over, the Zoo gave us plenty of time to explore the park before it opened to the public. With it being so cold outside, a lot of the outdoor animals were not in their pens outside but I was able to most of the exhibits.

Map of the Staten Island Zoo

I was able to visit all the inside exhibitions which was nice because the crowds began to thin as the morning went on. It is a nice sized zoo with a lot of indoor exhibitions for a rainy or cold day. I visited the Birds of Prey exhibit which contains many types of birds in their simulated natural habitat. There were some interesting colorful birds that the zoo keepers took out so that we could see them up close.

The Bird display at the zoo

There was a Fox exhibition where the small furry creatures were crawling and climbing all over the rocks and formations. They just stared at me looking at them leading me to believe that they were used to humans looking at them. There were all sorts of animals that stare back at you. The Meerkats were very playful and really started at me like they knew who I was.

The Meerkat display inside

The Meerkats are so playful when I was visiting

The video on these Meerkats playing in front of me:

The Meerkats being playful and trying to get my attention:

The furry anteater

I walked through the African, Tropical Forest and the Aquarium which were located towards the front of the zoo. I walked through the aquarium which is small but still nice and you are able to see many types of fish and plant life.

The Aquarium tanks at the zoo

The Aquarium tanks from the Asian River Tank

The Starfish tank in the tanks

The Pacific Kelp Forest with kelp and starfish

The Red Bellied Pacu fish display in the Jungle exhibition

The Pacu sign describing the fish

The Pacu fish in the display

In the African exhibition, I loved looking at the bearded monkeys who just looked back at me and then it was off to the reptile wing to look at snakes, turtles and frogs.

The display of the Lemur monkeys

The Lemur just stared at me

I went outside later in the morning and looked at the horses (who looked freezing) and the kangaroos, who looked at me like they wanted to run back inside (it was about 35 degrees at that point). The emus looked at me with desperation as well like ‘at least he is going to feed us’ look.

The Llamas and Pony looked at me like they were shivering

None of the outdoor animals looked comfortable in this weather. Even Staten Island Chuck was inside because his keeper said that it was too cold even for him to be outside.

The Llamas looking at all of us when we were walking around

The one thing about the Staten Island Zoo is that it is compact and you can see the whole zoo in one afternoon. There is also plenty of parking behind the zoo in the park.

The small goats at the zoo

The Leopard exhibition and the poor Leopard looked so cold

The Leopard looked so cold

The Zoo also has a nice gift shop, where a ‘Staten Island Chuck’ stuffed animal will cost you $20.00 ( in 2020 I bought the little stuffed animal. It is really cute). There is also a restaurant with stand kid fare like chicken fingers and burgers in the afternoon hours. There selection of doughnuts are really good. For a dollar, it is worth the trip.

The Staten Island Zoo Snack Shop

The menu is very basic but the food is really good

I ate a early lunch at the Snack Shop and the food is very reasonable. I got a Grilled Cheese with Bacon with a side of French Fries and a Coke and it was really good. The selection of items are the typical items that appeal to children and adults alike.

The Grilled Cheese lunch at the Staten Island Zoo Snack Shop

I would highly suggest the Grilled Cheese with Bacon as savory and buttery and was really gooey. The perfect comfort food on a cold day.

The Grilled Cheese with Bacon was the perfect lunch on a cold day

The gift shop has a lot of fun things to buy and I did buy a Staten Island Chuck in 2020 when I visited the second time. It really is a great toy and memento of the event.

The stuffed Staten Island Chuck is the perfect gift to remember the event

The Groundhog Day ceremony in 2020!

Watch the video on the event right before the country’s shutdown:

Check out my blog on ‘Visiting the Staten Island Zoo for the Groundhog’s Celebration Day One Hundred and Thirty-One’:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/8121

After visiting the zoo, take time to walk through the park and then walk down Forest Avenue to visit the shops and restaurants. Don’t miss Bruno’s and Moretti’s Bakery’s for a snack.

Very clever cartoon when the Mayor dropped the Groundhog.

Chuck predicted Spring would come early in 2025

Spring is in the air in 2025

The History of the Staten Island Zoo:

(from the Zoo website)

In August 1933, the Staten Island Zoological Society was created and the park built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. On March 25, 1935, the Egbert-Robillard Bill was passed by the New York State Senate to have the city provide maintenance for the zoo. Two months later on May 7, 1935, the Governor of New York signed an agreement to allocate public fund for the zoo to cover operational and maintenance costs while the exhibits, animal care and educational programs were to be maintained by the Staten Island Zoological Society. With the land now owned by the city and a program to convert the 8 acre estate into a zoo. The zoo opened to the public on June 10, 1936 and was considered the first U.S. “educational zoo”. (Wiki)

The murals made of tile in the Jungle exhibit

Staten Island Zoological Society:

(from the Zoo website)

Unlike all the other zoos in New York City, which are operated by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Staten Island Zoo is operated by the Staten Island Zoological Society which was created in August 1933 under the organization of Harold O’Connel. Local legend maintains that the society was partially formed from the Staten Island Reptile Club, which was located nearby on Britton Street and Broadway.

The Reptile Room at the Zoo

The snakes in the Reptile Room

Although no written documentation exists regarding the merger it would explain the newly formed Staten Zoological Society’s affinity for reptiles and why the zoo was (and still is) known for its extensive reptile collection. Just short of one year after its organization on July 24, 1934, the Staten Island Zoological Society was officially incorporated. (Wiki)

Chuck’s Home at the Zoo

Chuck looked really cold in 2025

The zoo is home to Staten Island Chuck, a groundhog who is the official Groundhog Day forecaster for New York City and Grandpa, a black-handed Spider Monkey, who made local newspapers when he accurately ‘predicted’ the outcome of six out of nine matches during the U.S. Open Tennis Championship. (Wiki)

The presentation in 2019:

Staten Island Chuck Festival 2019

The presentation in 2025 at the Staten Island Zoo:

The musical performance of the band live singing ‘Staten Island Chuck’:

The live musical performance at the event

There was also a second song about Groundhog’s Day:

The second song on Groundhog’s Day

The ceremony was a little on the long side because every politician had to chime in but still was a lot of fun:

The Opening Ceremony in 2025

The next person to talk was the Zoo Director:

The Staten Island Zoo directors speech

It was nice to welcome back the choir of P.S. 29 in Staten Island who had entertained us back in 2019. They had not been there in 2020 during the start of the pandemic.

The musical performance of P.S. 29

The prediction of an early Spring:

The prediction was of an early Spring

Meanwhile in Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of Winter. It depends on who you want to listen to in the forecast. Once they finished the ceremony, everyone took pictures with Chuck and then they put the poor, cold guy away.