The San Antonio Zoo’s new front entrance opened late last year. Credit: Courtesy Photo / San Antonio Zoo

The San Antonio Zoo has racked up another national recognition, this time from travel magazine Condé Nast.

Condé Nast named the local zoological park to its list of the 10 best U.S. zoos. The list is based on the facilities’ conservation and restoration programs and is ranked in no particular order.

San Antonio got a special shoutout for Project Selva, a collaborative restoration project with indigenous groups in the Amazon River basin, and for its Texas horned lizard reintroduction efforts.

“Highlights for visitors include visiting the prehistoric-looking cassowaries at the Wild Australia exhibit, watching spectacled bears slam fresh fruit at the grottos section and hopping around with the lemurs at pride plaza,” Condé Nast  wrote of the San Antonio Zoo.

The Fort Worth Zoo was the only other Texas-based park to make the list. Here are the remaining zoos to secure a place:

  • Oakland Zoo, Oakland, California
  • Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, Washington
  • The Bronx Zoo, New York City, New York
  • Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, Washington, D.C.
  • Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, Illinois
  • Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Powell, Ohio
  • St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis, Missouri
  • San Diego Zoo, San Diego, California

The recognition from Condé Nast is just the latest feather in the cap for the San Antonio Zoo, which was also named the nation’s third-best zoo by Newsweek and the nation’s second-best for conservation by industry magazine Blooloop.

The San Antonio Zoo is also a candidate for Best Zoo in USA Today’s 2025 Reader Choice Awards.

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This article appears in Feb 5-18, 2025.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...