2300 Steele St
Denver, CO , 80205

Phone: (720) 337-1400

Website

The Denver Zoo is an 80-acre facility located in City Park of Denver. Founded in 1896, it is owned by the City and County of Denver. It was started with the donation of an orphaned American Black Bear. With the construction of Bear Mountain, it became the first zoo in the United States to use naturalistic zoo enclosures rather than cages with bars. It expanded on this concept with Primate Panorama with its huge mesh tents and open areas for apes and monkeys, and Predator Ridge, which has three separate areas through which animals are rotated so that their overlapping scents provide environmental enrichment. Toyota Elephant Passage (which opened on June 1, 2012) is divided into five areas for rotating the various species.

6/22- The machines at the Denver Zoo have been converted to preloaded pennies that cost $1 each. The machines accept $1 bills and also offer a $4 charge to a credit card for all 4 designs.

Machine locations:

Machine 3: is located in the Toyota Elephant Passage area near to the bridge/cat enclosure.
Designs are: Otter, Elephant, Monkey, Rhino.

Machine 4: is located near the "Pahali Ya Simba" building / Gates Amphitheater.
Designs are: Buffalo, Lion, Bull Frog, Vulture.

Machine 6: is located before coming to the entrance of Primate Panorama.
Designs are: Orangutan, Penguin, Train, Carousel Triceratops

Machine 7: is located between the Taki enclosure and The Edge area.
Designs are: Bear, Snake, Tiger, Seal

Retired machines:
Retired 1: (2013) Designs are: Tiger and cub, Lion head, Zebra mom and baby heads, Elephant
Retired 2: Lion, Elephant, Giraffe, Rhino.
Retired 5: (2015) Designs are: Ape, Giraffe, Hippo, Polar Bear.

7/15/2023: All machines are preloaded with pennies, a few that come out are used condition, but most are shiney new coins. Cost $1 cash for one design, or $4 by credit card for all four designs.
Appears Machine #2 is now retired because I could not find it anywhere in the park (as they couldn't find it in the prior comment).
Some machine locations have changed from priorities for comments:
Machine #3 is located in the Toyota Elephant Passage area near to the bridge/cat enclosure. Designs are: Otter, Elephant, Monkey, Rhino.
Machine #4 is located near the "Pahali Ya Simba" building / Gates Amphitheater. Designs are: Buffalo, Lion, Bull Frog, Vulture.
Machine #6 is located before coming to the entrance of Primate Panorama. Designs are: Orangutan, Penguin, Train, Carousel Triceratops
Machine #7 is located between the Taki enclosure and The Edge area. Designs are: Bear, Snake, Tiger, Seal

Parking is free at the zoo (can be hard to find open spaces later in the day) and at the nearby Denver Museun of Nature and Science (short walk nearby) either in the parking lot or underground parking garage. {bjj}