The wildness began in 1892 when the Milwaukee County Zoo was a simple miniature mammal and bird display in Milwaukee's downtown Washington Park. By 1902, the Zoo expanded to 23 acres and had acquired a roaring 800 animals. Thirty-two years later, the Zoo became an entity of the Milwaukee County Park Commission. The arrangement gave the Zoo the resources it needed to grow and prosper. The chance to grow surfaced in 1958 when the Zoo moved to its present location on 200 acres of beautiful parkland where currently over 350 species of animals are on exhibit.