Wish List

Support the critical care, community, and conservation work that takes place at your free zoo every day.

On December 3, male polar bear Siku turns 15 years old. While Siku loves to spend his days splashing in the plunge pool and playing with female polar bear Talini at Walter Family Arctic Tundra, he also loves to settle down for a nap in a cozy spot with straw and other bedding. Provide Siku the gift of a good night’s sleep with some fresh straw.

Native to warm African countries near the equator, naked mole rats huddle in large masses to slow heat loss during cold nights, as they are unable to regulate their core body temperature. Help keep bellies full in this cozy colony with nutritious nuts!

December 3 is World Japanese Macaque Day. To celebrate these miraculous monkeys, keepers give them a favorite snack¬—frozen gelatin tucked in coconut shells. The macaques love to forage for the coconuts in their habitat, and when they’ve finished the treat, they’ll play with or gnaw on the shells. Celebrate the macaques with a tasty snack!

Oro, Lincoln Park Zoo’s resident Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth, devours a plethora of carbs, starches, and veggies every single day…albeit slowly! A favorite starchy treat for these omnivores is potatoes. We’d sure love it a “latke” if you purchased some potatoes for Oro.

As part of its mission to advance the welfare of chimpanzees across the country, Lincoln Park Zoo is proud to have created Project ChimpCARE to rehome former pets and entertainer animals and to find sustainable housing and appropriate care for every chimpanzee living in the U.S. Such was the case with Eli and Susie, who came to Lincoln Park Zoo in 2020 from an unaccredited wildlife facility. Keepers use highly desired treats like popcorn to facilitate social interaction and bonding between Eli and Susie and the rest of the group. Celebrate the season of friendship and provide the chimpanzees with some popcorn today.

Red pandas are unique tree-dwelling mammals that inhabit bamboo forests in their native South Asian range. Bamboo is the main staple of their diet, and red pandas spend most of their waking hours munching on the tender shoots and leaves. In fact, they can consume more than 10 pounds of bamboo per day. Provide the pandas with heaping helping of bamboo!

From Inca terns to laughing kookaburras, many of the birds at McCormick Bird House enjoy playing with and investigating jingling stainless steel bells. Ensure the birds are serenaded by the sweet sound of bells this winter!

Cooler temps are great for sleeping. So is hay, which makes comfy beds for many animals—like the Sichuan takins. Keep the takins comfy and cozy and fork over a bale today!

Fresh leaves and plants are the perfect treat for the black-and-white colobus monkeys. Supply these lucky acrobatic herbivores with a nourishing meal of leafy and delicious browse!

To create an exciting challenge for the plains zebras at Regenstein African Journey, keepers fill a hanging ring with tasty hay. This encourages natural feeding postures for the zebras. Make mealtime an enriching experience with the purchase of a new ring!

Like many insectivores at Lincoln Park Zoo, Jamaican iguanas love to snack on a variety of insects and worms. To give their meals an extra nutritional boost, keepers dust insects with a superfine calcium powder. Give the iguanas a tasty treat this holiday season with a hefty helping of insects.

’Tis the season for all things bright and beautiful, and the Puerto Rican parrots in Regenstein Small Mammal-Reptile House definitely fit the bill! These bright green birds love to dine on fresh fruits, and blueberries are their particular favorite. Send some holiday cheer this way and provide our feathered friends with a juicy feast!

It’s ZooLights Presented by ComEd and Invesco QQQ season at Lincoln Park Zoo, and while the grounds are lit up at night with millions of sparkling lights, they look just as beautiful during the day thanks to the hard work of the zoo’s Horticulture team. During the winter months, staff members use a mixture of evergreen branches, colorful dogwood twigs, and other accents to set the scene for winter gardens. Help out the Horticulture staff and purchase a new container for winter plants.

The Nutrition Center carefully crafts diets for every animal at the zoo; each is designed to provide the nutrients they need while replicating their wild diets as closely as possible. Thanks to the center’s efforts, the pygmy slow loris and Moholi bushbaby enjoy gum arabic, a sticky tree sap found in their native habitats. Keepers slather this treat onto honeycomb feeders to encourage natural foraging behaviors and fine motor skills. Select this delicious treat for the Moholi bushbabies and slow loris!

While African lion brothers Pilipili, Sidai, and Pesho are nearly full grown, there is one thing they haven’t outgrown yet: baby food. Keepers use baby food as frequent food enrichment, but also for training and medication delivery for the lions at Pepper Family Wildlife Center. Treat the pride with infant-friendly chicken gravy this holiday season!

This time of year, there’s nothing better than snuggling up in a cozy bed. For giraffes, pine shavings are the perfect choice for making a comfy place to rest. Help the resident giraffes stay snug as a bug this holiday season with a new supply of bedding.

Everyone has their favorite dish during the holidays, but Guam kingfishers enjoy anoles—a type of small lizard—year-round! Guam kingfishers are extinct in the wild, but thanks to Lincoln Park Zoo’s breeding efforts, these rare birds have produced dozens of chicks over the years to help preserve the species. Serve the Guam kingfishers a slithering side dish to fuel their successful reproduction!

Also known as “banana birds,” blue-faced honeyeaters love eating banana fruit and flowers. They have long tongues with brush-like tips, which they use to retrieve nectar from plants. Make a honeyeater’s holidays extra happy with some sweet nectar.

As temperatures dip, many humans may want to spend more time indoors. However, cooler temps are perfect for resident snow leopards Kennedi and Ozzy. In the wild, these fierce predators are powerful enough to take down prey as large as a yak. Here at the zoo, the snow leopards enjoy a diet that includes snacking on meaty bones. Give the snow leopards something to leap for this holiday season with a delicious feast.

The bachelor troop of western lowland gorillas at Regenstein Center for African Apes is always eager to play with new enrichment. A boomer ball full of decoy holes and treats can delight the inquisitive primates while keeping them active in the winter season. There’s no drama in selecting this gift, so provide a boomer ball for the bachelors today!