Todays visit brought us to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, which was founded in 1889. It is a beautiful 163-acre urban park located in Northwest Washington, D.C. About 4.500 species are in the animal collection. Plans for the Zoo were drawn up by three people: Samuel Langley, William Temple Hornaday and Frederick Law Olmsted, the premier landscape architect of his day. Together they designed a new zoo to exhibit animals for the public and to serve as a refuge for wildlife, such as bison and beaver, that were rapidly vanishing from North America.