Cheyenne Mountain Zoo opens its new giraffe complex to the public on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, ending a construction project that reshaped the habitat for one of the largest giraffe herds in the country.
The International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffe, which the Colorado Springs zoo calls the Giraffe Center, pairs a 12,000 square-foot barn with a renovated and expanded outdoor yard. A grand opening ceremony begins at 9:30 a.m., with remarks from board chair Mike Edmonds and president and CEO Dave Ruhl, after which the center opens to guests.
Eleven feeding zones instead of three
Feeding giraffe has been a signature of a Cheyenne Mountain Zoo visit for decades. The new building multiplies the places it can happen. The old exhibit had three feeding zones. The Giraffe Center has 11, and guests can meet the herd from above, face to face, and at ground level.
Inside the barn, people can feed giraffe from every location, including a rope bridge and a set of stairs that lead to a feeding island in the middle of the indoor space. The floors use natural substrates, and giraffe-size garage doors and windows bring in fresh air.
The roof is made of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene, a clear material better known by the initials ETFE. It lets sunlight and moonlight into the barn, resists fire and hail, and needs little maintenance. Sports stadiums, airports and some European zoos use it for the same reasons.
A yard that is 25 percent bigger
Outside, the giraffe yard grows by a quarter and gains new ground to explore. A feeding tower and a set of switchbacks give the herd a route up the slopes of Cheyenne Mountain for the first time.
The zoo frames the design around choice. Giraffe can approach guests or ignore them, browse leaves and twigs, use enrichment throughout the habitat, or take quiet time away from everyone. With a large herd whose members have different personalities and preferences, the zoo wanted more options rather than a single path through the exhibit.
“We are so excited to welcome our community to the Giraffe Center,” Ruhl said. “I can’t wait to stand back and watch my team, who have worked so hard to pull this amazing habitat together, enjoy seeing people’s jaws drop at the breathtaking setting. If you loved feeding giraffe at the Zoo before, you’re going to be blown away at the ways this team imagined to make it even better, for our giraffe and for our community.”
Paid for without tax support
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is one of the few among the 237 zoos and aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums that operates without tax support. It runs on admissions, memberships, event attendance and donations, and it funded the Giraffe Center entirely through the zoo and its donors.
“Our incredible community helped make this happen,” Ruhl said. “By coming to the Zoo, you invest in the Zoo’s future for all of us to enjoy and for the benefit of animals, here at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and in the wild. Every visit is conservation in action, and every visit helps us fund the best possible welfare for the animals in our care.”
Seventy-five cents from every visit, plus $25,000 a year, goes to Quarters for Conservation, a program that has raised more than six million dollars for field work in Colorado and abroad.
Also the start of the centennial
The opening kicks off six days of centennial programming. From September 15 through September 20, the zoo is adding free experiences around the grounds, including live bands, caricature artists and chalk artists, to mark 100 years since Spencer Penrose founded it.
Advance timed tickets with on-site parking are required, and rideshare tickets remain available even after timed tickets sell out. Schedules and ticketing are at cmzoo.org.
