Our friends at Riverbanks have a special announcement to share! Riverbanks Zoo and Garden will release its first pictorial "coffee table" book, a partnership with the University of South Carolina Press, to mark its milestone 40th anniversary on April 25, 2014.

The book will take readers on a journey back in time—spanning the history of Riverbanks from the Zoo’s humble beginnings as dream of a handful of Columbia-area businessmen to its most ambitious expansion with the construction of Zoo 2002.

"Riverbanks’ past is layered with personality and stories that we have, for quite some time, wanted to share with our community and beyond,” said Satch Krantz, executive director of Riverbanks Zoo and Garden. 

"Riverbanks is now South Carolina’s largest gated attraction and one of the most attended zoos in the United States."

Anecdotal stories and photographs illustrate the development of one of America’s greatest zoological parks and botanical gardens.

"Riverbanks is now South Carolina’s largest gated attraction and one of the most attended zoos in the United States,” Krantz said. "However, the Zoo’s great success hasn’t come without its share of growing pains.”

Readers will learn of the Zoo’s struggles in its first six years—from financial instability to a change in leadership—before a turnaround that would put Riverbanks on the map and mark a new beginning for the Zoo. In addition, the book will showcase the Zoo and Garden’s living collections including some of the world’s most beautiful and inspiring plants and animals.

Funded by Riverbanks Society, Riverbanks Zoo and Garden: Forty "Wild” Years, will consist of up to 200 pages and feature historical black and white photographs as well as full-color photographs with extended captions. Readers will discover some of the world's most magnificent and fascinating plants and animals that call Riverbanks home, while gaining a deeper understanding of how a mid-sized zoo gained world-class status as it pursued its mission: to foster an appreciation and concern for all living things.