Opened in 1915, Tennoji Zoo has the third longest history of all the zoos in Japan. Shinsekai Gate is a 5-minute walk away from Dobutsuen-Mae Station, while Tenshiba Gate is about 5 minutes from Tennoji Station. A commercialized, recreation-focused urban zoo, its roughly 11 hectares of land is home to over 1000 animals across 200 species, like lions, chimpanzees, and gorillas. An effort to establish a new kind of zoo that contributed to wildlife preservation and environmental education, the ZOO21 Project pressed forward in the latter 1990's. Today efforts are made to recreate the animals' natural habitats to the greatest degree possible in what they call "ecological exhibits." The result, a zoo where visitors can more accurately observe the behavior of its inhabitants. For a period, the number of visitors were in decline. However, in 2006, the "African Savanna" opened, and entrants for 2007 totaled 1.94 million, a sudden increase of about 100,000 over the previous year. More plans are being pushed to increase paying customers, such as the monetization of previously free entry of elementary and junior high school students from outside of the city.