Philly Zoo offers behind-the-scenes tours in January, including a $500 package with artwork by one of the animals

The Philadelphia Zoo has been closed to the public every January since 2020, but this month it's opening its doors for anyone willing to shell out some big bucks for a behind-the-scenes look that includes a chance to feed, pet or brush an animal. 

For $150 to $500 per person, experts will guide guests around the grounds in Fairmount Park for its Keys to the Zoo tours on Jan. 11, 12, 18 and 26. 

The showings include a trip inside the Solitude House, an 18th century building that was once owned by a grandson of William Penn and is not typically open to the public. 

"We wanted to still be able to allow people that love the zoo, or just wanted a unique experience for the winter, to be able to visit," zoo spokesperson Maria Bryant said. "So our conservation, education and animal teams worked together and thought of what would be a really unique experience for people to have while the zoo is closed." 

There are two different tours, one for $150 a ticket and another for $500. The more expensive Conservation in Action package includes a catered lunch and a piece of artwork by one of the animals. Giant river otters walk through paint and make a design on a cavas and the North American porcupine is trained to hold a brush.

Tours will be different each weekend, Bryant said. Guides will meet each morning to decide where to take attendees — only visiting enclosures with animals who are out this time of year. Each animal in the zoo has a different temperature threshold to be outside, so warm weather creatures like rhinos and giraffes won't be included in the tours. But others like the Amur tigers, snow leopards and red pandas are more active.

Requests to see certain wildlife will be accommodated as much as possible, though they will be dependent on the animals' activity that day and temperatures. 

The Philadelphia Zoo isn't the only one offering expensive behind-the-scenes tours. The Cape May Zoo has encounters for its reptiles, camels, giraffes and capybaras ranging from $140 to $400. The Elmwood Park Zoo has meet-and-greets with a number of its animals ranging from $140 to $500.