Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden facts for kids
Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden Logo (2002-present)
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Date opened | 1902 (Wheeler Park Zoo) 1920 (as Lincoln Park Zoo) |
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Location | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States |
Land area | 119 acres (48 ha) |
Coordinates | 35°31′16″N 97°28′21″W / 35.5212°N 97.4724°W |
No. of animals | 1,900 |
No. of species | 512 |
Annual visitors | 1,046,000 |
Memberships | AZA, AAM |
The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden is a zoo and botanical garden located in Oklahoma City's Adventure District in northeast Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The zoo covers 119 acres (48 ha) and is home to more than 1,900 animals. It is open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. The Oklahoma City Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the American Alliance of Museums.
Contents
Exhibits
- Sanctuary Asia (9.5 acres or 3.8 hectares): an Asian-themed section; which, right now, is home to the zoo's herd of Asian elephants. The elephant habitat is located in the southeast area of the zoo by Great EscApe, the state-of-the-art exhibit includes three spacious outdoor yards, pools, a waterfall, shade structures and barn with amenities including views into the barn from a raised boardwalk.
- The Children's Zoo: a place where children can explore and play, while connecting with nature and animals. Featuring flamingos, goats, monkeys, a play stream, and lorikeets.
- Great EscAPE (6 acres or 2.4 hectares): includes two troops of gorillas, one family of orangutans, and a community of chimpanzees, in tropical rainforest plantings.
- Cat Forest/Lion Overlook (4.2 acres or 1.7 hectares): contains species of big and small cats including African lions, tigers, and snow leopards, with more than 4,000 plants replicating native environments.
- Oklahoma Trails: Its total area is 7.7 acres or 3.1 hectares featuring animals native to Oklahoma, including black bears, alligators, bison, beavers, and over two dozen snakes. It includes a walk-in bird exhibit and a barn, which houses bats, skunks, and owls.
- Aquaticus: more than 1,500 aquatic creatures, including California sea lions and coral.
- Butterfly Garden (21,000 square feet or 2,000 square metres): this lush outdoor garden area has a range of butterflies, including the monarch butterfly, the painted lady, the giant swallowtail, and the eastern black swallowtail, within an environment of more than 15,000 plants.
- Island Life: representative species from around the world including Galápagos tortoises, Caribbean flamingos, Abaco Island boas, San Esteban Island chuckwalla lizards, as well as a herpetarium with over 80 exhibits.
Other attractions within the zoo include Safari Voyage boats, the giraffe feeding platform, the Safari Tram, the Endangered Species Carousel, the Sea Lion Show, the Centennial Choo Choo, the Jungle Gym Playground and swan paddleboats.
Surrounding the zoo are the Zoo Amphitheater, Lincoln Park, Northeast Lake and the Lincoln Park Golf Course. The zoo is located Oklahoma City's Adventure District at the crossroads of I-35 and I-44. Other attractions in the Adventure District are the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Science Museum Oklahoma (formerly called the Omniplex), the ASA National Softball Hall of Fame, and Remington Park Racing/Casino.
- Reptiles/amphibians
- Abaco Island boa
- Alligator snapping turtle
- American alligator
- Argentine horned frog
- Asp viper
- Barred tiger salamander
- Beaded lizard
- Bicolor poison dart frog
- Black-headed python
- Black-head cat eye snake
- Black-tailed rattlesnake
- Black rat snake
- Black tree monitor
- Boa constrictor
- Common collared lizard
- Common snake-necked turtle
- Copperhead
- Crocodile monitor
- Diamond python
- Dumeril's boa
- East African green mamba
- Eastern diamondback rattlesnake
- Eastern massasauga rattlesnake
- Egyptian cobra
- Emerald tree boa
- Eyelash palm pitviper
- Galapagos tortoise
- Gila monster
- Green anaconda
- Green and black poison dart frog
- Green tree python
- King cobra
- Madagascar tree boa
- Marine toad
- Plains garter snake
- Prairie rattlesnake
- Red spitting cobra
- Red-eared slider
- Reticulated python
- Rock rattlesnake
- Shield-nosed cobra
- Sidewinder
- Speckled rattlesnake
- Suriname toad
- Timber rattlesnake
- Western cottonmouth
- Western diamondback rattlesnake
- Western massasauga rattlesnake
- Western pygmy rattlesnake
- White's tree frog
- Woma python
- Woodhouse's toad
- Mammals
- African lion
- African porcupine
- African wild dog
- American beaver
- American bison
- American black bear
- American elk
- Asian elephant
- Bat-eared fox
- Black-footed cat
- Black handed spider monkey
- Bobcat
- California sea lion
- Caracal
- Cheetah
- Chimpanzee
- Chinese goral
- Clouded leopard
- Common raccoon
- Cougar
- Coyote
- Deer mouse
- Donkey
- Elk
- Fishing cat
- Giant anteater
- Goat (petting zoo)
- Goeldi's monkey
- Golden-headed lion tamarin
- Grant's gazelle
- Grant's zebra
- Grevy's zebra
- Grizzly bear
- Harbor seal
- Indian hog deer
- Indian rhinoceros
- Jaguar
- Maned wolf
- Meerkat
- Mexican fruit bat
- Mexican wolf
- North American river otter
- Norway rat
- Ocelot
- Okapi
- Opossum
- Ord's kangaroo rat
- Pere David's deer
- Pig (petting zoo)
- Prairie dog
- Pudu
- Pygmy hippopotamus
- Red fox
- Red panda
- Red river hog
- Red wolf
- Reticulated giraffe
- Ringtail cat
- Sable antelope
- Serval
- Sheep (petting zoo)
- Sika deer
- Snow leopard
- Southern flying squirrel
- Southern three-banded armadillo
- Squirrel monkey
- Spotted hyena
- Striped skunk
- Sumatran orangutan
- Sumatran tiger
- Swift fox
- Tanuki
- Two-toed sloth
- Tufted deer
- Western lowland gorilla
- White-tailed deer
- Yellow-backed duiker
- Birds
- African pygmy falcon
- American avocet
- American flamingo
- American robin
- Andean condor
- Argentine ruddy duck
- Australian magpie
- Bald eagle
- Bali mynah
- Bare-faced ground dove
- Beautiful fruit dove
- Barn owl
- Black-capped lory
- Black-naped fruit dove
- Black-necked stilt
- Blue-and-yellow macaw
- Blue-crowned motmot
- Blue-naped mousebird
- Bufflehead
- Burrowing owl
- Cackling goose
- Canada goose
- Caribbean flamingo
- Chicken (petting zoo)
- Chilean flamingo
- Cinnamon teal
- Collared finch-billed bulbul
- Crested wood partridge
- East African crowned crane
- Eastern screech owl
- Edward's lorikeet
- Egyptian goose
- Elliot's pheasant
- Eurasian eagle owl
- Great horned owl
- Greater roadrunner
- Green-naped lorikeet
- Indian peafowl (roam around the zoo)
- Killdeer
- Lark sparrow
- Laughing kookaburra
- Laysan teal
- Lesser white-fronted goose
- Lorikeet
- Madagascar buttonquail
- Mallard duck
- Mandarin duck
- Marbled teal
- Mourning dove
- Nene goose
- Northern bobwhite
- Northern cardinal (in the Trail's aviary and in the wild)
- Northern flicker
- Northern mockingbird
- Northern pintail
- Ornate lorikeet
- Ostrich
- Perfect lorikeet
- Pheasant pigeon
- Philippine duck
- Puna ibis
- Rainbow lorikeet
- Red-and-green macaw
- Red-billed blue magpie
- Red-billed hornbill
- Red-crested pochard
- Red-throated bee-eater
- Ringed teal
- Ring-necked pheasant
- Ross's goose
- Ruddy shelduck
- Sandhill crane
- Scissor-tailed flycatcher
- Sun conure
- Superb starling
- Swainson's lorikeet
- Tawny frogmouth
- Turkey vulture
- Von der Decken's hornbill
- Western meadowlark
- Wild turkey
- White-crested laughingthrush
- White-crowned robin-chat
- White-faced whistling duck
- White ibis
- White-vented bulbul
- Wrinkled hornbill
- Wood duck
- Yellow-breasted ground dove
- Invertebrates
- Black widow spider
- Chilean rose tarantula
- Desert hairy scorpion
- Madagascar hissing cockroach
- Monarch butterfly (at the butterfly gardens)
- Skeleton tarantula
- Fish
- Achilles tang
- African lungfish
- Arowana
- Archerfish
- Banded darter
- Bicolor parrotfish
- Black triggerfish
- Blue line angelfish
- Clearfin lionfish
- Clownfish (probably common clownfish)
- Clown tang
- Clown triggerfish
- Comet grouper
- Electric eel
- Emperor angelfish
- Fantail darter
- Four lined catfish
- Four-eyed fish
- Freshwater drum
- Fu Manchu lionfish
- Fuzzy dwarf lionfish
- Highfin snapper
- Koi
- Leaflip soapfish
- Longnose gar
- Lionfish
- Lookdown
- Orange masked tang
- Orange-throater darter
- Orbic batfish
- Paddlefish
- Panther grouper
- Passer angelfish
- Peacock bass
- Pennant butterflyfish
- Pharaoh cuttlefish
- Radiata lionfish
- Rainbowfish
- Rainbow darter
- Red banded butterflyfish
- Red bellied piranha
- Regal angelfish
- Scorpion fish
- Seahorse
- Shortnose gar
- Spotted bass
- Spotted gar
- Stonefish
- Striped bass
- Sweetlips
- Vermillion grouper
- White crappie
- Yellow tang
- Yellowface angelfish
Former exhibits
- Dolphinarium: The zoo kept bottlenose dolphins from 1986 until 2001. To prevent further dolphin deaths, the dolphins were returned to Mississippi, and the exhibit now hosts sea lions.
- Monkey Island: Located at the entrance, monkeys would play, eat, and even sleep on a specially made island that was dug down into the ground. Opened in 1935 and dismantled in 1998. The decision was made to get rid of it because zoo visitors would either drop or throw hazardous materials on to the island, and the monkeys would choke. The island was closed and filled in. Today, there is a plaza at the entrance, with a gift shop, a restaurant, and the ZooFriends' office surround a floor where monkey island once was. From 1935–1985, there was a ship on the island.
- Primate House: Built in the 1950s. The apes were kept there until 1993. In 1993, the apes were given a more natural habitat. The building was torn down and the Canopy Food Court was built in its place.
Famous denizens
Malee was an Asian elephant born April 15, 2011, weighing 300 pounds, the child of one of the Oklahoma City Zoo's elephants, Asha, and a male elephant named Sneezy who lives at the Tulsa Zoo. The Zoo held birthday parties for her every year. On September 30, 2015, zookeepers noticed discoloration of her trunk. After two failed treatments, she died at 4 AM CST on October 1, 2015. The cause of death was determined to be elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus, which the other elephants at the zoo aside from her sister Achara also had. “Judy” the Elephant