Petting zoo facts for kids

Child petting a domestic goat at the "Little Kids" Children's Zoo, St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis, Missouri, US.

A zoo visitor interacts with a Python reticulatus at the Reptile Park in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Petting farm in Berlin Zoological Garden.

A petting zoo is a fun place where you can meet and interact with animals. It's often called a "children's zoo" or "petting farm." Unlike regular zoos where you usually just watch animals from a distance, at a petting zoo, you can often touch and feed them!

Most petting zoos have gentle, plant-eating animals. These include animals like sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, or ponies. You can safely feed and touch these animals. Sometimes, you might find a petting zoo with wild animals like pythons or even baby big cats. However, these are much rarer and usually found in certain parts of the world.

History of Petting Zoos

Petting zoos have been around for a while. In 1938, the London Zoo in Europe opened the first special children's zoo. Soon after, the Philadelphia Zoo in North America also created a children's zoo.

In the 1990s, cities in the Netherlands started building petting zoos in many neighborhoods. This helped kids living in cities get a chance to interact with animals.

Animals You Can Meet

Petting zoos are home to many different kinds of animals. You'll often see common farm animals like sheep, goats, and rabbits. You might also find ponies, alpacas, llamas, pigs, miniature donkeys, and miniature horses.

Some petting zoos even have more unusual animals. These can include kangaroos, emus, zebu cattle, macaws, and lemurs.

Kids love to feed the animals at petting zoos. To keep the animals healthy, the zoo usually provides the food. You can often buy it from vending machines or a small shop. Common foods include grass, crackers, or hay in special feeding areas. This is one of the few times it's okay to feed animals at a zoo!

Mobile Petting Zoos

Did you know some petting zoos can come to you? These are called mobile petting zoos. They can travel to parties or events, bringing the animals right to your backyard!

One of the first mobile petting zoos in Australia started in 1992. It was called Kindifarm. It became so popular that many Australians now use the term kindy farms to describe any mobile petting zoo. These mobile zoos often visit schools, daycares, and even shopping centers. For many children, a mobile petting zoo is their first chance to see and touch an animal.