Tulsa Zoo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Tulsa Zoo

Date opened	1927
Location	Mohawk Park, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
Land area	85 acres (34 ha)
Coordinates	36°12′31″N 95°55′47″W / 36.20868°N 95.92978°W / 36.20868; -95.92978
No. of animals	1,500
No. of species	436
Annual visitors	600,000
Memberships	AZA, AAM

Zoo train

The Tulsa Zoo is a fun and educational place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. It's a non-profit zoo that covers about 84 acres! The City of Tulsa owns the zoo, but since 2010, a private group called Tulsa Zoo Management, Inc. has been in charge of running it. You can find the zoo inside Mohawk Park, which is one of the biggest city parks in the whole United States.

The zoo has many cool animal homes and areas, like the Lost Kingdom complex and its special Valley of the Elephant exhibit. The Tulsa Zoo is officially approved by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which means it meets high standards for animal care and education.

Explore the Animals and Exhibits

The Tulsa Zoo is home to over 1,500 animals from 436 different species! Let's take a look at some of the amazing places you can visit and the animals you might see.

Lost Kingdom: Journey to Asia

The Lost Kingdom exhibit lets you feel like you're exploring ancient Asian cultures, with beautiful gardens and settings inspired by places like Angkor Wat. Here, you can discover animals from Asia, including powerful Malayan tigers, sneaky snow leopards, unique Chinese alligators, playful siamangs, curious binturongs, and the giant Komodo dragons.

Valley of the Elephant: Home of Giants

Gunda, an Asian elephant, lived at the Tulsa Zoo for 64 years. She was a beloved resident.

The Valley of the Elephant is a huge 2.5-acre area just for the zoo's three elephants. This special space has a life-sized elephant sculpture you can climb on and an Elephant Interpretive Center. This center teaches you all about Asian elephants. You can watch the elephants from inside or outside, and sometimes you can even see them doing special demonstrations!

Robert J. LaFortune Wild Life Trek: Global Adventures

The Robert J. LaFortune Wild Life Trek is a large area with four buildings. It used to be called the North American Living Museum. When it first opened in 1978, it won awards for being a great new exhibit. Today, each building focuses on animals from different parts of the world. You'll learn how these animals have adapted to live in water, deserts, forests, and cold places. Some animals you might see here are Siberian cranes, tawny frogmouths, emerald doves, chinchillas, peccarys, seahorses, and even grizzly bears!

The Rainforest: A Tropical Escape

Step into The Rainforest and feel like you're in Central and South America! This indoor exhibit is 13,000 square feet and filled with amazing rainforest creatures. You can spot black howler monkeys, a giant green anaconda, hungry piranhas, small dwarf caimans, powerful jaguars, and colorful golden-headed lion tamarins. Many birds, two-toed sloths, and Jamaican fruit bats even fly or move freely around you! As you walk through, you'll see art and structures inspired by native cultures, like a huge Olmec Head at the entrance. The roof lets in natural light, making it feel like a real rainforest canopy.

Chimpanzee Connection: Smart Primates

This large outdoor island is a fantastic home for the zoo's chimpanzees. They have climbing structures with cargo nets and ropes, caves, and even a termite mound to explore. The "Chimpanzee Connection" building, finished in 1991, lets you watch the chimpanzees through glass from inside. Dr. Jane Goodall, a famous expert on chimpanzees, even said it was one of the "best she has ever seen"!

Helmerich Sea Lion Cove: Underwater Fun

The underwater viewing at Helmerich Sea Lion Cove gives you a unique look at the 100,000-gallon saltwater pool.

Opened in 2012, this exhibit is a natural-looking home for California sea lions. It has a big saltwater pool, a cool underwater viewing window, a waterfall, and rocky areas where the sea lions can rest. There's also a large, covered area for visitors to watch. The zoo staff often do special training programs with the sea lions, which helps them stay healthy and teaches visitors about these amazing animals.

Penguin Habitat: Waddle and Swim

African Penguin Exhibit

The penguin exhibit opened in 2002 and is part of the "Oceans and Islands" area. Here, you can see African penguins, a colony of flamingos, and black and white ruffed lemurs. The penguin habitat uses special heating and cooling to keep the water just right for these warm-water birds. It even has a "wave pool" and rocky coastlines to make it feel like their natural home. Special windows let you watch the penguins swim underwater! The exhibit can hold up to 30 penguins and currently has 20.

African Plains: Safari Adventure

The African Plains area takes you on a safari! You'll see a variety of animals from Africa, including curious meerkats, tall giraffes, mighty lions, ancient aldabra tortoises, huge white rhinos, and clever African wild dogs. The zoo recently opened the Mary K. Chapman Rhinoceros Reserve, a new and improved home for the zoo's two white rhinoceroses.

Children's Zoo: Meet Farm Friends

The Children's Zoo is a great place for younger visitors to get up close with animals. In the contact yard, you can pet Nigerian dwarf goats, Southdown sheep, Katahdin sheep, earless American Lamancha goats, and Anglo-Nubian goats. You'll also find dexter cows, miniature horses, and Guinea forest hogs. This area also has an Australian Outback section where you can see red kangaroos. Don't forget to look for the playful North American river otters too!

Dave Zucconi Conservation Center: Diverse Creatures

This building, originally called the Primate and Aviary Building, is a cool example of 1950s architecture.

Built in 1957, the Conservation Center is home to many different kinds of animals, including primates, reptiles, birds, and fish. Some of the animals you might see here are bright American flamingos, unique wrinkled hornbills, giant giant snakehead fish, beautiful radiated tortoises, smart Diana monkeys, white-faced white-faced saki monkeys, colorful Fiji banded iguanas, and a rare Grand Cayman Island blue iguana.

Tulsa Penguins On Parade: Art for Animals

The African black-footed penguin exhibit got its funding from a city-wide art project. Businesses and organizations that donated to the exhibit received 6-foot tall sculptures of penguins. Each sculpture was decorated in a unique way, often reflecting its location or owner. These "Tulsa Penguins" are very popular, and there are currently 29 of them around the city!

Future Plans for the Zoo

The Tulsa Zoo has a big plan for the next 20 years, released in 2012, to make the zoo even better! One of the main projects is The Lost Kingdom Exhibit, which features rare animals from Asia. This includes new homes for Malayan tigers, snow leopards, and Komodo dragons. The Helmerich Foundation helped fund the new tiger exhibit, which is now called Lost Kingdom: The Helmerich Tiger exhibit. The Hardesty Family Foundation also donated to the Lost Kingdom complex, helping to create the amazing new home for the snow leopards, called Lost Kingdom: The Hardesty Snow Leopard habitat. These new exhibits let visitors see these animals up close in state-of-the-art enclosures.

Helping Animals: Conservation Efforts

Ganesha statue

The Tulsa Zoo is a leader in helping to protect animals and their habitats, both locally and around the world. Their Conservation Program has supported over 200 projects! This includes teaching people about how to reduce the use of palm oil, helping with programs like FrogWatch USA, and educating others about keeping our oceans healthy.

Zoo History Highlights

The Tulsa Zoo has a long and interesting history! Here are some key moments:

• 1927: The Tulsa Zoological Society was officially started.
• 1931: "Monkey Island" opened with 40 monkeys.
• 1954: "Gunda," the zoo's first Asian elephant, arrived.
• 1957: The Primate Aviary Building (now the Conservation Center) was completed.
• 1962: The first giraffes came to the Tulsa Zoo.
• 1970: The Tulsa Zoo was one of the first zoos in the country to use a computer system to keep track of its animals.
• 1976: The zoo officially became the Tulsa Zoological Park and was one of the first zoos to be approved by the AAZPA (now the Association of Zoos and Aquariums).
• 1978: The Robert J. Lafortune North American Living Museum opened.
• 1982: The zoo received accreditation from the American Association of Museums.
• 1986: "Maverick," the first Asian elephant born in Oklahoma, was born at the zoo.
• 1988: Dr. Jane Goodall praised the zoo's chimpanzee exhibit as one of the "top three in the U.S."
• 1991: The indoor Chimpanzee Connection opened.
• 1997: The Helmerich Discovery Center and the Tropical American Rainforest opened.
• 2002: The African Penguin exhibit officially opened.
• 2005: The Tulsa Zoo was named "America's Favorite Zoo" in a national competition.
• 2012: Sea Lion Cove, a new home for sea lions, was completed.
• 2017: The Lost Kingdom exhibit officially opened to the public.