Wild Kingdom Train Zoo facts for kids
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| Date opened | 1967 |
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| Location | Farmington, Utah, United States |
| Coordinates | 40°59′00″N 111°53′32″W / 40.9834°N 111.8923°W |
| No. of animals | 40+ |
| No. of species | 15+ |
The Wild Kingdom Train Zoo is a fun, small zoo located right inside Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, Utah, United States. You can see all the amazing animals while riding the Wild Kingdom Train, which travels along the edge of a pond.
This special animal attraction first opened its doors in 1967. Back then, it was called the Animaland Train. Around 1975, it changed its name to the Wild Kingdom Train. The park even says it's the second-largest zoo in Utah!
Meet the Animals: Who Lives Here?
The Wild Kingdom Train Zoo is home to many different kinds of animals from all over the world. You can see big cats, monkeys, birds, and more!
Here are some of the animals you might spot:
- African Lion
- Bengal Tiger
- Coatimundi
- Fennec Fox
- Grivet Monkey
- Mandrill
- Common Squirrel Monkey
- White Handed Gibbon
- DeBrazza Guenon
- Patas Monkey
- Ring Tail Lemur
- Black and White Ruffed Lemur
- Geoffrey's Marmoset
- Common Marmoset
- Red Kangaroo
- Fallow Deer
- Pygmy Goat
- Dromedary Camel
- Alpaca
- Pot Belly Pig
- Grant's Zebra
- Two Toed Sloth
- Eurasian Lynx
- Bennett Wallaby
- Aoudads
- Capybara
- Prehensile Tail Porcupine
- Asian Small Clawed Otter
- Prairie Dog
- Prevost's Squirrel
- Swainsons Toucan
- Blue and Gold Macaw
- Green Wing Macaw
- Rainbow Lory
- Duyvenbode's Lory
- White Bellied Go-Away Bird
- Plush Crested Jay
- Redbilled Hornbill
- Ostrich
- Southern Cassowary
- Emu
- Sacred Ibis
- Mute Swan
- Black Swan
- Ducks
- Kookaburra
- Eurasian Eagle Owl
- Indian Peafowl
- Golden Pheasant
- Persa Turaco
- African Spurred Tortoise
- Leopard Tortoise
- Black and White Tegu
- American Alligators
- Tarantula
- Emperor Scorpion
- Blue Morpho Butterfly
- Owl Butterfly
- Isabella Butterfly
- Tiger Longwing Butterfly
- Zebra Longwing Butterfly
- Julia Butterfly
- Blue Eared Pheasant
- Elliot's Pheasant
- Impeyan Pheasant
- Lady Amherst Pheasant
- Lady Ross Turaco
- Schmidt's Guenon
- Golden-Headed Lion Tamarin
- Blue Crowned Pigeon
- Red Footed Tortoise
- Spectacled Owl
Over the years, many different animals have called this zoo home. In the past, you might have seen Siberian tigers, a jaguar, and cougars. Other animals that have lived here include brown bears, Grevy's zebras, llamas, golden eagles, and camels. You could also find miniature donkeys, addaxes, kangaroos, fallow deers, peccarys, muntjacs, and Rocky Mountain elks. Many ducks and geese also live freely around the zoo's pond.
The Wild Kingdom Train Ride
The Wild Kingdom Train is a special narrow gauge railway. This means its tracks are closer together than regular train tracks. The zoo has two working steam-powered engines named Houston and Merriweather. Both of these cool trains were built by a company called Crown Metal Products.
The Merriweather engine actually had a different name before! It was called Old Ironsides and used to run on another train ride in the park called the Pioneer Village Railroad. When that old railroad closed, Old Ironsides joined the Wild Kingdom Train and got its new name.
You can hop on the train at the station located on the South Midway of Lagoon Amusement Park. The train takes you on a fun ride in a circle around a lagoon. You'll go through a tunnel and past all the different animal exhibits before ending back at the station.
Some of the animals, like the Siberian tigers, zebras, fallow deer, and kangaroos, can also be seen from different walking paths inside the park. The buffalos, however, can only be seen from outside the park, along the Lagoon Trail. All the animals, except for the buffalos, can be seen from the train ride.
Concerns and Protests
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Some groups, like the Utah Animal Rights Coalition (UARC), have shared concerns about the living spaces for the animals at the zoo. They believe that some animal enclosures, especially for the big cats, are too small. They suggest that newer amusement park zoos often have larger homes for their big cats.
Lagoon Zoo's animal habitats meet or are even bigger than the minimum rules set by the USDA. The zoo also passes all its inspections. However, the UARC would still prefer to see these animals in bigger, more natural environments. In July 2000, the coalition organized a protest. They asked people visiting Lagoon to not support the park until the Wild Kingdom ride was closed.
Lagoon Park has stated that it follows all the strict rules and has all the necessary permits to operate an animal park. Lagoon also disagrees that the animal enclosures are too small. The park has no plans to close the zoo. In July 2016, two teenagers from Utah started a petition online. They hoped to convince Lagoon to make improvements to the animals' living conditions.
