Zoo Knoxville facts for kids
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| Location | Knoxville, Tennessee, United States |
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| Land area | 53 acres (21 ha) |
| Coordinates | 36°00′00″N 83°53′17″W / 35.9999°N 83.8880°W |
| No. of animals | 800 |
| Annual visitors | 400,000+ |
| Memberships | AZA |
Zoo Knoxville, formerly known as the Knoxville Zoo, is a 53-acre (21 ha) zoo located just east of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, near exit 392 off Interstate 40. The zoo is home to about 800 animals and welcomes over 400,000 visitors each year.
Zoo Knoxville is notable for having bred the first two African Elephants born in the Western Hemisphere in 1978. The zoo also has bred more endangered red pandas than any other zoo in the world and is a leader in the breeding of endangered tortoises.
The zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
Contents
Exhibits
The zoo features many naturalistic outdoor habitats for its animal residents, including:
- Animal Encounter Village
- ARC- Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Campus (opens Spring 2021)
- Black Bear Falls
- Boyd Family Asian Trek
- The Boyd Family Red Panda Village
- Chimp Ridge
- The Clayton Family Kids Cove
- Grasslands Africa
- Stokely African Elephant Preserve
- The Williams Family Giraffe Encounter
Indoor exhibits at the zoo include the Night Club, the Barn Loft, and a large reptile collection.
Attractions for children include the Clayton Family Kids Cove, which opened in 2005, and the Wee Play Zoo, a new indoor play area.
Animals
Mammals
- African elephant
- African lion
- African wild dog
- American black bear
- Beaver
- Blue monkey
- Chacoan Peccary
- Chimpanzee
- Geoffrey's marmoset
- Giant Anteater
- Guinea hog
- Hamadryas baboon
- Hartmann's mountain zebra
- Malayan tiger
- North American river otter
- Red panda
- Red wolf
- Reticulated giraffe
- Silvered leaf langur
- Southern white rhinoceros
- Waterbuck
- Western lowland gorilla
- White-handed gibbon
- Yellow-backed duiker
- Goat
- Sheep
Birds
- African penguin
- American eagle
- Blue-crowned Laughingthrush
- Budgie
- Edwards's pheasant
- Eurasian Eagle Owl
- Grey crowned crane
- Grey parrot
- Harris Hawk
- Red-legged seriema
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Scarlet macaw
- Southern ground hornbill
- Turkey vulture
- White-faced Whistling Duck
- White-naped crane
Reptiles & Amphibians
- Aldabra giant tortoise
- Aruba Island Rattlesnake
- Bog turtle
- Chinese alligator
- Desert massasauga rattlesnake
- Eastern Box Turtle
- Eastern diamondback rattlesnake
- Emerald Tree Boa
- Four-eyed turtle
- Gila monster
- Komodo dragon
- Home's Hinge-back Tortoise
- Mountain Tortoise
- Ploughshare Tortoise
- Poison Dart Frogs
- Puerto Rican Crested Toad
- Radiated Tortoise
- Red Spitting Cobra
- Reticulated Python
- Santa Catalina rattlesnake
Events
- Covenant Kids Run
- Fathers Day
- Zoofari
- Senior Sunrise
- BOO! at the Zoo
Conservation
The Knoxville Zoo has been successful at breeding several endangered species, especially red pandas and white rhinos. The zoo also bred the first African elephant in captivity in the Western Hemisphere, nicknamed "Lil' Diamond" in 1978.
In 2009, Sarah Glass, curator of red pandas and Special Exhibits at the Knoxville Zoo in Knoxville, Tennessee, was appointed as coordinator for the North American Red Panda Species Survival Plan. The Knoxville Zoo has the largest number of captive red panda births in the Western Hemisphere (101 as of August 2011). Only the Rotterdam Zoo in the Netherlands has had more captive births worldwide.
Partnership with Mozilla Firefox
By the end of 2010, Mozilla Foundation—the creator of Firefox web browser—partnered with Knoxville Zoo in an effort to raise the awareness about endangered red pandas. Two red panda cubs born at the Knoxville Zoo have officially become a part of the Mozilla community. The cubs were named Spark and Ember by online voters, and Mozilla broadcast a 24-hour live video stream of the cubs.
