Zoo Atlanta is Atlanta's oldest cultural institution and one of Georgia's most beloved family destinations. Founded in 1889, the Zoo is one of the 10 oldest zoos in continuous operation in the U.S. Average annual attendance at this Atlanta attraction typically exceeds 700,000, and membership tops 27,000 households. Known for its leadership in the movement to provide naturalistic habitats for animals, Zoo Atlanta began a multi-million dollar redevelopment designed to give guests a tour of exotic destinations around the globe without ever leaving Atlanta. A leader in formal and informal education, the Atlanta Zoo in north Georgia is also a dynamic living laboratory for students of all ages.
Some of the Exhibits at Zoo Atlanta are:
The Ford African Rain Forest:
This houses the nation's largest collection of gorillas, with a total of 23 individuals. The gorillas live in distinct social groups over a 1.5-acre series of habitats, a lush natural environment that promotes behaviors similar to those observed in the wild. Eighteen gorillas have been born at Zoo Atlanta since the opening of The Ford African Rain Forest in 1988. Also located in The Ford African Rain Forest is The Living Treehouse, home to a colorful diversity of bird life in an open-air aviary, as well as guenons, lemurs, and critically endangered drills.
Trader's Alley: Wildlife's Fading Footprints
This thought-provoking pathway introduces guests to the global problem of the wildlife trade against the backdrop of a recreated Asian market, with breathtaking new views of many of the species affected by the trade. Highlights include two new sun bears, as well as Sumatran tigers and a clouded leopard....
Zoo Atlanta is Atlanta's oldest cultural institution and one of Georgia's most beloved family destinations. Founded in 1889, the Zoo is one of the 10 oldest zoos in continuous operation in the U.S. Average annual attendance at this Atlanta attraction typically exceeds 700,000, and membership tops 27,000 households. Known for its leadership in the movement to provide naturalistic habitats for animals, Zoo Atlanta began a multi-million dollar redevelopment designed to give guests a tour of exotic destinations around the globe without ever leaving Atlanta. A leader in formal and informal education, the Atlanta Zoo in north Georgia is also a dynamic living laboratory for students of all ages.
Some of the Exhibits at Zoo Atlanta are:
The Ford African Rain Forest:
This houses the nation's largest collection of gorillas, with a total of 23 individuals. The gorillas live in distinct social groups over a 1.5-acre series of habitats, a lush natural environment that promotes behaviors similar to those observed in the wild. Eighteen gorillas have been born at Zoo Atlanta since the opening of The Ford African Rain Forest in 1988. Also located in The Ford African Rain Forest is The Living Treehouse, home to a colorful diversity of bird life in an open-air aviary, as well as guenons, lemurs, and critically endangered drills.
Trader's Alley: Wildlife's Fading Footprints
This thought-provoking pathway introduces guests to the global problem of the wildlife trade against the backdrop of a recreated Asian market, with breathtaking new views of many of the species affected by the trade. Highlights include two new sun bears, as well as Sumatran tigers and a clouded leopard.
Boundless Budgies: A Parakeet Adventure
Invites guests to feed hundreds of birds in a dynamic world of wings. Native to Australia and often seen in flocks of thousands, parakeets are highly social, curious, and colorful. The largest of its kind in the Southeast, this interactive experience is unlike any other ever offered at Zoo Atlanta.
Naked Mole Rats:
Guests get an intimate view of nature's weirdest underground family at work in a series of underground tunnels. Naked mole rats are one of only two known eusocial mammal species living in large colonies devoted to the service of a queen.
African Plains and Mzima Springs:
Home to lions, giraffes, black rhinos, zebras, meerkats, and warthogs, the five-acre African Plains landscape simulates the African savanna. Opened in 1989, this series of habitats also features African grassland birds, including ostrich, crowned cranes, and kori bustards. African forest species include yellow-backed duikers and critically endangered eastern bongos. Mzima Springs houses two African elephants, Tara and Kelly. Included is a large deep pond the elephants use for bathing and a separate yard for daily demonstrations, highlighting their unique features and personalities and emphasizing conservation.
The Asian Forest:
The Asian Forest houses the nation's largest zoological collection or orangutans, featuring both Bornean and Sumatran orangutans in three outdoor habitats. Although orangutans are solitary in the wild, the Zoo's collection lives in small social groups. Additional Asian Forest highlights include Asian small-clawed otters, red pandas, and Komodo dragons.
Giant Panda Conservation Center:
Zoo Atlanta is one of only four zoos in the U.S. housing giant pandas. With only an estimated 1,600 giant pandas believed to remain in the wild, the Zoo is committed to behavioral research contributing to a self-sustaining, genetically diverse captive population.
World of Reptiles:
Zoo Atlanta houses one of the nation's most renowned collections of reptiles and amphibians, including more than 400 individuals representing more than 100 species, many of them endangered. The World of Reptiles is also home to the world's rarest lizard species, the Guatemalan beaded lizard. Fewer than 100 of these animals are believed to remain in the wild.
Flamingo Plaza:
A thriving flock of Chilean flamingos greets guests as they enter Flamingo Plaza. The flamingos' pink color comes from carotene, the same substance that gives color to shrimp, marigolds and carrots. Flamingos are white when they hatch, grey as juveniles and pink as adults.
