According to the Oklahoma City Adventure District website, “The Oklahoma City Zoo is the third-ranked family-friendly zoo in the country and the most visited attraction in the state.”
The Zoo is home to over 2,200 creatures and is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Sunday. Admission is $7 for adults and $4 for children 3-11 and senior citizens. Yearly memberships are also available and are a good deal for those planning to go several times throughout the year.
Guest can bring personal coolers with food and drinks, and there is storage available near the entrance by the Jungle Gym playground.
Children’s Zoo
The newest of OKC Zoo's many exhibits is the Children’s Zoo. This 2.5-acre exhibit opened in the spring of 2010. There is only one entrance.
It's a hands-on experience for children and adults.
A section of the Children’s Zoo is dedicated to the barnyard with Nigerian dwarf goats roaming around. Many of the goats will eat straw held up by visitors and some will allow people to pet them. Inside the barn are miniature donkeys, Tunis sheep, rabbits, and Guinea hogs. Different colored chickens live in the chicken coop.
The Children’s Zoo has grass areas to play on, a tree fort climbing area with a slide, a Koi pond and spider monkeys.
There is an enclosed area for the lorikeets call the Explorikeet Adventure. A concession stand sells food to feed the birds and zoo workers are available to help.
A waterfall runs into a river bed where children can walk in to cool off, and a "spray grounds" has been built for their enjoyment.
Asia Exhibit
Now under construction is the Asia Exhibit, which is scheduled to open in 2011.
The current elephant habitation was built in 1950 and is unable to accommodate the growing elephant family. Both female elephants left in June 2008 for the Tulsa Zoo to date the male elephant, Sneezy, and hopefully add to the elephant family.
According to the Oklahoma City Zoo website, “The biggest habitat to open in zoo history is coming to the Oklahoma City Zoo.”
The OKC Zoo is one of 60 zoos to increase the size of their elephant habitat. This expansion will move the exhibit past the Great EscApe, where it will include space for the elephants to move around on grass knolls, an area for dust bathing, scratch trees, mud wallows and swimming holes.
The Asia Exhibit will also be the home of the one-horn rhinoceros, Komodo dragon, orangutans, sloth bear and various birds.
Oklahoma Trails
Across 8 acres, over 800 Oklahoma native animals can be seen and observed on the Oklahoma Trails. Two grizzly bears that nap in the sun and splash in a river on hot days, and bison roam on a grassy plain.
A big red barn houses nocturnal creatures, including bats and flying squirrels.
The other building on the trails has a huge aquarium with native fish, and exhibits with snakes, turtles, and frogs. The otters have been moved into this building and love to perform.
Great EscApe
Eighteen gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees live in the 6-acre plot that makes up the Great EscApe. This habitat and observatory was built in 1993.
There are two different buildings with glass walls to allow visitors to observe the animals, and several viewing points along the trail.
Cat Forest and Lion Overlook
With nine species of cats, this area takes up a little over 4 acres.
The lions live near the entrance of the Oklahoma Trails and the tigers and other cats are across the sidewalk, down a beautiful path with bamboo growing on both sides.
The two buildings on this path enable viewing of some of the cats through glass, and it also provides an air-conditioned area during the hot days.
Island Life
Kids young and old want to see the “giant turtles,” and they can be found in the Island Life exhibit. Sometimes they are napping in the building and at other times they are roaming outside, but the exhibit was designed in a way that visitors can view the Galapagos turtles no matter where they are.
The animals in this exhibit are from islands around the world from the Caribbean to Madagascar to the Philippines. Informational displays are placed around the area for those interested in learning about the fragile ecosystem there animals come from.
Herpetarium
Although the building does not look like much, there are amazing creatures inside the Herpetarium.
With over 80 exhibits, everyone is bound to find something of interest. There is a giant green anaconda and several different pythons. Rattlesnakes, salamanders, frogs, lizards and turtles are also on display.
Many interesting facts are posted by the reptiles, including which snakes give live birth.
The Zoo is home to over 2,200 creatures and is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Sunday. Admission is $7 for adults and $4 for children 3-11 and senior citizens. Yearly memberships are also available and are a good deal for those planning to go several times throughout the year.
Guest can bring personal coolers with food and drinks, and there is storage available near the entrance by the Jungle Gym playground.
Children’s Zoo
The newest of OKC Zoo's many exhibits is the Children’s Zoo. This 2.5-acre exhibit opened in the spring of 2010. There is only one entrance.
It's a hands-on experience for children and adults.
A section of the Children’s Zoo is dedicated to the barnyard with Nigerian dwarf goats roaming around. Many of the goats will eat straw held up by visitors and some will allow people to pet them. Inside the barn are miniature donkeys, Tunis sheep, rabbits, and Guinea hogs. Different colored chickens live in the chicken coop.
The Children’s Zoo has grass areas to play on, a tree fort climbing area with a slide, a Koi pond and spider monkeys.
There is an enclosed area for the lorikeets call the Explorikeet Adventure. A concession stand sells food to feed the birds and zoo workers are available to help.
A waterfall runs into a river bed where children can walk in to cool off, and a "spray grounds" has been built for their enjoyment.
Asia Exhibit
Now under construction is the Asia Exhibit, which is scheduled to open in 2011.
The current elephant habitation was built in 1950 and is unable to accommodate the growing elephant family. Both female elephants left in June 2008 for the Tulsa Zoo to date the male elephant, Sneezy, and hopefully add to the elephant family.
According to the Oklahoma City Zoo website, “The biggest habitat to open in zoo history is coming to the Oklahoma City Zoo.”
The OKC Zoo is one of 60 zoos to increase the size of their elephant habitat. This expansion will move the exhibit past the Great EscApe, where it will include space for the elephants to move around on grass knolls, an area for dust bathing, scratch trees, mud wallows and swimming holes.
The Asia Exhibit will also be the home of the one-horn rhinoceros, Komodo dragon, orangutans, sloth bear and various birds.
Oklahoma Trails
Across 8 acres, over 800 Oklahoma native animals can be seen and observed on the Oklahoma Trails. Two grizzly bears that nap in the sun and splash in a river on hot days, and bison roam on a grassy plain.
A big red barn houses nocturnal creatures, including bats and flying squirrels.
The other building on the trails has a huge aquarium with native fish, and exhibits with snakes, turtles, and frogs. The otters have been moved into this building and love to perform.
Great EscApe
Eighteen gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees live in the 6-acre plot that makes up the Great EscApe. This habitat and observatory was built in 1993.
There are two different buildings with glass walls to allow visitors to observe the animals, and several viewing points along the trail.
Cat Forest and Lion Overlook
With nine species of cats, this area takes up a little over 4 acres.
The lions live near the entrance of the Oklahoma Trails and the tigers and other cats are across the sidewalk, down a beautiful path with bamboo growing on both sides.
The two buildings on this path enable viewing of some of the cats through glass, and it also provides an air-conditioned area during the hot days.
Island Life
Kids young and old want to see the “giant turtles,” and they can be found in the Island Life exhibit. Sometimes they are napping in the building and at other times they are roaming outside, but the exhibit was designed in a way that visitors can view the Galapagos turtles no matter where they are.
The animals in this exhibit are from islands around the world from the Caribbean to Madagascar to the Philippines. Informational displays are placed around the area for those interested in learning about the fragile ecosystem there animals come from.
Herpetarium
Although the building does not look like much, there are amazing creatures inside the Herpetarium.
With over 80 exhibits, everyone is bound to find something of interest. There is a giant green anaconda and several different pythons. Rattlesnakes, salamanders, frogs, lizards and turtles are also on display.
Many interesting facts are posted by the reptiles, including which snakes give live birth.
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