Louisville Zoo

 ( Official Website ) 

The Louisville Zoological Gardens, commonly known as the Louisville Zoo, is a zoo in Louisville, Kentucky, situated in the city's Poplar Level neighborhood. Founded in 1969, the "State Zoo of Kentucky" currently exhibits over 1,200 animals in naturalistic and mixed animal settings representing both geographical areas and biomes or habitats.

The Louisville Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Throughout the 2010s, the zoo had annual attendance anywhere from 760,000 to 945,000 visitors.

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History The Louisville Zoo opened on May 1, 1969, with 250 animals on exhibit. The zoo was built on land acquired by the City of Louisville in the 1960s from the estate of Ben Collins. Much of the initial funding was donated by local philanthropist James Graham Brown.

Opening Day in 1969 mostly had exhibits with four-legged animals such as elephants and giraffes. The zoo also offered a train to take zoo visitors past several exhibits; this attraction operated until 2019, and the trains were ultimately sold in 2021. Opening Day had some criticism from the general public as a lack of shade was evident throughout the zoo. Over time, tree growth has reduced the problem.

In 1997, a fully restored Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC #49) carousel was added as an attraction. In May 2007, Glacier Run Splash Park, a children's water playground with 42 water-spray features, opened at the zoo. The splash park was the first phase of the Glacier Run area to open, which features polar bear exhibits modeled after the town of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. The Splash Park closed in 2022 due to reconstruction of the drainage mat and reopened in April 2023.

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Exhibits The Louisville Zoo has eight large exhibits: The Islands, Africa, Glacier Run, Australia, South America, HerpAquarium, Gorilla Forest, and the Cats of the Americas exhibit.

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Gorilla Forest The zoo was awarded the 2003 Association of Zoos and Aquariums Exhibit Award for its exhibit "Gorilla Forest". The exhibit currently houses a troop of eight western lowland gorillas, and a pygmy hippopotamus. Inside the circular Gorilla Sanctuary, visitors are separated only by glass and can get nose-to-nose with the gorillas.

Several different outdoor vantage points are available from which to see the gorillas playing and relaxing. In October 2022, one female gorilla named Helen died, and at the time of her death she was the second oldest gorilla in history being born in Cameroon in 1958. She was also known as the "Grand Dame" of the gorilla world.

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HerpAquarium The HerpAquarium features over 100 species of , , and fish, from around the world including , , panther chameleons, and Redeye Piranha. A notable resident of the HerpAquarium is a rare male albino American alligator named King Louie. He is named after King Louis XVI of France, after whom the city of Louisville is also named. Louie was hatched at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park.

The Louisville Zoo currently houses a group of critically endangered Panamanian golden frogs. The zoo is working to preserve this species of frog from extinction. Their numbers have declined in the wild partly due to the chytrid fungus and habitat destruction. On March 31, 2006, the zoo added a group of seven common vampire bats obtained from the Philadelphia Zoo, and another ten from the Sedgwick County Zoo were added to the group in late May 2006. Eventually, the exhibit will house around 40 bats. The exhibit is designed to look like an old mine shaft.

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Islands The zoo has a zoological exhibit called "Islands," which rotates a variety of animals into one exhibit space. This way, the animals can explore different habitats throughout the day, as they would in the wild. This helps to give the animals needed stimulation and heightens their awareness. Moreover, the exhibit has natural predator and prey in the same space. It has three outdoor exhibit areas and one indoor area. All animals in this exhibit are endangered or threatened species. The animals on display here change from day to day so that visitors can have a new and different experience with each visit to the zoo. The animals that can be seen in this exhibit include , , , North Sulawesi babirusas, , Aldabra giant tortoises, and .

The zoo is home to three orangutans, a male Segundo (aka Gunny) and two females named Amber and Bella. Amber is known as a social media star, particularly on TikTok, where videos of her pointing and ask zoo guests to show her things have gone viral. Amber is a hybrid orangutan, while Gunny and Bella are Sumatran orangutans.

The Islands Pavilion is an indoor area that houses many species of birds, including the white-throated ground-dove. The zoo was the first zoo in the world to hatch this rare dove in captivity. The first hatchling was born on October 17, 2006, and a second followed on December 1, 2006. Some of the other bird species included in the Islands Pavilion are Victoria crowned pigeons, , pied imperial pigeons, Jambu fruit doves, wompoo fruit doves, Asian fairy-bluebirds, red-crested cardinals, , black-necked stilts, , , nene, , and . The pavilion also houses Rodrigues fruit bats, , , and .

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Wallaroo Walkabout The Wallaroo Walkabout that opened in 2007 lets guests walk directly through the exhibit, which is home to and red-necked wallabies, as well as some Australian birds including the emu, laughing kookaburra and Cape Barren goose. Visitors are able to interact with the wallaroos and wallabies if they stay on the walkway. Then after the wallabies and wallaroos, guests can go into the Lorikeet Landing, which is an Australian exhibit that is a walkthrough aviary filled with several brightly colored birds known as . Currently, the zoo houses 56 Lorikeets in a mixed flock consisting of 5 species of bird. Visitors can feed nectar to the birds right out of their hands. Wallaroo Walkabout is set to be renovated by 2025 to support Red kangaroo and Southern cassowary.

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Glacier Run Finished in early 2011, this outdoor exhibit is based on the theme of an old gold-mining town bordered by a glacier. It features , , , California sea lions, , and Steller's sea eagles. Outside the gold mine town are two exhibits for and . The exhibit also has a splash park for children that opened in 2007, and was the first part of this $25 million exhibit to open.

The exhibit also includes classrooms, party rooms available for rental, viewing areas above and below water, and a 200-seat outdoor auditorium for watching animal training demonstrations. Steller's sea eagle Pytr is housed in his own aviary set behind the sea lion amphitheater going 50 ft vertically. Alongside Pytr the aviary houses Azure-winged magpie, baer's pochard, and red-breasted goose in a small walk through enclosure.

In 2025, the zoo received two from the San Diego Zoo.

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Africa This region of the zoo is based on the African Serengeti. The animals featured here include , , southern white rhinoceroses, , , , , Hartmann's mountain zebras, Masai giraffe, Rüppell's griffon vultures, gray crowned cranes, , , a boma petting yard for Nigerian Dwarf goats, ring-tailed lemurs, and mantled guereza.

The Louisville Zoo was one of the last remaining zoos to exhibit African and Asian elephants together in the same habitat, which they did up until 2025, when they were moved to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. The zoo was home to an Asian elephant named Punch, who was born in 1970 and an African bush elephant named Mikki, who was born in 1985. In 2022, the giraffe yard underwent a renovation, replacing the fence and outdoor holding; the new exhibit is set to house multiple birds alongside the giraffes like white stork and Rüppell's vulture.

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Cats of the Americas This part of the zoo is next to the South America exhibit, and it has all rescued animals that cannot be returned to the wild. The animals include , , and cougar.

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South America This exhibit of the zoo has animals from the Andes grasslands and Amazon rainforest of South America along with a botanical garden area. The animals contained in this exhibit include , maned wolves, Linnaeus's two-toed sloths, red-crowned cranes, red pandas, and . In fall of 2022, the original hyacinth macaw aviary from 1969 was demolished, fully renovated and reopened in the spring of 2023. In the same year, 46 new Chilean Flamingos joined the flock from the San Diego Zoo. With these additions, the flock became one of the largest captive flocks in the world.

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Kentucky Trails A roughly $30 million Upland South Safari known Kentucky trails, built over roughly 20 acres in an under-developed portion of the property, the area will be dedicated to animals from North America. Kentucky Trails is being built in partnership with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife to house and exhibit native animals from the Appalachian and Cumberland Gap regions. Notable enclosers include two rotational Great Plains inspired that will house American bison, elk, American black bears, and other native animals. A large Rickhouse Hall inspired education center and restaurant is also to be built. Breaking ground is set in 2023 with the exhibit expected to open in 2025.

Mammals

Western lowland gorilla	Black-and-white colobus	Chinchilla	Domestic ferret
Orangutan	Siamang	African lion	Cougar
Jaguar	Canadian lynx	Amur tiger	Grizzly bear
Addax	Hartmann's mountain zebra
Masai giraffe	Common woolly monkey	Polar bear	Babirusa
Bongo	Rodrigues fruit bat	Vampire bat	Dromedary camel
Domestic rabbit	Black-footed ferret	Guanaco	Four-toed hedgehog
Pygmy hippopotamus	African pygmy goat	Meerkat	Naked mole-rat
Virginia opossum	Brazilian porcupine	White rhinoceros	Nigerian Dwarf goat
Grey seal	California sea lion	Malayan tapir	Sumatran tiger
Wallaroo	Red-necked wallaby	Warthog	Maned wolf
Three-banded Armadillo	Harbor seal	Ringtailed lemur	Snow leopard
Nubian goat

Reptiles and Amphibians

Leaf-tailed Gecko	Bearded dragon	Boa constrictor	Rosy boa
Panther chameleon	Cuban crocodile	Poison dart frog	Argentine tegu
White's tree frog	Gila monster	Komodo dragon	American alligator	Western green mamba
Andean milksnake	Ball python	Calabar python	Reticulated python	Timber rattlesnake
River cooter	Blue-tongued skink	Corn snake	Eastern indigo snake
Western hognose snake	Aldabra giant tortoise	Greek tortoise	Star tortoise
Gaboon viper	Grey tree frog	American toad	Sonoran desert toad
African bullfrog	Puerto Rican crested toad	Sinai desert cobra	Egyptian cobra
Green tree python	Gopher snake	Crotalus ruber	Madagascar tree boa
Emerald tree boa	Desert sidewinder	Cottonmouth	Copperhead
African house snake	Red-tailed green ratsnake	Angolan python	Eryx conicus
Prairie rattlesnake	Eastern diamondback rattlesnake	Green vine snake	Kingsnake
Trans-Pecos ratsnake	Schneiders skink	Scincus scincus	Uromastyx
Madagascan giant day gecko	Sheltopusik	Egernia	Green basilisk
Asian box turtle	Diamondback terrapin	Eastern box turtle	Red-eared slider
Green iguana	Hellbender	Alligator snapping turtle	Argentine horned frog
California kingsnake	Rock rattlesnake	Tiger rattlesnake	Sinaloan milksnake
Black rattlesnake	Black-tailed rattlesnake	Southwestern speckled rattlesnake	Spotted turtle

Birds

Mariana fruit dove	Pink-headed fruit dove	White-throated ground-dove	Wompoo fruit-dove
Pink pigeon	Jambu fruit-dove	Beautiful fruit-dove	Caribbean dove
White-crowned pigeon	Papuan mountain-pigeon	Nicobar pigeon	Pied imperial-pigeon
Cinnamon ground-dove	Yellow-headed amazon	Hawaiian goose	Red-crowned crane
Wattled crane	East African crowned crane	Steller's sea eagle	Bald eagle
Hawaiian hawk	American kestrel	African penguin	Oriental stork
White stork	African pygmy-falcon	Saffron finch	Sandhill crane
Green naped rainbow lorikeet	Red-flanked lorikeet	Gyps rueppellii	Chilean flamingo
Blue-gray tanager	Bay-headed tanager	Eastern screech owl	Emu
Bali starling	Vanellus miles	Inca tern	Red-crested cardinal
Madagascar fody	Blue-winged leafbird	Dalmatian pelican	Yellow-hooded blackbird
Warbling white-eye	Golden white-eye	Crested wood-partridge	Blue dacnis
Hyacinth macaw	Snowy owl	Emerald starling	Yellow-breasted ground dove
Sun conure	Tawny frogmouth	Chestnut teal	Turkey vulture
Chiloe wigeon	Baer's pochard	Southern screamer	Waldrapp ibis
Kookaburra	Bridled white-eye	Geen-naped pheasant pigeon	Victoria crowned pigeon
Red-billed leiothrix	Swainson's lorikeet	Red lory	Oriental white-eye
Red-tailed hawk	Peregrine falcon	Victoria crowned pigeon	Southern cassowary

Fish

Bucktooth tetra	Severum	Silver arowana	Redhook metunnis
African lungfish	Archerfish	Leporinus	Lookdown
Silver moony	Haemulidae	Red-bellied piranha	Largemouth bass
Redear sunfish	Bluegill	African moony	Spanish hogfish
Spotted gar	Longnose gar	Oxydoras

Arthropods

Blue bloom birdeater	Aphonopelma	Psalmopoeus
Poecilotheria	King baboon spider	Mexican redknee tarantula
Chilean rose tarantula	Mexican fireleg tarantula	Brazilian salmon pink
Millipede	Madagascar hissing cockroach	Deathstalker

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Gallery HansomeLion 002.jpg|African lion Addax at the Louisville Zoo.jpg|Addax ZooHartmannsMountainZebra.jpg|Hartmann's mountain zebra Red Ruffed Lemur 002.jpg|Red ruffed lemur Demoiselle Crane Louisville Zoo.jpg|Demoiselle crane African Pygmy Falcon 002.jpg|African pygmy falcon Snow Leopard Louisville Zoo.jpg|Snow leopard Gorilla at the Louisville Zoo 2.jpg|Western lowland gorilla MasaiGiraffeP2.jpg|Masai giraffe MhorrGazelleza.jpg|Mhorr gazelle OrangutanP1.jpg|Orangutan ZooManedWolf.jpg|Maned wolf Southern White Rhino.jpg|Southern white rhinoceros

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Notable individual animals

• Mojo, a patas monkey previously owned by NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, was given to the zoo on August 24, 2007, when he became too aggressive to keep as a pet.
• Scotty, an African elephant born on March 18, 2007, was the first elephant born in Kentucky. Scotty died on May 12, 2010, when he was only three years old, due to severe gastric and intestinal problems.
• The Louisville Zoo has hand-raised three baby —Sungai (from the San Francisco Zoo), Zoli (born at the Louisville Zoo), and Zain (from the Albuquerque Biological Park) after Zoli's parents died of E. coli sepsis and the other two were brought in as companions—and is thought to be the only Zoo to ever hand raise three baby siamangs this young.
• The zoo is also home to several black-footed ferrets, and participates in the black-footed ferret breeding program. The ferrets are one of the most endangered species in North America.
• Bakari (whose name is Swahili language for hopeful) the Masai giraffe was born on February 17, 2009, with angular limb deformity, and had periosteal stripping performed on his leg. He is believed to be the first giraffe to undergo this procedure.
• Born in Alaska of 2011, polar bear Qannik was found orphaned on Alaska's North Slope. The Alaska Zoo quickly sprang into action and captured the young cub, during this time the zoo was building Glacier Run and this new exhibit was deemed an ideal place for the new cub to go to by the AZA. Soon with the partnership of UPS the cub was transported via air to the zoo in what was known as "Operation Snowflake".
• In June 2013, the Louisville Zoo organized a contest to name the first zebra foal to be born at the zoo in 13 years. The foal was ultimately named Ziva, after the fictional character Ziva David from the television series NCIS.
• On October 23, 2014, the zoo announced that their 11-year-old reticulated python, Thelma, had produced six healthy baby snakes in 2012 parthenogenesis. She is the first known individual of her species (the world's largest species of snake) to have done so in captivity. It had initially been thought that the offspring were produced from long-stored sperm, until genetic testing showed that the neonates were "half clones" – i.e., she was their only genetic parent.

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Events The Louisville Zoo offers multiple chances to enjoy the zoo after normal operating hours. One of the most popular after-hours events is the "World's Largest Halloween Party". This event is held on October 31 yearly and is Halloween themed. Another popular event is "Brew at the Zoo", which is an event that brings together local restaurants and craft beer vendors. Live entertainment is also provided. This event is typically in August and regularly sells out. The zoo has a booth called "Handimals" located by the entrance where kids can make an animal out of their hand prints. Often when an animal is born in the zoo, the zoo holds a contest where participants send in ideas for names.

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Incidents On June 29, 1994, a man was picked up and dropped several times by an African elephant named Kenya. As a result of the man's injuries, his spleen and part of his pancreas were removed. The elephant had just finished giving rides to zoo visitors and was being led away when she wandered off and picked up the man. Zoo officials said that the elephant, who was normally considered calm and docile, was just "horsing around".

On June 1, 2009, the zoo train derailed. Three open-air cars and the engine went off the tracks and caused the passenger car to topple over, due to excessive speed and operator inexperience. The incident injured 22 people. An Indiana family that was on the train when the accident happened sued the Louisville Zoo. Amy and Darren Bamforth filed the lawsuit on June 10, 2009. Another family in Louisville who was on the train, also filed a suit. They sought unspecified monetary damages as well as a court order preventing the zoo from altering or destroying the train while the lawsuit proceeds. A spokesman for the zoo declined to comment. The zoo train was closed for four years. On July 2, 2013, the zoo train reopened to the public after buying new trains and investing in expanded training procedures. All legal actions regarding the incident were concluded as of October 2015. The two trains were eventually sold at auction in 2021 after shutting down in March 2019 due to the sinkhole. One went to Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas and the other went to Buffalo Trace Distillery in Franklin County, Kentucky. As of early 2024, there are eventual plans to get new trains.

On March 6, 2019, the zoo found a sinkhole after part of a mine collapsed in an undeveloped area near Mega Cavern.

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See also

• List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area
• List of parks in the Louisville metropolitan area
• Senning's Park, Louisville's first zoo

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External links

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