|
Animals of the Night |
Bonobos |
Commercial Appeal Cat Country |
|
CHINA
|
Hippos |
Primate Canyon |
|
|
Animals of the Night |
|
Entrance to Animals of the Night
|
In the U.S., there are only a handful of exhibits devoted to nocturnal animals - and Memphis has one of them.
Residents of Animals of the Night have their daylight hours reversed from ours - which means its always dusk during the day. There's plenty of light, however, to see incredible exhibit areas featuring floor-to-ceiling glass.
The highlight of the exhibit is the center bat flight, which has open viewing on two sides and features over 400 bats.
Factoid: This exhibit was renovated in the late 1990s. It used to be a home to primates and was the site for the giant panda which visited the Memphis Zoo in 1987. Today, giant pandas at the Zoo have a much more comfortable home (see CHINA exhibit).
|
|
Exhibited Species:
Aardvark
African Crested Porcupine
Binturong
Brushtailed Porcupine
Bulldog Bat
Cacomistle
|
Coatimundi
Cuscus
Golden-rumped Agouti
Jamaican Fruit Bat
Kinkajou
Naked Mole Rat
|
Prehensile-tail Porcupine
Rousetta Bat
Sebae’s Short-tailed Bat
Slender Loris
Slow Loris
Springhaas
|
Tamandua
Three-banded Armadillo
Two-toed Sloth
Vampire Bat
Wombat
|
top
|
|
Bonobos |
|
Malela, a female bonobo (chimp)
top
|
Found in the middle of Africa's Congo, bonobos have become one of the planet's most endangered species. The Memphis Zoo is one of a dozen U.S. zoos which exhibit this rare primate.
A troop of six bonobos, also called pygmy chimpanzees, live in this indoor/outdoor hybrid exhibit across from the CHINA exhibit. A baby bonobo was born to "Kiri" in 2005 and is thriving well today.
Factoid: This primate shares over 98 percent of the same genetic make up as humans. It's no wonder why they are one of the smartest primates.
| | |
|
CHINA |
|
Ya Ya and Le Le playing
outside together
|
In April 2003, the Memphis Zoo became one of only four U.S. zoos to exhibit Earth's most treasured endangered species - the giant panda.
But CHINA is not just a giant panda exhibit. Panda duo "Ya Ya" and "Le Le" share their three-acre home with several other species native to China.
CHINA became the first Memphis Zoo exhibit to be built as zoogeographical - a word that describes exhibits that feature an animal collection from a specific part of the world. The buildings, plant life - even the sounds - of China are represented in this $16 million exhibit.
Giant pandas have both indoor and outdoor exhibit areas, offering the most awe-inspiring panda viewing in America.
Factoid: Ya Ya and Le Le each can eat over 40 pounds of bamboo a day. Because it must be fed fresh, the Zoo's "Bamboo Crew" harvests fresh bamboo from the Memphis area almost every day.
|
|
Exhibited Species:
Giant Panda
Asian Small-clawed Otter
Red-billed Blue Magpie
Azure-winged Magpie |
Hog Deer
Hooded Crane
White-naped Crane
Temminck's Tragopan
Pére David Deer |
White Cheeked Gibbon
Francoís Langur
Lady Amherst Pheasant
Golden Pheasant
|
Reeve's Pheasant
Smew
Falicated Duck
White-crested Laughing Thrush
|
top | |
|
|
Commercial Appeal Cat Country |
|
Tally, one of three African lions
|
Cats became the first animals at the Memphis Zoo to be freed from life behind bars. Their exhibit helped to shape the way the Zoo built exhibitry for all its animals throughout the next decade.
Commercial Appeal Cat Country (namesake is Memphis' only daily newspaper) is a three-acre, open-air exhibit devoted to both predators and prey of the cat world. Tigers and lions share common space with the fennec foxes and meerkats.
Throughout the exhibit visitors are greeted by cultural architecture native to the land of the species on exhibit (for example, temple ruins surround the Sumatran tiger exhibit).
The exhibit's climax features a lush, green yard for two African lions. Don't worry - a large, watery moat keeps these jungle kings in their home.
Factoid: The old Carnivora Building, where the cats used to live, still stands at the Memphis Zoo. It was renovated to become the Zoo's primary restaurant - the Cat House Café. |
|
Exhibited Species:
African Lions
Cheetah
Reeve's Munjac
Leopard |
Meerkats
Caracal Lynx
Capybara
Clouded Leopard
Klipspringer |
Cougars
Sumatran Tiger
Crested Screamer
Jaguar
|
Snow Leopard
Red Panda
Fennec Fox
Ocelot
|
top | |
|
|
Hippos |
|
|
Hippos have a reputable history at the Memphis Zoo. At one time, hippos "Venus" and "Adonis" earned our Zoo the title of "hippo capital of the world" - having more successful hippo births than any other zoo.
One of their offspring "Julie" gave birth to twins "Splish" and "Splash" in the 1980s. Julie still resides at the Zoo today with daughter Splish.
We're working hard to open a new exhibit for Julie and Splish. "Zambezi River Hippo Camp" will feature animals found near Africa's Zambezi River. Learn more about it by clicking here.
Factoid: Hippos are the deadliest animal in Africa.
|
|
top | |
|
|
Primate Canyon |
|
Chickie, a female orangutan
|
Primate Canyon features naturalistic, outdoor exhibit areas for a variety of monkeys and apes (helpful hint: monkeys have tails, apes do not).
Some of the planet's most popular primates live here, including gorrillas, orangutans and siamangs - famous for their soaring throat-sack calls.
The exhibit opened in 1995 and has been a top favorite of Zoo visitors ever since.
|
|
Exhibited Species:
Lowland Gorilla
Sumatran Orangutan |
Lion-tailed Macaques
Mona Monkey
|
Siamang Gibbon
Sulawesi Macaques
|
Eastern Black & White Colubus
|
top | |
|