Knoxville Zoo » Knoxville Zoo

Knoxville Zoo
21-06-2008

Two new red pandas born at zoo - Oak Ridge, TN - The Oak Ridger

More red panda babies!

The Knoxville Zoo, in the State of Tennessee, has had unprecedented success breeding red pandas. In the past 31 years there has been a staggering 93 births at the zoo, averaging exactly 3 babies a year. The "Boyd Family Red Panda Village" exhibit was finished in 2007.

The zoo is also well regarded for its reptile collection, with 400 reptiles of 90 species. In 2011 there is the 2-story "Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Center" opening to the public, which will increase the collection by another 50 species.

21-06-2008

That's alot of Red pandas. What other species do they keep here and How many red pandas do they hold at once?

22-06-2008

KNOXVILLE ZOO

The Knoxville Zoo has 815 animals according to their website, but the establishment is occasionally overlooked because of the expanding Nashville Zoo and the giant pandas at the Memphis Zoo. Those three are the notable collections in the State of Tennessee.

Besides the amazing success of producing 93 red panda babies, the zoo has also produced close to 30 white rhino calves and was the first zoo in North America to breed African elephants. The elephant yard has 3 pools and can hold a large number of the pachyderms, the white rhino paddock is a huge field with usually more than one bull, and the zoo can maintain up to 8 red pandas at once.

There is a 1-acre cheetah exhibit, a 1-acre outdoor gorilla enclosure, and the most famous habitat is "Black Bear Falls". The book "America's Best Zoos" claims that the enclosure for black bears "may well be the best single-species exhibit in America!" There is a 40-foot log tunnel that allows for visitors to watch the bears from inside their enclosure.

Knox Zoo
26-09-2008

While traveling we saw a sign for the Knoxville zoo and knowing nothing about it, stopped to check it out. We were pleasantly surprised! It is not big and can be traveled in 3 hours, but I loved it. It seems that it is simply not finished or in the process of remodeling though. Toward the far end of the zoo many animals seemed to simply be in fenced in areas that were clearly not a permanent exhibit. The elephants were great, their famous black bear exhibit was outstanding, red pandas, gorillas, and a pride of lions. It is a very small but great zoo. I recommend it to anyone!