@Tim Brown wrote an extensive, 4-page review of Nashville Zoo in the Autumn 2016 Zoo Grapevine & International Zoo News magazine. He is petting an Okapi in one photo, plus he makes mention of the zoo's 11 Giant Anteaters (6.5) off-exhibit in a "sort of stable with connected outdoor paddocks". At that time there were also Banded Palm Civets off-exhibit in their own building, as well as the Okapis and perhaps a few other species. One thing about Nashville Zoo is that there is a lot of excess land that is not on public view, which bodes well for any possible future expansion.
The zoo has a fairly successful breeding program for Banded Civets and Palawan Binturong behind the scenes currently. ~Thylo
Does anybody know if Nashville Zoo still plans on bringing back elephants? Have they abandoned their elephant program permanently?
As far as I know the zoo never decided to eliminate elephants and their website still refers to future plans for the Africa exhibit which will include elephants. But there is no timeline
Does the zoo even have their civets on display? I was planning on making a large detour to see them, but looking at their website again, I can't find anything about them.
Nashville is still worth a visit as it's a great zoo and getting better all the time, but they really do need to get a lot of their off-show collection on-exhibit. Probably at least a 1/3 of their collection is off-exhibit and includes various reptiles, anteaters, Palawan Binturong, Banded Civet, and I think even Okapi now. ~Thylo
It looks like a nice place, but with not getting to see the civets (or the binturong, or even okapi, plus the reptile building closed from covid), it's not worth driving an additional 7 hours and adding a night at a hotel to the trip to get my puppy. I'm sure I'll be back to TN in the future as well, so I can add it (and ideally Memphis) to a trip then.
Understandable, the New World building really is a major highlight. Memphis is on the other side of the state so it'll be quite a detour, but if you're willing to make the drive I'd also recommend Tennessee Aquarium+Chattanooga Zoo in Chattanooga. Knoxville is supposedly nice as well. ~Thylo
Huh, it appears they do: https://www.brightszoo.com/index.ph...mmals/banded-palm-civet/341-banded-palm-civet Likely from Nashville no doubt. Just as a helpful aside, when making claims which will come as a surprise to most others, it's always helpful to cite your source of information and even provide appropriate links if necessary instead of just declaring said info. and then leaving people to ask questions in order to figure out what you're talking about ~Thylo
Both are also on my list - the aquarium in particular looks gorgeous! Saving those for another time, the zoo normally offers a spotted genet BTS but it's not happening right now.
Interesting! I wonder if they even still have it, since it isn't on the actual species list from the home page/drop down. I had thought I saw something a while ago about them having something rare but couldn't recall what, and couldn't find it on the site. I'll reach out and see if they still do. Edit: They do, but not on exhibit.
