Zoo Knoxville, formerly known as the Knoxville Zoo or Knoxville Zoological Gardens, is a zoo located just east of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, near exit 392 off Interstate 40. The zoo is home to about 1,200 animals and welcomes over 585,000 visitors each year.
Zoo Knoxville is notable for having bred the first two African Elephants born in the Western Hemisphere in 1978. The zoo also has bred more endangered red pandas than any other zoo in the world and is a leader in the breeding of endangered tortoises.
The zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
History
In 1923, an initiative was started by a local newspaper to start a park for poor children, driven by a Birthday Fund. After slow progress, the Birthday Park was established in 1935 with help from the city of Knoxville and the New Deal. The park included a stone shelter, small playground, and a wading pool on a hillside in Chilhowee Park. Discussion started about introducing a zoo, but funding again became an issue, and the Birthday Park fell into disuse and neglect before being closed in 1946.
In 1948, the News Sentinel aimed to revitalize the property as the Birthday Park Zoo using some leftover money from the 1923 initiative, plus more help from the city of Knoxville. In 1951, the zoo was opened and renamed the Municipal Zoo, with the first attraction being an American alligator named "Al". Around 4,000 people visited in the first day of opening.
In 1963, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus donated a particularly troublesome seven-ton bull elephant named "Louie", or "Old Diamond". While this initially raised public interest, conditions and funds soon deteriorated, and Old Diamond contributed more problems by tearing up his early enclosures. In 1966, the Metropolitan Planning Commission announced plans to revitalize and modernize the zoo, but a lack of funds once again grounded the project through 1970. Following an effort by the Knoxville Journal to "Save Old Diamond", Dr. Bill Patterson helped found the Appalachian Zoological Society to oversee the formation of an educational zoo, and television executive Guy Lincoln Smith III bought a lion cub and took care of it until money could be raised a proper facility could be built. With these two efforts, the modern Knoxville Zoo was founded in 1971. Smith served as the first director of the zoo until his death in 1987.
In the following years, Old Diamond was successfully mated to two younger female elephants, with two daughters being born in 1978. These were the first two African elephants born in the Western Hemisphere. This set a precedent for Knoxville Zoo to continue to work within the field of conservation until modern times, notably working with red pandas and spider tortoises.
In 2016, Knoxville Zoo announced a massive rebranding campaign alongside a slew of new and/or revitalized exhibits. With this, zoo executives announced that the property would be renamed Zoo Knoxville, reflecting a change that a few other zoos across the country had done.
Exhibits
Zoo Knoxville is broadly divided two halves, East Zoo and West Zoo. Each section mainly features large and naturalistic outdoor habitats for many of their animal residents, as well as a few smaller indoor exhibits.
Black Bear Falls
Upon entering, the first habitat is Black Bear Falls, housing several American black bears, an important species native to the nearby Great Smoky Mountains. Several viewing areas are featured, as well as a small cave with educational facts about bears' hibernation behavior and diet for children to explore.
Boyd Family Asian Trek and Red Panda Village
Continuing to the East Zoo, the Boyd Family Red Panda Village is world-renowned for their red panda conservation program. In 2017, this section of the zoo was greatly expanded and revitalized as the Boyd Family Asian Trek, containing new habitats with Malayan tigers, white-handed gibbons, silvered leaf langurs, and white-naped cranes.
Clayton Family Kids Cove
At the east end of the zoo, Clayton Family Kids Cove contains a variety of activities geared towards children. These include a carousel, petting zoo, playground, and sandbox. Regarding animal exhibits, Kids Cove features a petting zoo with a number of domestic animals like sheep and goats, as well as a small exhibit featuring North American beavers and budgies.