Nashville Zoo at Grassmere
 Sign as zoo entrance |
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| Date opened | 1990 (as Grassmere Wildlife Park)[1] |
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| Location | Nashville, Tennessee, USA |
| Land area | 200 acres (81 ha)[1] |
| Coordinates | 36°05′19″N 86°44′32″W / 36.0885°N 86.7422°WCoordinates: 36°05′19″N 86°44′32″W / 36.0885°N 86.7422°W |
| Memberships | AZA[2] |
| Website | www.nashvillezoo.org |
The Nashville Zoo at Grassmere is a 200-acre (81 ha) zoo and historic plantation farmhouse located 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
The Nashville Zoo at Grassmere is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
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[edit] History
The Nashville Zoo at Grassmere was founded in 1996, the result of a merger between two competing facilities, The Nashville Zoo (located in nearby Pleasant View) and Grassmere Wildlife Park (which was located at the zoo's present location). The resulting facility has been engineered to grow so as to take maximum advantage of its 188 acres (76 ha).[3]
[edit] Grassmere Historic Home
On the grounds of the zoo facilities, the property still maintains the original historic plantation house, called Grassmere or the Historic Croft Home.
Visitors to the zoo can tour this 19th century historic house museum, its gardens and the associated Grassmere Historic Farm.
[edit] Exhibits
The zoo contains a number of exhibits including:
- The Gibbon Island - Featuring White-Cheeked Gibbon and Siamang
- The African Savanna - Featuring Masai Giraffes, African Elephants and a Red River Hog.
- The Unseen New World - An indoor exhibit area featuring numerous reptiles, amphibians, fish, and insects
- The Bamboo Trail - Featuring the Red Panda, Clouded Leopards, Rhinoceros Hornbill, and Schmidt's Guenon, among others.
- One White Wallaby and two brown ones can be seen in the Critter Encounters exhibit.
- A Lynx exhibit is open.
- An African Crested Porcupine exhibit is now open.
- The Flamingo Lagoon exhibit featuring 30 Caribbean Flamingos is now open.
- Bairds Tapir exhibit is now open.
Other exhibit areas provide homes for many other native and exotic animals including Bengal Tigers, a Cougar, and a colony of Meerkats.
[edit] Other facilities
The Jungle Gym is the largest community-built playground of its kind in the country, created in 1998. Thousands of volunteers worked together to build a vast array of slides, cargo netting, swings and climbing structures for children.
[edit] Conservation
The zoo is active in numerous research and conservation activities including participating in a number of the programs in the Species Survival Plan which is managed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
[edit] The future
- After the completion of the Pantanal exhibit, the number of animals will double.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "About the Zoo". nashvillezoo.org. Nashville Zoo. http://www.nashvillezoo.org/about.asp. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
- ^ "List of Accredited Zoos and Aquariums". aza.org. Association of Zoos and Aquariums. http://www.aza.org/current-accreditation-list. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
- ^ Carey, Bill (1 November 2001). "Nashville’s Ark: The city is finally committed to a world-class animal park". http://www.nashvillescene.com/2001-11-01/news/nashville-rsquo-s-ark. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nashville Zoo |
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