The Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park (formerly the Warner Park Zoo) is a
zoological
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and dis ...
park located in Warner Park in
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...
. The zoo was established in 1937 by the City of Chattanooga with the construction of two cages for
rhesus monkeys. (An earlier zoo was established in 1900, Oxley Zoo, by Colonel F. G. Oxley of
Bridgeport, Alabama
Bridgeport is a city in Jackson County, Alabama, United States. At the time of 2010 census the population was 2,418, down from 2,728 in 2000. Bridgeport is included in the Chattanooga-Cleveland-Dalton, TN-GA-AL Combined Statistical Area.
Histo ...
, when he donated $500 to open the first public zoo in Chattanooga. Oxley Zoo closed due to financial constraints in 1911.)
The zoo has been accredited by the
Association of Zoos and Aquariums
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), originally the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, is an American 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization founded in 1924 and dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in ...
(AZA) since 1998.
Exhibits and facilities
The most notable exhibit is the Himalayan Passage, which houses the zoo's
red panda
The red panda (''Ailurus fulgens''), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle ...
s. The exhibit boasts the largest indoor red panda exhibit in the world, despite the zoo being one of the smallest zoos accredited by the
AZA
Aza or AZA may refer to:
Places
*Aza, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality
*Azadkənd, Nakhchivan or Lower Aza, Azerbaijan
*Aza, medieval name of Haza, Province of Burgos, Spain
*Aźa, a Tibetan name for the Tuyuhun kingdom
*Aza, a Hebrew roman ...
. The Himalayan Passage passage was expanded in 2006 to include habitats for
snow leopard
The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a felid in the genus '' Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because the global population is es ...
s and
Hanuman langurs. The hanuman langurs shared an exhibit with a
Francois langur, and when the last hanuman langur left in 2015, the zoo welcomed a new Francois langur. The Francois langurs left and then were replaced by a breeding pair of
white-cheeked gibbons in 2019.
The Gombe Forest is a $2.1 million exhibit that is home to the zoo's
chimpanzees
The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...
. The Gombe Forest is an indoor/outdoor exhibit built in 2001 to house Hank, the zoo's long-time resident and seen in photo at right, as well as several other chimps. Hank, found in the rain forests of Africa in 1968, was donated to the zoo in 1976 and became the longest and most famous resident of the zoo before passing away of natural causes at age 42 on January 24, 2011. The Donovan Interpretive Center features an indoor chimpanzee viewing area and other small exhibits.
The Corcovado Jungle is home to animals from Latin America, including
jaguars,
spider monkey
Spider monkeys are New World monkeys belonging to the genus ''Ateles'', part of the subfamily Atelinae, family Atelidae. Like other atelines, they are found in tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil. The ...
s,
macaws,
capybaras,
kinkajou
The kinkajou ( /ˈkɪŋkədʒuː/ ''KING-kə-joo''; ''Potos flavus'') is a tropical rainforest mammal of the family Procyonidae related to olingos, coatis, raccoons, and the ringtail and cacomistle. It is the only member of the genus ''Potos'' ...
s, and the
prehensile-tailed porcupine
The prehensile-tailed porcupines or coendous (genus ''Coendou'') are found in Central and South America. Two other formerly recognized Neotropical tree porcupine genera, ''Echinoprocta'' and ''Sphiggurus'', have been subsumed into ''Coendou'', si ...
. The La Selva Amazonica pavilion houses four different species of
tamarin
The tamarins are squirrel-sized New World monkeys from the family Callitrichidae in the genus ''Saguinus''. They are the first offshoot in the Callitrichidae tree, and therefore are the sister group of a clade formed by the lion tamarins, Goe ...
s as well as Geoffrey's
marmosets
The marmosets (), also known as zaris or sagoin, are 22 New World monkey species of the genera ''Callithrix'', ''Cebuella'', ''Callibella'', and ''Mico''. All four genera are part of the biological family Callitrichidae. The term "marmoset" i ...
.
Desert dwellers such as fennec
foxes
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
,
meerkats, and the
sand cat
The sand cat (''Felis margarita'') is a small wild cat that inhabits sandy and stony deserts far from water sources. With its sandy to light grey fur, it is well camouflaged in a desert environment. Its head-and-body length ranges from with a ...
, and forest animals including
komodo dragon
The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is the largest extant ...
s can be found in the Deserts and Forests of the World buildings.
Walkin' the Tracks holds the zoo's North American animals, including
bobcats,
prairie dogs and
white-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...
. Its theme is around a railroad in reference to Chattanooga's rail history. The Cougar Express has indoor viewing in a train car for the zoo's cougars.
The Warner Park Ranch is home to dromedary
camels
A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. ...
,
pot-bellied pig
Vietnamese Pot-bellied is the exonym for the Lon I ( vi, Lợn Ỉ, italic=no) or I pig, an endangered traditional Vietnamese breed of small domestic pig.
The I is uniformly black and has short legs and a low-hanging belly, from which the name d ...
s,
miniature horse
A miniature horse is a breed or type of horse characterised by its small size. Usually it has been bred to display in miniature the physical characteristics of a full-sized horse, but to be little over in height, or even less. Although such hor ...
s,
alpaca
The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can success ...
s, and a highland
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
. The petting zoo houses a few different breeds of
goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...
s, which guests are allowed to pet.
A new front entrance complex opened in 2008, and includes new parking areas, a gift shop, restroom facilities, a concessions pavilion, and an endangered species carousel.
In May 2020, the zoo received three male
reticulated giraffe
The reticulated giraffe (''Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata'' or ''G. reticulata''), also known as the Somali giraffe, is a subspecies or species of giraffe native to the Horn of Africa. It lives in Somalia, southern Ethiopia, and northern Ken ...
s, opening the Makazi Ya Twiga exhibit and completing Phase 1 of their "Reaching Great Heights" campaign and expansion. It later obtained
blue duiker
The blue duiker (''Philantomba monticola'') is a small antelope found in central, southern and eastern Africa. It is the smallest duiker. The species was first described by Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg in 1789. 12 subspecies are i ...
s in an indoor exhibit.
The zoo also operates an intake wildlife rehabilitation facility that treats admitted animals until they can be transported to another local facility.
Conservation
The Chattanooga Zoo is actively involved in conservation efforts, specifically the AZA's Species Survival Plan which manages the breeding, conservation, and welfare of endangered species throughout AZA accredited facilities in North America. The zoo has joined hands with
Lincoln Park Zoo
Lincoln Park Zoo, also known as Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens, is a zoo in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868, making it the fourth oldest zoo in North America. It is also one of a few free admission zoos in the Unit ...
in the Argentine Jaguar Conservation Project, and with
Lee University in the
Hellbender
The hellbender (''Cryptobranchus alleganiensis''), also known as the hellbender salamander, is a species of aquatic giant salamander endemic to the eastern and central United States. It is the largest salamander in North America. A member of the ...
Conservation Program. Since 1998, the zoo has also been a partner with the Zoo Conservation Outreach Group/Fundacion Zoologica (ZCOG). ZCOG is an organization that partners with
Latin American
Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...
zoos and assists with conservation initiatives in Latin America, specifically the saving of the Amazon Rainforest.
The future
The zoo is currently undergoing a five-phase, $12 million Master Plan that is transforming it into an excellent zoological facility. In the last 10 years, the zoo has expanded from to its current . The Master Plan includes new exhibits and expansion of the animal collection to specifically include
African penguins,
gibbons, and
Komodo dragon
The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is the largest extant ...
s.
Notes
External links
*
{{authority control
Zoos in Tennessee
Education in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Economy of Chattanooga, Tennessee
Buildings and structures in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Tourist attractions in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Zoos established in 1937