The Memphis Zoo is home to 3,500+ animals representing more than 500 species from around the world, so Mike and I decided while staying near Memphis, we definitely had to visit it. We got there at about noon, and I wish we’d gotten there earlier in the day, with so many different kinds of animals in each exhibit you’ll want to give yourself plenty of time to see them all.
Exhibits to visit:
Cat Country: First we proceeded to the Cat Country exhibit, which holds lions, tigers, leopards, cougars, and a crafty little red panda, not sure why he wasn't in their China exhibit. Unlike the Smithsonian Red Panda, which constantly escapes, Memphis’ one seems content and occupied with eating in its enclosure. While we got pictures of a few of the inhabitants, several were quite stealthy in their hiding in their enclosure. The cheetahs, however, were up and walking about their enclosure on a tramped down path circling their territory.
Teton Trek: After Cat Country, we headed over to Teton Trek to catch the 1:00pm Grizzly Feeding, which was amazing. I’ve seen grizzlies on TV, so it was pretty awesome to see two up close. Only one of the two grizzlies jumped into the pool during the feeding. The keeper threw him cuts of cantaloupe and sweet potatoes from a bridge above a pool. He gobbled them up as she flung them down, he even dove down to find every single piece of sweet potato and cantaloupe. He was pretty adorable. I had Game of Thrones dire wolves flashbacks upon seeing the wolves in the park, oddly their exhibit was placed rather close to the elk exhibit. When a keeper walked by their enclosure, they all began howling, which some of the elk took notice of - others just continued to graze.
Northwest Passage: This exhibit focused on the Suquamish Tribe with a display about Chief Seattle. I recognized the native American artwork from pieces of art my parents brought with them from their time out in the Pacific Northwest, they actually lived on the Suquamish reservation in the 80s. As we walked through the passage seeing the ravens and black bears, we kept hearing a constant baying coming from the sea lion tank. When we came around the corner, the sea lion tank was all a flutter with the seals diving and bounding through the water while one cried out loudly each time it emerged from the water. After several minutes of watching them bustle to-and-fro underwater, a staff member came by and all the sea lions jumped to the rocks on the surface of the water and started screaming in her direction. She shouted back to them, “I know, your feeding is late, no need to cause a ruckus about it.” Once she passed by, they all went back to their swimming while the one previously screaming, bayed even louder. Memphis Zoo is one of the few zoos in the U.S. that owns polar bears – two in fact, though we only saw one in their habitat.
The African Veldt - This safari-like exhibit holds various creatures including two rhinoceroses, a big family of giraffes, three elephants and a host of zebras, ostriches, and gazelle. We got to watch an elephant feeding where the keeper went through enrichment exercises with each of the three elephants. The keeper explained that the enrichment exercises engages the elephants' minds and helps the keepers provide the animals healthcare when necessary. If the keepers need to give them medicine or check their limbs, the elephants can be moved or pick up their feet as necessary.
Herpetarium and Aquarium - We were running a bit short on time when we got to the Herpetarium, which houses lizards, turtles, amphibians, alligators, and snakes (which I loathe). The building holds so many different species it’s next to impossible to fully appreciate all of them. Though I loathe snakes, I’m still found these ones fascinating – pythons, rattlers, and vipers; Mike tried to frighten me by pointing out the anaconda on the floor, a tiled mosaic across the floor of the longest recorded anaconda (not real). The aquarium accommodates eels, puffer-fish, piranhas, and even a cute little octopus, which appeared to be looking for the exit from its tank.
Animals of the Night – The absolute coolest exhibit and the one I didn’t take any pictures of since the lighting was dim. Due to the animals in this exhibit being use to low light, visitors were prohibited from using flash photography. The first showcase you see is glass-enclosed with several species of bats of varying sizes flying about feasting on nectar, fruit, and bugs. It was mesmerizing and somewhat overwhelming; since we didn’t see any bats in the Mammoth Caves area during our stay in Kentucky, it was staggering to see so many in one place. The exhibit included various armadillos, sloths, aardvarks, frogs, naked mole rats (ick!), porcupines, and coolest of all a glow-in-the-dark scorpion (you think the terrarium is empty until you turn off the light shining on it and suddenly this tiny glowing scorpion appears, it’s cool and creepy). I’ve never seen such a large exhibit totally devoted to nocturnal creatures at other zoos, it was great to see and learn about each of them.
We did make it to all the exhibits at the Memphis Zoo, we saw the pandas in the China exhibit, which weren’t as big a deal there as they are at the Smithsonian zoo, but the otters were fun to watch. We saw the primates in Primate Canyon, I felt bad for the lonely male silver back gorilla who sulked in a corner at the mean pestering children who banged on the glass. At Zambezi River Hippo Camp, the Nile crocodile and hippo were hiding in their separate pools, so we only caught glimpses of them. We wandered around the farm at Once Upon a Farm, but it had mostly closed up by that time, only a few hungry sheep remained outside eating hay. As we left though I wanted to see penguins, who reside on this large peak in the middle of several exhibits, Penguin Rock, but it appeared empty until we walked around to the back where all of them were clustered in a small space waiting to be fed or turn in for the night, how orderly of them.
All in all, it was a fantastic experience for all ages! If you find yourself anywhere near Memphis, I highly recommend a visit to the zoo. I didn't get pictures of every animal from each exhibit because you really should come and see them for yourself. For the amount of animals living there and the courtesy of their staff, the experience was worth the $15 admission price.