Memphis Zoo
by Frank Peters
Years ago, when I first started going, the Memphis Zoo it was a pretty sad place, with a few animals in cages that seemed to make little effort to mimic a natural environment.
Over the last several years, however, they have been building up a great exhibit, creating more natural seeming enclosures and gathering a richer variety of exhibits. Now the majority of their exhibits feature a more natural look and (at least to my untrained eye) the animals all seem happier.
The arrival of Ya Ya and Le Le marked, I think, a watershed moment. The zoo got funding to build a wonderful China exhibit to house them as well as a variety of other species native to that country. The exhibits include gibbons, langurs and mandarin ducks. I think its safe to say that the arrival of the Pandas put the Memphis Zoo on "the map" of US zoos.
Since then they've opened Northwest Passage, an exhibit featuring polar bears, sea lions and eagles. The exhibit includes a building with floor to ceiling glass on two walls. One one side the polar bears swim, and on the other the sea lions. Both interact with folks on the inside of the glass. Kids love it.
New additions on the way include a butterfly house (memorial day '07) , a Teton Trek exhibit (Spring '09) and a Zambezi river exhibit (Spring '10).
