The Louisville Zoological Gardens, commonly known as the Louisville Zoo, is a zoo in Louisville, Kentucky, situated in the city's Poplar Level neighborhood. Founded in 1969, the "State Zoo of Kentucky" currently exhibits over 1,200 animals in naturalistic and mixed animal settings representing both geographical areas and biomes or habitats.
The Louisville Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Throughout the 2010s, the zoo had annual attendance anywhere from 760,000 to 945,000 visitors. The zoo was built on land acquired by the City of Louisville in the 1960s from the estate of Ben Collins. Much of the initial funding was donated by local philanthropist James Graham Brown.
Opening Day in 1969 mostly had exhibits with four-legged animals such as elephants and giraffes. The zoo also offered a train to take zoo visitors past several exhibits; this attraction operated until 2019, and the trains were ultimately sold in 2021. Opening Day had some criticism from the general public as a lack of shade was evident throughout the zoo. Over time, tree growth has reduced the problem.
In 1997, a fully restored Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC #49) carousel was added as an attraction. In May 2007, Glacier Run Splash Park, a children's water playground with 42 water-spray features, opened at the zoo. The splash park was the first phase of the Glacier Run area to open, which features polar bear exhibits modeled after the town of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. The Splash Park closed in 2022 due to reconstruction of the drainage mat and reopened in April 2023.
Exhibits
The Louisville Zoo has eight large exhibits: The Islands, Africa, Glacier Run, Australia, South America, HerpAquarium, Gorilla Forest, and the Cats of the Americas exhibit.
Gorilla Forest
The zoo was awarded the 2003 Association of Zoos and Aquariums Exhibit Award for its exhibit "Gorilla Forest". The exhibit currently houses a troop of nine western lowland gorillas, and two pygmy hippopotamuses. Inside the circular Gorilla Sanctuary, visitors are separated only by glass and can interact with the gorillas.
Several different outdoor vantage points are available from which to see the gorillas playing and relaxing. In October 2022, one female gorilla named Helen died, and at the time of her death, she was the second-oldest gorilla in history, being born in Cameroon in 1958. She was also known as the "Grand Dame" of the gorilla world.
HerpAquarium
thumb|King Louie, the albino alligator
The HerpAquarium features over 100 species of reptiles, amphibians, and fish, from around the world including Gila monsters, panther chameleons, and black piranhas. A notable resident of the HerpAquarium is a rare male albino American alligator named King Louie. He is named after King Louis XVI of France, after whom the city of Louisville is also named. Louie was hatched at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park.
On March 31, 2006, the zoo added a group of seven common vampire bats obtained from the Philadelphia Zoo, and another ten from the Sedgwick County Zoo were added to the group in late May 2006. Eventually, the exhibit will house around 40 bats. The exhibit is designed to look like an old mine shaft.<!-- Zoo guests can get an up-close view of the bats flying, eating, and raising families. -->
Islands
thumb|Sumatran tiger
The zoo has a zoological exhibit called "Islands", which rotates a variety of animals into one exhibit space; this way the animals can explore different habitats throughout the day, as they would in the wild. This helps to give the animals needed stimulation and heightens their awareness. Moreover, the exhibit has natural predator and prey in the same space and has three outdoor exhibit areas and one indoor area. All animals in this exhibit are endangered or threatened species. The animals on display here change from day to day so that visitors can have a new and different experience with each visit to the zoo. The animals that can be seen in this exhibit include Sumatran tigers, orangutans, siamangs, North Sulawesi babirusas, Malayan tapirs, Aldabra giant tortoises, and little penguins.
The zoo is home to five orangutans, a male named Segundo, and four females named Amber, Bella, Sumagu and Kera. Amber is known as a social media star, particularly on TikTok, where videos of her pointing and ask zoo guests to show her things have gone viral. Amber is a hybrid orangutan, while Segundo, Bella, Sumagu and Kera are Sumatran orangutans.
The Islands Pavilion is an indoor area that houses many species of birds. The zoo was the first zoo in the world to hatch the rare white-throated ground-dove in captivity. The first hatchling was born on October 17, 2006, and a second followed on December 1, 2006. Some of the other bird species included in the Islands Pavilion are Victoria crowned pigeons, Nicobar pigeons, pied imperial pigeons, Jambu fruit doves, wompoo fruit doves, Asian fairy-bluebirds, red-crested cardinals, Indian white-eyes, Oriental storks, Hyacinth Macaws, African penguins and Inca terns. The pavilion also houses Rodrigues fruit bats, Binturongs, Cuban crocodiles, and Komodo dragons.
Wallaroo Walkabout
thumb|Red-necked wallaby
The Wallaroo Walkabout that opened in 2007 lets guests walk directly through the exhibit, which is home to common wallaroos and red-necked wallabies, as well as Australian birds including the emu, laughing kookaburra, Tawny frogmouth and Southern Cassowary. Visitors are able to interact with the wallaroos and wallabies if they stay on the walkway. Then after the wallabies and wallaroos, guests can go into the Lorikeet Landing, which is an Australian exhibit that is a walkthrough aviary filled with several brightly colored birds known as lorikeets. Currently, the zoo houses 56 lorikeets in a mixed flock consisting of five species of bird. Visitors can feed nectar to the birds right out of their hands.
Glacier Run
thumb|[[Polar bears (Ursus maritimus)]]
Finished in early 2011, this outdoor exhibit is based on the theme of an old gold-mining town bordered by a glacier, and features polar bears, harbor seals, grey seals, California sea lions, grizzly bears, and Steller's sea eagles. Outside the gold mine town are two exhibits for snow leopards and Siberian tigers. The exhibit also has a splash park for children that opened in 2007, and was the first part of this $25 million exhibit to open.
The exhibit also includes classrooms, party rooms available for rental, viewing areas above and below water, and a 200-seat outdoor auditorium for watching animal training demonstrations. A Steller's sea eagle named Pytr is housed in his own aviary set behind the sea lion amphitheater going 50 ft vertically. Alongside Pytr, the aviary houses Azure-winged magpie, baer's pochard, and red-breasted goose in a small walk through enclosure.
In 2025, the zoo received two koalas from the San Diego Zoo.
Africa
This region of the zoo is based on the African Serengeti. The animals featured here include African lions, dromedary camels, southern white rhinoceroses, common warthogs, addaxes, meerkats, naked mole-rats, Hartmann's mountain zebras, Masai giraffes, wattled cranes, eastern bongos, a boma petting yard for Nigerian Dwarf goats, ring-tailed lemurs, and colobus monkeys.
The Louisville Zoo was one of the last remaining zoos to exhibit African and Asian elephants together in the same habitat, which they did up until 2025, when they were moved to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. The zoo was home to a female Asian elephant named Punch, who was born in 1970, and a female African bush elephant named Mikki, who was born in 1985.
Cats of the Americas
This part of the zoo is next to the South America exhibit, and it has all rescued animals that cannot be returned to the wild. The animals include the Canada lynxes, bald eagles, and cougars.
South America
This exhibit of the zoo has animals from the Andes grasslands and Amazon rainforest of South America along with a botanical garden area. The animals in this exhibit include Chilean flamingos, maned wolves, Linnaeus's two-toed sloths, red-crowned cranes, red pandas, and toco toucans.
Kentucky Trails
A roughly $30 million Upland South Safari known as Kentucky Trails, built over roughly 20 acres in an under-developed portion of the property, will be dedicated to animals from North America. Kentucky Trails is being built in partnership with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife to house and exhibit native animals from the Appalachian and Cumberland Gap regions. Notable enclosers include two rotational Great Plains inspired woodlands that will house American bison, elk, American black bears, bobcats and other native animals. A large Rickhouse Hall inspired education center and restaurant is also to be built.
;Mammals
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| Western lowland gorilla
| Black-and-white colobus
| Chinchilla
| Domestic ferret
|-
| Orangutan
| Siamang
| African lion
| Cougar
|-
| Red panda
| Canada lynx
| Siberian tiger
| Grizzly bear
|-
| Addax
| Hartmann's mountain zebra
| Linnaeus's two-toed sloth
| Koala
|-
| Masai giraffe
| Common woolly monkey
| Polar bear
| Babirusa
|-
| Bongo
| Rodrigues fruit bat
| Vampire bat
| Dromedary camel
|-
| Domestic rabbit
| Black-footed ferret
| Four-toed hedgehog
| Binturong
|-
| Pygmy hippopotamus
| African pygmy goat
| Meerkat
| Naked mole-rat
|-
| Virginia opossum
| White rhinoceros
| Nigerian Dwarf goat
| Grey seal
|-
| California sea lion
| Malayan tapir
| Sumatran tiger
| Wallaroo
|-
| Red-necked wallaby
| Warthog
| Maned wolf
| Three-banded Armadillo
|-
| Harbor seal
| Ring-tailed lemur
| Snow leopard
| American beaver
|-
|}
;Reptiles and Amphibians
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| Leaf-tailed Gecko
| Bearded dragon
| Boa constrictor
| Rosy boa
|-
| Panther chameleon
| Cuban crocodile
| Poison dart frog
| Argentine tegu
|-
| Gila monster
| Komodo dragon
| American alligator
| Andean milksnake
|-
| Ball python
| Reticulated python
| Timber rattlesnake
| Blue-tongued skink
|-
| Corn snake
| Eastern indigo snake
| Western hognose snake
| Aldabra giant tortoise
|-
| Greek tortoise
| Star tortoise
| Gaboon viper
| Grey tree frog
|-
| American toad
| Sonoran desert toad
| African bullfrog
| Puerto Rican crested toad
|-
| Banded Egyptian cobra
| Green tree python
| Iranian fat-tailed gecko
| Emerald tree boa
|-
| Desert sidewinder
| Cottonmouth
| Copperhead
| Red-tailed green ratsnake
|-
| Angolan python
| Rough scaled sand boa
| Eastern diamondback rattlesnake
| Black kingsnake
|-
| Schneider's skink
| Sandfish
| New Caledonian giant gecko
| Sheltopusik
|-
| Pygmy spiny tailed skink
| Asian box turtle
| Diamondback terrapin
| Eastern box turtle
|-
| Hellbender
| Alligator snapping turtle
| Surinam horned frog
| California kingsnake
|-
| Rock rattlesnake
| Tiger rattlesnake
| Pueblan milk snake
| Black rattlesnake
|-
| Black-tailed rattlesnake
| Spotted turtle
|-
|}
;Birds
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| Mariana fruit dove
| Pink-headed fruit dove
| White-throated ground-dove
| Wompoo fruit-dove
|-
| Jambu fruit-dove
| Beautiful fruit-dove
| Caribbean dove
| Curl-crested aracari
|-
| White-crowned pigeon
| Papuan mountain-pigeon
| Nicobar pigeon
| Pied imperial-pigeon
|-
| Cinnamon ground-dove
| Black swan
| Red-crowned crane
| Golden-breasted starling
|-
| Wattled crane
| East African crowned crane
| Steller's sea eagle
| Bald eagle
|-
| Hawaiian hawk
| African penguin
| Oriental stork
| White stork
|-
| Saffron finch
| Sandhill crane
| Madagascar crested ibis
| Green naped rainbow lorikeet
|-
| Sunbittern
| Red-breasted goose
| Chilean flamingo
| Blue-gray tanager
|-
| Bay-headed tanager
| Emu
| Bali starling
| Masked laughingthrush
|-
| Inca tern
| Red-crested cardinal
| Madagascar fody
| Blue-winged leafbird
|-
| Dalmatian pelican
| Yellow-hooded blackbird
| Warbling white-eye
| Golden white-eye
|-
| Crested wood-partridge
| Mandarin duck
| Hyacinth macaw
| Emerald starling
|-
| Yellow-breasted ground dove
| White-crested laughingthrush
| Tawny frogmouth
| Chestnut teal
|-
| Turkey vulture
| Little penguin
| Baer's pochard
| Southern screamer
|-
| Waldrapp ibis
| Kookaburra
| Bridled white-eye
| Geen-naped pheasant pigeon
|-
| Victoria crowned pigeon
| Red-billed leiothrix
| Swainson's lorikeet
| Red lory
|-
| Oriental white-eye
| Red-tailed hawk
| Peregrine falcon
| Victoria crowned pigeon
|-
| Southern cassowary
|-
|}
;Fish
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| Green severum
| Silver arowana
| Redhook metunnis
| Banded archer fish
|-
| Banded lepornus
| Black piranha
| African moony
| Dolphin catfish
|-
|}
;Arthropods
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| Blue bloom birdeater
| Texas brown tarantula
| Venezuelan suntiger tarantula
|-
| Salem ornamental tarantula
| King baboon spider
| Mexican redknee tarantula
|-
| Chilean rose tarantula
| Mexican fireleg tarantula
| Brazilian salmon pink
|-
|}
Gallery
<gallery mode="packed">
HansomeLion 002.jpg|African lion
Addax at the Louisville Zoo.jpg|Addax
ZooHartmannsMountainZebra.jpg|Hartmann's mountain zebra
Red Ruffed Lemur 002.jpg|Red ruffed lemur
Demoiselle Crane Louisville Zoo.jpg|Demoiselle crane
African Pygmy Falcon 002.jpg|African pygmy falcon
Snow Leopard Louisville Zoo.jpg|Snow leopard
Gorilla at the Louisville Zoo 2.jpg|Western lowland gorilla
MasaiGiraffeP2.jpg|Masai giraffe
MhorrGazelleza.jpg|Mhorr gazelle
OrangutanP1.jpg|Orangutan
ZooManedWolf.jpg|Maned wolf
Southern White Rhino.jpg|Southern white rhinoceros
</gallery>
Notable individual animals
- Mojo, a patas monkey previously owned by NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, was given to the zoo on August 24, 2007, when he became too aggressive to keep as a pet.
- Scotty, an African elephant born on March 18, 2007, was the first elephant born in Kentucky. Scotty died on May 12, 2010, when he was only three years old, due to severe gastric and intestinal problems.
- The Louisville Zoo has hand-raised three baby siamangs—Sungai (from the San Francisco Zoo), Zoli (born at the Louisville Zoo), and Zain (from the Albuquerque Biological Park) after Zoli's parents died of E. coli sepsis and the other two were brought in as companions—and is thought to be the only Zoo to ever hand raise three baby siamangs this young.
- The zoo is also home to several black-footed ferrets, and participates in the black-footed ferret breeding program. The ferrets are one of the most endangered species in North America.
- Bakari (whose name is Swahili for hopeful) the Masai giraffe was born on February 17, 2009, with angular limb deformity, and had periosteal stripping performed on his leg. He is believed to be the first giraffe to undergo this procedure.
- Born in Alaska of 2011, a polar bear cub named Qannik was found orphaned on Alaska's North Slope and was rescued by the Alaska Zoo. During this time, the zoo was building Glacier Run and this new exhibit was deemed an ideal place for the new cub to go to by the AZA. Soon with the partnership of UPS, the cub was transported via air to the zoo in what was known as "Operation Snowflake".
- In June 2013, the Louisville Zoo organized a contest to name the first zebra foal to be born at the zoo in 13 years. The foal was ultimately named Ziva, after the fictional character Ziva David from the television series NCIS.
- On October 23, 2014, the zoo announced that their 11-year-old reticulated python, Thelma, had produced six healthy baby snakes in 2012 without any prior interaction with a male. She is the first known individual of her species (the world's largest species of snake) to have done so in captivity. It had initially been thought that the offspring were produced from long-stored sperm, until genetic testing showed that the neonates were "half clones" – i.e., she was their only genetic parent.
On June 1, 2009, the zoo train derailed. Three open-air cars and the engine went off the tracks and caused the passenger car to topple over, due to excessive speed and operator inexperience. The incident injured 22 people. An Indiana family that was on the train when the accident happened sued the Louisville Zoo. Amy and Darren Bamforth filed the lawsuit on June 10, 2009. Another family in Louisville who was on the train, also filed a suit. They sought unspecified monetary damages as well as a court order preventing the zoo from altering or destroying the train while the lawsuit proceeds. A spokesman for the zoo declined to comment. The zoo train was closed for four years. On July 2, 2013, the zoo train reopened to the public after buying new trains and investing in expanded training procedures. All legal actions regarding the incident were concluded as of October 2015.
On March 6, 2019, the zoo found a sinkhole after part of a mine collapsed in an undeveloped area near Mega Cavern.
See also
- List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area
- List of parks in the Louisville metropolitan area
- Senning's Park, Louisville's first zoo