Cameron Park Zoo will be closed to the public for its annual fundraiser, Zoobilee Friday, June 27th, and KidZoobilee Saturday, June 28th. The Zoo will be open to the public again Sunday, June 29th, for its regular hours 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. You may purchase tickets on line until Thursday, June 26th, or the day of each event. Shuttle parking is available at A. J. Moore.
WHAT HAS CLAWS & TEETH AND IS SPOTTED ALL OVER?
On September 2, 2007 the jaguar family at Cameron Park Zoo gained a new member, a bouncing 1.5-pound baby girl. She is now 5 months old and weighs a robust twenty-seven pounds. Her parents are 3-year-old mom, Tukari and father, four-year-old Nacon.
Because the jaguar is critically endangered in the wild, the cub is extra special. The cub has been blessed with Tukari’s stalky stature and sassy attitude. Her feisty nature earned her the name of Seraphina, which means “fiery one”.
Visitors can see the cub on exhibit with mom Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays with weather permitting.
FEEDING FRENZIES
The Paddlefish in the Braz Walker River Encounter building are fed most days at 11:30 AM and 3:00 PM and the Reef fish in the Brazos River Country Ship are fed at 2:00 PM. If you're feeling fishy come join the fun!
BRAZOS RIVER COUNTRY: A REAL TEXAS TREASURE
Visitors to Cameron Park Zoo's new Brazos River Country Exhibit won't need a time machine to feel they've traveled back in time to the era of Spanish explorers seeking the seven cities of gold. Instead of the mythical horde of metal, they'll find real treasure in the diverse animals and rich history preserved in this long-awaited signature exhibit.
Brazos River Country begins as visitors enter the hull of a sunken Spanish galleon. Once inside, they will discover a 50,000-gallon saltwater coral reef aquarium featuring fish native to the Flower Garden Reef in the Gulf of Mexico. They exit the ship onto a boardwalk over a sandy beach, home to pelicans, gulls, and other coastal birds.
As guests exit the beach they will enter into the swamplands where they will be greeted by alligators. Children will be able to watch alligators face to face from underwater viewing windows beneath a replica of a beaver's lodge.
Next stop will be the East Texas Forest region where visitors will discover black bears, cougars, and river otters. Children will have the opportunity to climb a ladder into a Forest Ranger's fire tower and slide down a clear tube through the river otter's pool.
On to the Blackland Prairie/Post Oak Savannah, where Waco's history is highlighted with replicas of Huaco Indian grass huts, caves of the Brazos River featuring a 35,000 gallon fresh water aquarium and a smaller aquarium with the pre-historic looking paddlefish.
Visit a fossil dig and the Junior League of Waco Butterfly Garden before moving on to the Cross Timbers region of Texas. In the Cross Timbers area guests will walk behind a waterfall and view jaguars and ocelots that historically lived along the Brazos River. At the Edwards Plateau, enter an old barn and find creatures that inhabit the night, such as bats and owls.
The final stop is the High Plains Caprock region, featuring bison roaming the open plains. Upon exiting along side an 1870's ranch house, visitors can view deer, turkey, and javelina as they complete their journey up the Brazos River.
Cameron Park Zoo is accredited by the American Zoo & Aquarium Association (AZA) and is a member of the World Association of Zoos & Aquariums. Even though it has only been at its current location for 12 years, the facility has received several awards and has gained a reputation for quality and has accomplished almost everything in the original master plan.
SAM JACK AND FRIEND
Many people think the wonderful photograph we are using on the home page of Cameron Park Zoo's web site and other advertising, i.e., billboard, newspaper, etc., has been super imposed or we used some other trick photography.
NOT TRUE! This is an actual photograph that one of our Zoological members took of her grandson and one of Cameron Park Zoo's lions, Sam Jack.
All visitors have the opportunity to get up close and personal with our lion, Sam Jack and his two lionesses, Sheba and Shamfa. A heavy glass separates the lions from our visitors so all can enjoy the big cats.
As luck would have it Cole and Sam Jack were next to each other and happened to look in the same direction at the same time and grandmother Sharlie Guthrie caught it on film. Sharlie shared the photograph with us and graciously agreed to let the Cameron Park Zoo use it as the vocal point on the Zoo's new advertising campaign.
We hope you enjoy this beautiful photograph and tell all your friends that it is REAL!
CAMERON PARK ZOO IS RECOGNIZED AS A WORLD CLASS ZOO
Jim Fleshman, Director of the Cameron Park Zoological and Botanical Society and the Cameron Park Zoo, was invited to Vienna, Austria August of 2003 to make a presentation to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). After the presentation, membership to WAZA was extended to the Society and to the Zoo.
There are 193 institutional members of WAZA representing 43 countries. In the United States 52 institutions are members of WAZA. A total of 8 institutions in Texas are members, and the Cameron Park Zoo is the only small facility in Texas that is a member.
The Cameron Park Zoo is also accredited by the American Zoological and Aquarium Association (AZA). Only 215 Zoos and Aquariums are accredited by the AZA, of the more than 2,000 licensed exhibitors certified through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Cameron Park Zoo is the only AZA and WAZA facility between Dallas/Fort Worth and San Antonio.
Founded in 1946 and known as the International Union of Directors of Zoological Gardens, the organization evolved into the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums with headquarters in Berne, Switzerland. Some of WAZA's objectives include promoting cooperation between zoological gardens and aquaria with regard to the conservation, management and breeding of animals in captivity and promoting environmental education, wildlife conservation and environmental research. WAZA membership will create more opportunities for the Cameron Park Zoo to become involved with conservation efforts of endangered animal species and environmental concerns with emphasis in Central Texas, and throughout the world.
Membership in WAZA gives the Cameron Park Zoo international recognition and will increase the number of international visitors.
State-of-the-Art Herpetarium
As visitors journey into the Cameron Park Zoo's one-of-a-kind Herpetarium, they enter through a rainforest inhabited by king cobras, anacondas, piranhas, alligators and numerous other reptiles.
The inhabitants are not the only ones to have a natural habitat in the Herpetarium: visitors also enjoy natural surroundings with spongy floors, trees, and vines. The exhibits have individual climate control, including a unique misting system in each tropical exhibit.
After the rainforest, visitors are immersed into a desert environment with black-head pythons from Australia, beaded lizards from Mexico, gila monsters from the Southwestern United States, and various rattlesnake species of the Americas. Guests are warned by the ominous sound of a buzzing rattle as they enter the diamondback rattlesnake den.
This unique Herpetarium was built in 1997 with $1.3 million in interest earned from the zoo's original $9.6 million bond and increased the zoo's attendance by more than 20%.
Cameron Park ZooThe Cameron Park Zoo is an award-winning natural-habitat zoo that has lush native vegetation everywhere, including native pecan, live oak, and red oak trees. Natural shelters, barriers, and water features enhance the different exhibits, making visitors feel they are walking in a park that just happens to have exotic wild animals.
The zoo is one of the 205 accredited American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) institutions in the United States and participates in several species survival programs (SSP). The zoo has a broad selection of threatened and endangered species including Sumatran tigers and the critically endangered Sclater's black lemur. The Cameron Park Zoo is the only accredited zoo between Dallas/Fort Worth and San Antonio.
The zoo began an expansion program in the fall of 2002 that will cover seven acres and increase the number of developed acres to 70 percent of the zoo's master-site plan. The project will double the number of animal species in the zoo's collection.
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Lemur Island
1701 North 4th Street | Waco, Texas 76707 | (254) 750-8400 Site design by Pollei Design Works | Flash programming by McKinleyBrown |
