Nashville Zoo at Grassmere
Encyclopedia
The Nashville Zoo at Grassmere is a 200 acres (80.9 ha) zoo
and historic plantation farmhouse located 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of downtown Nashville
, Tennessee
.
The Nashville Zoo at Grassmere is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums
(AZA).
The Nashville Zoo at Grassmere was founded in 1996, the result of a merger between two competing facilities, The Nashville Zoo (located in nearby Pleasant View
) and Grassmere Wildlife Park (which was located at the zoo's present location). The resulting facility has been engineered to grow so as to take maximum advantage of its 188 acres (76.1 ha).
house, called Grassmere or the Historic Croft Home.
Visitors to the zoo can tour this 19th century historic house museum, its gardens and the associated Grassmere Historic Farm.
The zoo contains a number of exhibits including:
Other exhibit areas provide homes for many other native and exotic animals including Bengal Tiger
s, Cougar, Meerkat
.
.
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
and historic plantation farmhouse located 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of downtown Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
.
The Nashville Zoo at Grassmere is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums
Association of Zoos and Aquariums
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums was founded in 1924 and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation.The AZA headquarters is located in Silver...
(AZA).
History
Pleasant View, Tennessee
Pleasant View is a city in Cheatham County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,934 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Pleasant View is located at ....
) and Grassmere Wildlife Park (which was located at the zoo's present location). The resulting facility has been engineered to grow so as to take maximum advantage of its 188 acres (76.1 ha).
Grassmere Historic Home
On the grounds of the zoo facilities, the property still maintains the original historic plantationPlantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
house, called Grassmere or the Historic Croft Home.
Visitors to the zoo can tour this 19th century historic house museum, its gardens and the associated Grassmere Historic Farm.
Exhibits
- The Gibbon Island - Featuring White-Cheeked GibbonGibbonGibbons are apes in the family Hylobatidae . The family is divided into four genera based on their diploid chromosome number: Hylobates , Hoolock , Nomascus , and Symphalangus . The extinct Bunopithecus sericus is a gibbon or gibbon-like ape which, until recently, was thought to be closely related...
and SiamangSiamangThe siamang is a tailless, arboreal, black-furred gibbon native to the forests of Malaysia, Thailand, and Sumatra. The largest of the lesser apes, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching 1 m in height, and weighing up to 14 kg... - The African Savanna - Featuring Masai GiraffesGiraffeThe giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...
, African Elephants and a Red River HogRed River HogThe red river hog , also known as the bush pig , is a wild member of the pig family living in Africa, with most of its distribution in the Guinean and Congolian forests...
. - The Unseen New World - An indoor exhibit area featuring numerous reptileReptileReptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s, amphibianAmphibianAmphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s, fishFishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, and insectInsectInsects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s
- The Bamboo Trail - Featuring the Red PandaRed PandaThe red panda , is a small arboreal mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It is the only species of the genus Ailurus. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, it has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and a waddling gait due to its shorter front legs...
, Javan RhinocerosJavan RhinocerosThe Javan Rhinoceros or Lesser One-horned Rhinoceros is a member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses...
, Clouded LeopardClouded LeopardThe clouded leopard is a felid found from the Himalayan foothills through mainland Southeast Asia into China, and has been classified as vulnerable in 2008 by IUCN...
s, Rhinoceros HornbillHornbillHornbills are a family of bird found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly-colored and sometimes has a casque on the upper mandible. Both the common English and the scientific name of the family...
, and Schmidt's GuenonGuenonThe guenons are the genus Cercopithecus of Old World monkeys. Not all the members of this genus have the word "guenon" in their common names, and because of changes in scientific classification, some monkeys in other genera may have common names that do include the word "guenon"...
, among others. - One White WallabyWallabyA wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name.-Overview:...
and two brown ones can be seen in the Critter Encounters exhibit. - A Lynx exhibit is open.
- An African Crested PorcupineCrested PorcupineThe crested porcupine is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae family.It is extant in mainland Italy, Sicily, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.-Physical Attributes:...
exhibit is now open. - The Flamingo Lagoon exhibit featuring 30 Caribbean Flamingos is now open.
- Bairds TapirTapirA Tapir is a large browsing mammal, similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile snout. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. There are four species of Tapirs: the Brazilian Tapir, the Malayan Tapir, Baird's Tapir and the Mountain...
exhibit is now open.
Other exhibit areas provide homes for many other native and exotic animals including Bengal Tiger
Bengal Tiger
The Bengal tiger is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent that in 2010 has been classified as endangered by IUCN...
s, Cougar, Meerkat
Meerkat
The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan"...
.
Other facilities
The Jungle Gym is the largest community-built playground of its kind in the country, created in 1998. Thousands of volunteers worked together to build a vast array of slides, cargo netting, swings and climbing structures for children.Conservation
The zoo is active in numerous research and conservation activities including participating in a number of the programs in the Species Survival Plan which is managed by the Association of Zoos and AquariumsAssociation of Zoos and Aquariums
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums was founded in 1924 and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation.The AZA headquarters is located in Silver...
.