Nashville Zoo

Zoo: 2023 saw the return of guest favorites, additional new features, and a few new records along the way - all thanks to the generosity of our supporters! Dinotrek roared back for its second consecutive year featuring more than 20 giant, life-size animatronic dinosaurs. Black history tours at morton family cabin were introduced at the Zoo's historic home and farm, offering guests to learn about the morton family who lived and worked at grassmere for decades. Nashville Zoo opened the largest komodo dragon habitat in the country in july and donated $50,000 to komodo dragon conservation. The hca healthcare veterinary center was awarded top honors for the association of Zoo and aquariums 2023 facility award. Zoolumination returned in november of 2023 featuring more than 1,000 hand-made, silk chinese lanterns welcoming more than 140,000 guests. A new koi pond officially debuted in august of 2023 at the entrance to the Zoo's jungle gym playground and features hand-laid tile work, specialized sculptures and hand-selected japanese koi fish. Sips for species, a brand-new adults-only event that supports conservation, welcomed a sold-out crowd of more than 2,000 people. Nashville Zoo also celebrated record-breaking numbers across the board in 2023 including 1.4 million in attendance and 43,529 membership households.

Education: overall Nashville Zoo served a total of 457,955 individuals through educational programming in 2023.we had 39,502 students visit the Zoo through field trips, coming from 36 different counties.attendance for traditional programming includes:*homeschool days served 1,417 students in 2023 between the ages of 5-14*zootots served 2,275 students in ages 0-4*scout workshops served 603 students in 2023*zooventures outreach virtual programs served 23,386 students*summer camps served 1,170 students in 2023in addition to traditional classroom-based programming, our interpretive staff served a total of 160,398 guests through interpretive programming.

Conservation: over the past 25 years, Nashville Zoo has become a recognized leader in the conservation of many species due to our commitment to global and local conservation through research, habitat protection, breeding programs and education initiatives. In 2023, staff members worked to save, research and bolster populations right here in middle Tennessee through partnerships with local agencies and organizations. In may of 2023, the Zoo's ectotherm team successfully released 24 eastern hellbenders back into the wild as part of the headstart program. The Zoo has been working with this state-endangered species for over two decades. In the spring and summer of 2023, the aquatics team surveyed over 400 Nashville crayfish in mill creek to continue tracking population trends and learn more about water quality in the area. During its second year, the Zoo's motus tower, a radio telemetry system, detected more than 130 birds. The goal of this ongoing project is to help with the research and education of smaller migratory bird species to better understand their ecology and conservation. Nashville Zoo launched a new pollinator program highlighting the importance of both native and pollinator species and their habitats through guest engagement and curation of pollinator habitats on Zoo grounds. The Zoo also actively participates in the aza safe (saving animals from extinction) north american monarch program and have been tagging monarchs for monarch watch's migration study. Nashville Zoo celebrated a conservation milestone with the first-ever birth of three critically endangered sumatran tiger cubs in october of 2023. Other notable births in 2023 included red ruffed lemur, eland, civet, clouded leopard, nigerian dwarf goat triplets and two bonteboks. The Zoo welcomed four new species in 2023 including the amur leopard and eastern black-and-white colobus monkey, both set to make their debut in 2024. Nashville Zoo participates in over 70 of the aza's species survival plans, working to maintain genetically diverse and self-sustaining populations in human care. By the end of 2023, Nashville Zoo donated more than $800,000 in financial support, supplies and skills to conservation efforts around the world.