Nashville Zoo

In 1996 the merging of two of highly competing animal zoos, the Grassmere Wildlife Park in Grassmere and the Nashville Zoo located near Ashland City in Nashville, gave birth to what we now enjoy the most when coming in touch with our wild side, the Nashville Zoo. This new zoo is now located in the area formerly occupied by Grasmere Wildlife Park. The new zoo has an area of approximately 200 acres. Big enough to accommodate additional species as the facility grows. A perfect place for the new zoo, Grasmere property is also a historical place. Way back in 1800’s, the Grassmere is a working farm until the middle of the 20th century. Though developed and modernized, the grounds of the zoo were preserved to still reflect that past. To remind visitors of the rich the history that went over the years.

Nashville Zoo is an exciting place to see and have an adventure. It has the Jungle Gym, a playground built by community volunteers who were natives of the area. Get a spin on our Wild Animal Carousel and sway or swing around and enjoy the 66,000 sq. ft. Jungle Gym. Another attraction is the Grassmere Historic Farm. A portion dedicated and recreated using past records of the earliest days of the farm way back the 1800’s. Its purpose is to reflect the earliest animal life at Grassmere. Among the significant animals that can be seen here are a cattle, chickens, sheep and horses. This is the home of the Tennessee walking horse and Percheron horse, the later being referred as the true, farm work horses.

The zoo is also famous of its animal exhibits. Just recently, it opened the Eurasian Lynx which is the largest among lynx species. It is like one of the four major lynx species namely Bobcat, Canadian, Eurasian, and Iberian. Critter Encounters is another exhibit that features a selection of animals where you can get the pleasure of experiencing the animals up-close. The selection includes a donkey, toco toucans, alpacas, hornbills, and numerous attractive sheep as well as goats. The exhibit also features ducks, a turkey, and a fowl called Vulturine Guinea. Bamboo Trail is a bamboo forest exhibit offering a display of animals which you can find from across the world. It showcases red pandas, clouded leopards, Schmidt’s Guenon and ring-tailed lemurs. There are many other exhibits being offered by the zoo and several new exhibits are being added every year.