The El Paso Zoo is a fun and exciting place to visit in El Paso, Texas. Their membership plans are affordable and help fund the zoo and its mission to help endangered species thrive as well as support the many animals that live there and educate the public. They have 4 main sections: Africa, The Chihuahuan Desert, The Americas, and Asia. In each area, they have many animals you can recognize as well as animals you may not have known live in each area.
Africa
In the African area of the Zoo, they have lions, meerkats, zebras, and giraffes. Recently, the Zoo celebrated the birth of its first giraffe, a boy. The Zoo eagerly posted fun facts about giraffes to announce the news, and even hosted a baby shower for mom Gigi, with enrichment programs for all the animals involving piñatas and snacks that each animal enjoys. My favorite animals in the Africa section are the meerkats, the painted dogs, and the red river hogs.
The Americas
The Americas section of the Zoo encompasses South America, Central America, and North America environments and animals. There's a beautiful American crocodile named Brutus that loves to swim in his pool, particularly on hot days, a troop of spider monkeys, a variety of reptiles in the Reptile House, a really chill tamandua (that's a type of anteater native to South America), and a bunch of different monkeys there. Oh! And there's a two-toed sloth who sometimes likes to peek over their hammock to look at the zoo-goers. There's even two sea lions at the Zoo in this section: Little Bit (aka LB) and Delilah.
Little Bit (aka LB)
Hi there!
Little Bit (LB) is a California sea lion who lives at the El Paso Zoo. LB served in the United States Navy and is a Veteran who is absolutely enjoying his retirement, living under the wonderful care of his keepers at EPZ. He's 700lbs (!!!) and his keepers say his favorite seafood treat is mackerel. You can see him on exhibit and during operant conditioning sessions at the Zoo, Wednesday thru Sunday. He shares his exhibit with Delilah, the other California sea lion that lives at the El Paso Zoo.
Asia
The Asia section of the El Paso Zoo is home to many familiar animals, including a tiger, sun bear, Asian elephant, and orangutans. They recently acquired a Komodo dragon named Nova, who was born at the San Antonio Zoo on Halloween. The orangutans are named Ibu, Butch, Khaleesi, and
Chihuahuan Desert
My absolute favorite section of the zoo is the Chihuahuan Desert (aka my backyard). From the incredible Mexican Gray Wolf Pack to the jaguars and mountain lions to the white-nosed coati, there's so much to see here! The enrichment for the big cats that are native to the Chihuahuan Desert ranges from operant conditioning to just letting them tear into piñatas full of tasty meat treats, and it's so much fun watching them exercise their impressive skills and instincts. If you go early enough in the day, you can watch the wolf pack run about, and if you're super lucky, you can even see them get the zoomies like our domestic dogs do.
