Rainforest Adventures Trip report - Rainforest Adventures Pigeon Forge May 14 2021

SwampDonkey

SwampDonkey

In the Swamp
Premium Member
5+ year member
I had the opportunity to visit Rainforest Adventures this past week. The facility itself was nice enough, about as nice as I had expected. Overall it is OK, the enclosures are small for some animals, but adequate for most. We arrived just after they had opened for the day and the smell of rodents was quite strong. I believe this is due to the rather large area devoted to rats. The ventilation could be improved, but just getting rid of that area would help a lot.

The signs around were all professionally done and the overall design of the building was well done. The lemur cages were too small for them, they would do well to replace them with other animals. I am not sure that anyone is going there to see lemurs anyways.

The animals consist of various small mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Nothing really special stood out. Cages seemed clean and the animals seemed to be in good health.

I did not see the zorilla anywhere, I am not sure if I just missed it (hard to do as the place is pretty small) or if it is gone now.

The facility consists of two rectangular halls and an outdoor area for sheep, goats, emu, and tortoise. The african porcupines have a huge enclosure, easily the largest at RA.

Overall this place was OK, nothing special, but I am glad I went while we were there. That said, I think in the future I would go to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies instead if I had to choose between the two. But I am happy to have seen this and would recommend it to anyone into zoos that happens to be in the area.

A few pictures, more in the media gallery:
African Porcupine:
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Hall:
full

Lemurs:
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Spectacled Caiman:
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Main hall area:
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FBBird said:
Oh dear, flight restricted parrots.....
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Yeah....they kind of fit into the "but why?" category for this place. Why have the parrots flight restricted? Why have them at all? Why have the lemurs in small cages? Why have them at all? No one is going to this place for these animals and they could find something that fits the environment better.
 
The zorilla was immediately to the right of the cusimanse. The porcupine exhibit previously held their serval, hence the size :)
 
I mean if its such a small zoo why wouldn't people want to see lemurs? They are generally popular in all facilities that keep them. What specific other animals are people going there to see?

While I oppose wing clipping birds the cockatoos seem to have more available space than some at AZA accredited zoos such as Brookfield which exhibits wing clipped macaws on small java wood trees in aviaries they cannot utilize.
 
TinoPup said:
The zorilla was immediately to the right of the cusimanse. The porcupine exhibit previously held their serval, hence the size :)
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Ah, in that case I am not certain it was still there. I think that enclosure had a python in it....

The serval makes a lot of sense for that exhibit, thanks! Any idea why they have the bleachers? I imagine they do some sort of show or something, but they were not doing it right now.
 
Sheather said:
I mean if its such a small zoo why wouldn't people want to see lemurs? They are generally popular in all facilities that keep them. What specific other animals are people going there to see?

While I oppose wing clipping birds the cockatoos seem to have more available space than some at AZA accredited zoos such as Brookfield which exhibits wing clipped macaws on small java wood trees in aviaries they cannot utilize.
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Both valid points. But I still feel that anyone going to this place is not going specifically to see those animals, the lemur exhibits were really under sized for the amount of animals in them. They had a total of 4 lemur exhibits, and they were all under sized. They could move all the ring-tailed lemurs into the porcupine exhibit with some renovation, that would be far superior.

As to what might be a better fit specifically...maybe more tamarins or marmosets, perhaps bush baby or another similarly sized creature? The lemurs are just too large and too active for those size enclosures IMO.
 
SwampDonkey said:
Ah, in that case I am not certain it was still there. I think that enclosure had a python in it....

The serval makes a lot of sense for that exhibit, thanks! Any idea why they have the bleachers? I imagine they do some sort of show or something, but they were not doing it right now.
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I hope she didn't pass away, but they do seem to have pretty high turnover and she was several years old :(

They did shows with the serval in the past, and birds I think? My visit was during covid as well, so none were offered. The serval was sent to another zoo a year ago.
 
TinoPup said:
I hope she didn't pass away, but they do seem to have pretty high turnover and she was several years old :(

They did shows with the serval in the past, and birds I think? My visit was during covid as well, so none were offered. The serval was sent to another zoo a year ago.
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Thanks for the information :)
 
birdsandbats said:
I don't think that lemur exhibit is that bad, it isn't ideal but I've seen much worse.
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Which pretty much sums up this facility. Overall it is really pretty decent, but could be much, much worse.

Overall it is a decently designed place with a good selection of small animals. The entry fee at $15 is a little steep for a zoo this size and with these animals, but everything in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg is expensive.
 
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