ZooWorld Panama City Beach ZooWorld Panama City Beach- Full Species List

AndyJ08

AndyJ08

Well-Known Member
Hello, this is AndyJ08, and this is a comprehensive list of all species present during my July visit to ZooWorld in Panama City Beach, Florida. This is most likely the only complete species list online, as the species exhibits are changing all the time.

Lemur Encounter is a medium-sized, roofed enclosure with some rock work and plenty of branches for the inhabitants to climb on. It’s a bit expensive to do the much-advertised “Lemur Encounter”, ($120 for 15 minutes, wow!) but the lemurs can still be seen without purchasing the Animal Encounter passes. It contained the following:
1. Ring-tailed Lemur
2. Black-and-white-ruffed Lemur, Red-ruffed Lemur

Australia isn’t really an Australian-themed area, as only a few of the species seen here are from the land down under, and the theming is painfully random and lackluster. However, I was excited to see the recent improvements and new species additions in this area.
1. Red Kangaroo
2. Domestic Rabbit
3. Laughing Kookaburra
4. Linne’s Two-toed Sloth, Red-crested Turaco
5. Common Squirrel Monkey
6. Screaming Hairy Armadillo

Gentle Jungle serves as the zoo’s petting zoo, with most of their domestic collection. (mostly goats) A $6 bucket of animal food, as well as tickets to purchase lettuce to feed the giraffes are sold in a nearby gift shop. This area also has several “islands” surrounded by a moat which contains tons of unsigned turtles and a few massive channel catfish.
Island #1- Empty
Island #2- Empty?
Island #3- Blue-and-gold Macaw, Capybara, Domestic Duck, Military Macaw, Muscovy Duck, Scarlet Macaw, Various hybrid Ara macaws
1. African Pygmy Goat
2. Axis Deer
3. African Pygmy Goat, Domestic Donkey, Domestic Horse
4. African Pygmy Goat, Zebu cattle
5. African Pygmy Goat
6. African Pygmy Goat, Domestic Sheep
7. “Generic” Giraffe
8. Domestic Chickens

Budgie Landing is a large walk-through aviary, that as its name suggests; has hundreds of free-flying budgies and a few other bird species. This exhibit isn’t one of my favorites, namely because it’s always full of always wall-to-wall crowds attempting to feed seed-sticks to the unresponsive birds.
1. Budgerigar, Cockatiel, Peach-faced Lovebird

Allapattah Swamp is the best exhibit by far at the zoo, as it’s essentially just a huge pond with cypress trees home to around 100 alligators. Buckets of alligator food are provided for $5, and it’s always a sight to see the alligators swarming under the food-throwing guests.
1. Small pool for young American Alligators
2. American Alliagtor

The exhibits towards the back of the zoo have no formal name or geographic theme, although there are some rarities found in this area. Some of the exhibits are absolutely awful, (tigers, capuchins, siamangs) while others are spacious and well-done.
1. American Black Bear
2. Red-knobbed Hornbill
3. King Vulture
4. King Vulture
5. “Generic” tiger
6. African-spurred Tortoise
7. Chilean Flamingo, Lesser Flamingo
8. Southern Ground Hornbill
9. Aardwolf (an exciting first!)
10. White-throated Capuchin
11. Great-horned Owl
12. Curl-crested Aracari
13. Common Squirrel Monkey, Red-rumped Agouti
14. Red-fan Parrot, Red-footed Tortoise
15. Brazilian Porcupine, Green Iguana
16. Siamang
17. Red-footed Tortoise, Yellow-footed Tortoise
18. Emu

African Savannah is possibly the only exhibit complex in ZooWorld which actually has animal geographical theming, as well as some impressive exhibits.
1. Lesser Spot-nosed Guenon
2. Bat-eared Fox, Cape Porcupine
3. African Lion OR Spotted Hyena (rotating throughout the week)

Snakeatorium serves as ZooWorld’s reptile house, and despite being small, has a decent selection of species on display. The name is a throwback to the days when ZooWorld was known as the “Snake-a-Torium” and was focused more on reptiles than exotic animals as a whole.
1. Reticulated Python
2. Argentine Black-and-white Tegu
3. Red-tailed Boa Constrictor
4. Green Iguana
5. Rainbow Boa
6. California Kingsnake
7. Emerald Tree Monitor
8. Corn Snake
9. Central Bearded Dragon
10. Russian Tortoise
11. Green Tree Python
12. Empty

As a whole, ZooWorld is a small zoo that has heavily improved in recent years, and has a relatively diverse collection for a small, non-AZA facility.
 
I visited this place a few times as a kid and was a bit disappointed to learn later on in life that it doesn't have the best reputation. Glad you think they're turning things around!

I'm honestly a bit impressed that they still have their aardwolf - they’ve had it for a year and a half now. I was under the impression that aardwolves were difficult to keep alive in captivity, with Cincinnati being the rare exception that had both the means and interest to properly invest in them. Hopefully this is a good sign for the future of this species in the US. I know they've been slowly proliferating these past few years from a certain breeder, but I was worried that this was potentially a “pump and dump” type thing.
 
biggest_dreamer said:
I visited this place a few times as a kid and was a bit disappointed to learn later on in life that it doesn't have the best reputation. Glad you think they're turning things around!

I'm honestly a bit impressed that they still have their aardwolf - they’ve had it for a year and a half now. I was under the impression that aardwolves were difficult to keep alive in captivity, with Cincinnati being the rare exception that had both the means and interest to properly invest in them. Hopefully this is a good sign for the future of this species in the US. I know they've been slowly proliferating these past few years from a certain breeder, but I was worried that this was potentially a “pump and dump” type thing.
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Aardwolves really aren’t all that difficult, it was mostly a question of figuring out the diet, which was pretty well done by the 90s. The Baltimore Zoo was pretty much an aardwolf factory in the late 80s, early 90s, pumping out aardwolves in great numbers, and while they’ve never been terribly common in zoos, they weren’t unheard of to encounter back in the day at a handful of zoos. You meet their husbandry parameters and they do quite well. I’ve only ever worked with one, and it was one of the most charming little creatures I ever kept. As with many small, obscure carnivores, they just had the misfortune that not too many places were interested in them, and the TAG decided that the small African species niche was best filled by fennec fox.
 
biggest_dreamer said:
I visited this place a few times as a kid and was a bit disappointed to learn later on in life that it doesn't have the best reputation. Glad you think they're turning things around!

I'm honestly a bit impressed that they still have their aardwolf - they’ve had it for a year and a half now. I was under the impression that aardwolves were difficult to keep alive in captivity, with Cincinnati being the rare exception that had both the means and interest to properly invest in them. Hopefully this is a good sign for the future of this species in the US. I know they've been slowly proliferating these past few years from a certain breeder, but I was worried that this was potentially a “pump and dump” type thing.
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For starters, the family who owns the Zoo now previously worked at Busch Gardens Tampa. The previous owners were apparently fined by the USDA multiple times over safety and animal welfare violations, so they headed for the hills in early 2017. The family that owns it now seems to be adding in new species and updating current habitats, which is absolutely welcome, especially considering that the zoo used to have “Special Memories”-style conditions for the animals.
 
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Aardwolf said:
Aardwolves really aren’t all that difficult, it was mostly a question of figuring out the diet, which was pretty well done by the 90s. The Baltimore Zoo was pretty much an aardwolf factory in the late 80s, early 90s, pumping out aardwolves in great numbers, and while they’ve never been terribly common in zoos, they weren’t unheard of to encounter back in the day at a handful of zoos. You meet their husbandry parameters and they do quite well. I’ve only ever worked with one, and it was one of the most charming little creatures I ever kept. As with many small, obscure carnivores, they just had the misfortune that not too many places were interested in them, and the TAG decided that the small African species niche was best filled by fennec fox.
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The zoo also plans to demolish several of the wood-and-wire cages and the infamous “corncrib” cages in order to expand their African area. ZooWorld has a great staff team and plenty of money- what they lack is land, as they’re essentially corralled in by a highway on one side and a campground on the other,
 
Good job on your first species list. Were the Baird's Tapir and Warthogs gone or did you just miss them? They were present a few months ago when I visited. The Siamangs also rotate with Binturongs, despite the latter being unsigned.

Some birds and reptiles I saw are missing from your list (and vice versa) but those could more easily change even in a short period of time.
 
Thanks for the species list. Seeing names such as Aardwolf, Lesser Spot-nosed Guenon, White-throated Capuchin and Bat-eared Fox is a little surprising, but the 100 American Alligators and Snakeatorium also sound interesting!
 
SusScrofa said:
Good job on your first species list. Were the Baird's Tapir and Warthogs gone or did you just miss them? They were present a few months ago when I visited. The Siamangs also rotate with Binturongs, despite the latter being unsigned.

Some birds and reptiles I saw are missing from your list (and vice versa) but those could more easily change even in a short period of time.
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The Warthogs were off-show, and I forgot to list the Baird’s Tapir, as well as a single capybara in its exhibit. Thanks for spotting my mistake! :)
 
snowleopard said:
Thanks for the species list. Seeing names such as Aardwolf, Lesser Spot-nosed Guenon, White-throated Capuchin and Bat-eared Fox is a little surprising, but the 100 American Alligators and Snakeatorium also sound interesting!
Click to expand...
The alligator exhibit during feeding time has to be seen to truly be believed, as it’s definitely a sight to see the huge group of alligators chowing down on the meat tossed to them by keepers. And the Capuchins are very, very old, and kept in an awful corn-crib cage that’s set to be demolished, and ZooWorld plans to replace them with a new Vervet exhibit in the near future.
 
This zoo has always had an interesting collection since I first started visiting in mid 2000s. Orangutan, Andean Bear, Diana Monkey, Jaguar, Black Lemur, Sumatran Tiger, GLTs are just some of the former residents I have seen
 
PSO said:
This zoo has always had an interesting collection since I first started visiting in mid 2000s. Orangutan, Andean Bear, Diana Monkey, Jaguar, Black Lemur, Sumatran Tiger, GLTs are just some of the former residents I have seen
Click to expand...
The tamarins originally shared the exhibit with the agoutis, but the last one died of old age a few months ago, so a lone squirrel monkey and an iguana replaced them.
 
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