Rainforest Adventures RainForest Adventures Zoo Species List

CMP

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Here is a complete species list for RainForest Adventures Zoo in Sevierville Tennessee. My visit was back in June of this year, but it should still be mostly the same. I visited previously way back in 2015, and other than the Zorilla, it hasn't changed much!

The zoo is mostly contained within a single building with a petting zoo and a couple enclosures outside in the back. Exhibit quality was ok, nothing too terrible and pretty much every enclosure had good substrates, and the animals looked healthy.

(m/r/a) = 'lifer'
(SNS) = Signed, Not Seen

Two entry enclosures
1. Red-fronted Brown Lemur (Eulemur rufifrons) (m)
2. Brown Lemur (Eulemur fuscus) (m)

Hallway of herp terrariums
3. Burmese Python (Python bivittatus)
4. Reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus)
5. Green basilisk (Basiliscus plumifrons)
6. Sudan Plated Lizard (Broadleysaurus major) (r)
7. California kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae) (r)
8. Red eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas) (SNS)
9. Marine toad (Rhinella marina)
10. Leopard Gecko (Eublepharis macularius)
11. Sinaloan milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum sinaloae) (SNS)
12. New Caledonia giant gecko (Rhacodactylus leachianus)
13. Cotton-top Tamarin (Saguinus oedipus)
14. Western Hognose Snake (Heterodon nasicus)
15. Egyptian Fan-footed Gecko (Ptyodactylus guttatus) (r)
16. Snake-necked turtle (Chelodina sp.), Snake-necked turtle (Emydura sp.)
https://www.zoochat.com/community/media/toad-headed-turtle-sp.766738/full and https://www.zoochat.com/community/media/snake-necked-turtle-sp.766737/full if you are curious, could be Northern Red-faced Turtle (Emydura australis) which only has one ZTL record​
17. Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum)
18. Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (Grammostola rosea)
19. Grey-banded kingsnake (Lampropeltis alterna)
20. Red-headed Agama (Agama agama) (r)
21. Veiled chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptratus)
22. Ball Python (Python regius)
23. Sahara mastigure (Uromastyx geyri) (r)

Small wall-cutout terrariums
24. Roach sp.
25. Gecko sp.
26. Boa sp.

Larger enclosures
27. Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)
28. Boa constrictor (Boa constrictor)
29. Ring-Tailed Lemur (Lemur catta)
30. Hahn’s Macaw (Diopsittaca nobilis nobilis) (b)

Outdoor section
(Also domestics like sheep, etc., I didn't really take note)

Outdoor small paddock

31. African Spur-thigh Tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata)

Inside a meshed walk-through area
32. Blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna)
33. Golden Pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus), tortoise sp.

On an outdoor patio
34. Serval (Leptailurus serval) (SNS)
35. Blue eared-pheasant (Crossoptilon auritum) (b)
36. Black-capped Capuchin (Sapajus apella) (m)

Back indoors
Another hallway with more enclosures
37. Agouti (Dasyprocta leporina)
38. Common water monitor (Varanus salvator)
39. Fat-tail Gecko
40. Kenyan Sand Boa (Eryx colubrinus)
41. Degu (Octodon degus)
42. Crocodile monitor (Varanus salvadorii)
43. Argentine black and white tegu (Salvator merianae)

Another hallway with smaller enclosures across from the long one for Kusimanse
44. Umbrella cockatoo (Cacatua alba) (b)
45. Blue-tongued skink (Tiliqua scincoides)
46. Carpet Python (Morelia spilota)
47. Common Kusimanse (Crossarchus obscurus) (m)
48. Sugar Gilder (Petaurus breviceps) (m)
49. Central bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps)

Larger enclosures for small primates and Caiman
50. Common Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) (m)
51. Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri sciureus)
52. Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus)

Atrium for Cockatoos on sticks
53. Moluccan Cockatoo (Cacatua molucanensis) (b)
54. Sulphur Crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) (b)

Large enclosure off to the side
55. Golden-headed lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysomelas)

Wall of terrariums
56. Four-toed hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris) (m)
57. Boelen's python (Simalia boeleni)
58. Emerald tree skink/ green tree skink (Lamprolepis smaragdina)
59. Scheltopusik (Pseudopus apodus)
60. 'Mexican milk snake'
61. Red-Footed Tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonarius)
62. Solomon island skink (Corucia zebrata)
63. African Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus) (a)
64. Anthony’s dart frog (Epipedobates anthonyi)

Large enclosure for Binturong and medium for Mangrove Monitor
65. Binturong (Arctictis binturong)
66. Mangrove Monitor (Varanus indicus) (r)

'A Rats Tale'
67. Fancy rat
68. Domestic mouse
69. Domestic ferret
70. Guinea pig

Wall of nicely planted terrariums
71. Crested gecko (Correlophus ciliatus)
72. Emerald Swift (Sceloporus malachiticus) (r)
73. Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum)
74. Western bearded anole (Anolis barbatus)

A series of large enclosures with moc-rock back walls
75. Rock hyrax (Procavia capensis)
76. Cape Porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) (m)
77. Rosy-faced Lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis), Lovebird hybirds (Agapornis x Agapornis sp.)
78. Keel-billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus)
 
Do they not have bushy-tailed jirds anymore? The last USDA Report (from January 2024) lists them as having 4 while the last photo on zoochat is from 2020.
 
Thanks very much for compiling the species list as these kind of threads are valuable reference guides on ZooChat. From your description, it sounds as if this facility is a Reptile House with a sprinkling of other animals here and there. It's probably a good thing that this zoo doesn't have any exotic animals larger than a lemur or Binturong, and the herp collection is impressive.

A breakdown of animals (excluding domestics):

Mammals = 17 species (9 are primates)
Birds = 11 species
Reptiles & Amphibians = 45 species
Invertebrates = 2 species

TOTAL = 75 species
 
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Oh this is perfectly timed. I’m currently debating going either here (and Zoo Knoxville, which is more of a known quantity) or Greensboro Science Center on Saturday so this is immensely helpful. Thanks!
 
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Thanks very much for compiling the species list as these kind of threads are valuable reference guides on ZooChat. From your description, it sounds as if this facility is a Reptile House with a sprinkling of other animals here and there. It's probably a good thing that this zoo doesn't have any exotic animals larger than a lemur or Binturong, and the herp collection is impressive.

A breakdown of animals (excluding domestics):

Mammals = 17 species (9 are primates)
Birds = 11 species
Reptiles & Amphibians = 45 species
Invertebrates = 2 species

TOTAL = 75 species
Thanks for the stats!

I'd say it's a combination of a small animal and reptile house more so than just a reptile house with some others, the exhibits for primates and birds takes up a good portion of the footprint. Other than the lemurs, which some may find lacking and somewhat small, overall, the exhibit quality is pretty good, and enclosures are suitable, not much different from what you'd find in the AZA.

If I had to compare it directly to anything I've seen personally, I'd say it's what would happen if Wildlife World Zoo in Arizona decided to make a supersized version of one of their animal houses and decided to put proper substrates in. Mammals and birds mixed in with herps including some rarities for good measure.
 
Oh this is perfectly timed. I’m currently debating going either here (and Zoo Knoxville, which is more of a known quantity) or Greensboro Science Center on Saturday so this is immensely helpful. Thanks!
Zoo Knoxville is great because of the ARC and the Asian section, although RFAZ offers a much more unique experience and a more varied collection than you may be used to. Knoxville has some good rarities in its herp collection, especially the turtles, but it can be difficult to find them all. There are good herp rarities too, like the Egyptian Fan-footed Gecko (Ptyodactylus guttatus).
 
I did wind up visiting today and found a handful of differences since you made your list, so I’ll go through them here:

* Specifically, the outdoor domestics area contained goats, llamas, emus, and one greater rhea that I saw.
* Understandably, all outdoor birds and reptiles (aside from the two ratites) were indoors for the season. The toucans were on exhibit indoors, but I guess the others are being kept BTS.
* No signage for a serval that I saw.
* No sign of mice, rats, or ferrets, unless I missed them. The only pet store domestic I saw was a whole bunch of guinea pigs.
* No squirrel monkeys. A second cotton top tamarin and some small red footed tortoises occupied this enclosure.
* No rock hyrax. Instead they had a pair of two-toed sloths for which they were doing a feeding presentation (presumed Linnaeus's but I’m not 100%)
* No lovebirds. I assume the toucans are in the enclosure they would’ve occupied.
* No sugar gliders. Instead, there was a pair of southern three-banded armadillos beside the first kusimanse exhibit.
* The Argentine black and white tegu has been swapped out for a red tegu, but the signage still listed the former.
* A small turtle species that I could not identify (will upload pics shortly) shared the golden headed lion tamarin exhibit.

Overall this wasn’t a bad little place. Very easy to combine with Zoo Knoxville.
 
(aside from the two ratites)
These being?

No signage for a serval that I saw.
It seems the animal has passed on or was moved, seeing as it was SNS in June.

No sign of mice, rats, or ferrets, unless I missed them
There is a 'A Rats Tale' room that contains these, it's off of the room with the Binturong, you may have missed it

No squirrel monkeys. A second cotton top tamarin and some small red footed tortoises occupied this enclosure.
* No rock hyrax. Instead they had a pair of two-toed sloths for which they were doing a feeding presentation (presumed Linnaeus's but I’m not 100%)
* No lovebirds. I assume the toucans are in the enclosure they would’ve occupied.
* No sugar gliders. Instead, there was a pair of southern three-banded armadillos beside the first kusimanse exhibit.
These are a lot of big changes which is surprising. The Hyrax and Sugar Glider may have been single remaining individuals which I saw and maybe passed or were moved like the Serval. The Toucan was in a separate enclosure next to the lovebirds IIRC.

Thanks for the update! Seems like a number of changes occurred, which is surprising because a lot of these (Sugar glider, hyrax) were there in my visit in 2015.
 
The two ratites were the ones I mentioned in the previous point, a handful of emus and a lone greater rhea.

Sounds like I definitely did miss the rat’s tale room then. Thankfully there wasn’t anything important in there.

And as for the lovebirds, admittedly I wasn’t paying the most attention to that stretch since it was near the end and the species weren’t exactly head-turners, but there was a glass exhibit with a pair of toucans next to an open exhibit containing three African spurred tortoise and a salmon-crested cockatoo suspended above them (on a single stick, gross). I didn’t see any others, but it’s entirely possible I overlooked something else.
 
The two ratites were the ones I mentioned in the previous point, a handful of emus and a lone greater rhea.

Sounds like I definitely did miss the rat’s tale room then. Thankfully there wasn’t anything important in there.

And as for the lovebirds, admittedly I wasn’t paying the most attention to that stretch since it was near the end and the species weren’t exactly head-turners, but there was a glass exhibit with a pair of toucans next to an open exhibit containing three African spurred tortoise and a salmon-crested cockatoo suspended above them (on a single stick, gross). I didn’t see any others, but it’s entirely possible I overlooked something else.
Interesting, no porcupines? Those have been there a long time.
 
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