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BlackRhino

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Has anyone here been to the Nashville Zoo recently?

I have heard they have one of the best elephant habitats in the country (3 acres and its very grassy) and that they also have good exhibits for Clouded Leopard and Red Panda. I know that in a few years they are opening a new South American exhibit with tapirs, jaguars, and more. It sounds like a great zoo that is new and continues to grow.
 
The zoo is extremely new zoo wise as it opened 1997
 
Yes. The current property known as Grassmere was donated to the Cumberland Science Museum in 1985. The Museum sold some of the property and used the funds to open a Wildlife Park focusing on native Tennessee wildlife in 1990. At about the same time a small privately owned and managed zoo opened in a nearby town called Joelton. The Grassmere Wildlife Park closed due to poor attendance and the managers of the Nashville Zoo in Joelton were approached by the city of Nashville to move its collection to the Grassmere site (which was larger and easier to access).
 
BlackRhino said:
I have heard they have one of the best elephant habitats in the country (3 acres and its very grassy)
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Here are some pics from the zoo's elephant exhibit that I found on Flickr:

The Elephant Sanctuary on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
The Elephant Sanctuary on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSC04791 elephants on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Elephant on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
elephants on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Elephants on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
More Elephants at the Nashville Zoo on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
elephants on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Elephants! on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Nashville Zoo on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
elephant1 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
IMG_4314.JPG on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I agree that this is one of the best elephant exhibits in the country. Are there any plans to breed the females?
 
They don't have any males, but all the females are relatively young (in their 20's) and the habitat would be a great place for a baby elephant to grow up, so I think they might be trying AI. The nearby Memphis and Knoxville Zoo's are doing AI and their elephant exhibits are not that great, so I would imagine Nashville would.
 
I just checked the ages in the studbook and they are 24, 26, 28. They should really AI the 24 year old before she gets too old transport a bull into the facility because they definitely have the space.
 
Does anybody know how large the elephant exhibit is? It looks like its over an acre.

Also, I was at the Nashville Zoo in 98 or 99, I can't remember because I was seven or eight. The map of the zoo looks different from what I remember. Were there ever camels near the parking lot?
 
The zoo you visited ten years ago is not this site. That zoo is closed and gone. Same organization, different site.

The exhibit is about 3+ acres.

It was originally designed to include a bull with a separate bull yard, but that section has not yet been built. It can be added in the future.

As part of the African Savanna, there is a giraffe yard adjacent to the elephants and a red river hog exhibit along the path. Eventually this will connect to African Forest (gorillas, etc.)

The South America exhibit ought to be quite large...the biggest thing Nashville has done yet. As much indoors as out. It awaits fund raising to begin design work.
 
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Zooplantman is right. The elephants have a huge 3 acre grassy paradise. It is a really great facility for breeding, but they don't have a bull.
 
But I thought the current zoo opened in 97, and I visited in 98 or 99. Was the other facility open in 98 or 99?

And with the other Tennessee zoos using AI I think Nashville should finish the bull yard and acquire a male.
 
ColumbusZoo001 said:
But I thought the current zoo opened in 97, and I visited in 98 or 99. Was the other facility open in 98 or 99?

And with the other Tennessee zoos using AI I think Nashville should finish the bull yard and acquire a male.
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I'm not sure when the old zoo closed. I think both were open for awhile. In 1998 there was very little at the present site.

The zoo absolutely agrees...I believe..that they ought to have a bull. But it is expensive and they have an entire zoo to build.
 
They could just put the bull in with the females like they do at SDWAP and the Columbus Zoo. The exhibit is plenty large to give the bull his space and still be in w/ the females.
 
Not every bull can just be placed with elephant cows...its takes a true gentleman of a bull to do so. Also there is a bit of a African bull shortage in the US, so not every zoo can have a bull right now. I do know that Nashville has been attempting AI from some time now.
 
I visited on Friday, and I must say that this is one of the best lanscaped zoos I've been to. The bamboo forest is very impressive and plantings in general were dense enough to keep us relatively comfortable on a day that felt like 103F.

I haven't seen anyone mention the tapir exhibit, which as most there was quite nice. It was a terraced grassy field with a pool. Unfortunately, the tapir were not on display. They were constructing a flamingo pool right next to the exhibit, so perhaps they were shielding them from the noise.

I also particularly enjoyed the New World building. They had some nice aquatic/terrestrial displays featuring the usual Amazonian fish (arrowana, pacu, plecostomous, catfish) as well as some saurians such as green basilisks and a couple of big caiman lizards. There was also a terrific open-air rhino iguana display that was built to look like a Carribean beach. The rhino iguanas were enormous.

And yes, folks, the elephant exhibit is amazing. There are at least four viewing areas that I can remember, and I couldn't even find the elephants until I got to the very back end. This zoo also uses a ton of that hotwire/grass. You may not notice it if you weren't aware that such a contraption existed. If you look close, you can see tiny metal tabs on the wire.

I for one can't wait to see this zoo grow into it's acreage. They don't really have a bad exhibit at the moment, so they seem to be on the right track. There really is a lot of potential exhibit space here.
 
Zoo's Tapirs Now On Exhibit - Community News Story - WSMV Nashville
The Nashville Zoo's three Baird’s tapirs are now on exhibit.

Guests can see the tapir family -- Houston, Romeo and their son Noah -- at their new home near Bamboo Trail.

“We are all very excited to have Baird’s tapirs in our animal collection and on view for the public,” said Rick Schwartz, zoo president, in a news release sent to Channel 4 News.

“Tapirs are endangered and Nashville Zoo is taking steps to help secure their future,” Schwartz said.

Houston and her mate Romeo arrived at Nashville Zoo from Central America in 2008 as part of a collaborative breeding program with the Houston Zoo to introduce a new genetic line, called "founder animals," into the United States tapir population.

Last year, zoo staff confirmed Houston’s pregnancy, and after a 16-month gestation period she gave birth to Noah on May 2 during Nashville’s severe flooding.

Noah’s birth is the first offspring from founder animals in more than 30 years and helps in sustaining a genetically diverse population of tapirs.
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