Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens in Duval County, Florida

Photograph: African-Elephant Jacksonville-Zoo.JPG by Echo73 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Restored from the credited Wikimedia Commons file, normalized to the consistent attraction-card frame and converted to WebP by 1stFlorida.com. Portrait originals retain their complete composition over a softly blurred extension of the same photograph.

Duval County attraction

Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens

Duval County · North Florida & First Coast

A 122-acre zoo and botanical garden at the mouth of the Trout River, holding over 2,000 animals and more than 1,000 kinds of plant.

QUESTIONS THAT NAME THIS PLACE

Where Are the Zoos and Aquariums in Florida?

ABOUT THIS PLACE

The zoo opened on May 12, 1914, as the Municipal Zoo in Springfield, with one red deer fawn. It moved to its present ground at the mouth of the Trout River in 1925, started a long redevelopment in 1992, and changed its name to Jacksonville Zoo and Botanical Gardens on May 19, 2025. It now covers 122 acres, grown from the original 37.5, at 370 Zoo Parkway. There are over 2,000 rare and exotic animals and more than 1,000 plant species. The exhibits people go for are Range of the Jaguar, which the Association of Zoos and Aquariums named its Exhibit of the Year in 2005, Land of the Tiger, which opened in 2014, Plains of East Africa, Primate Forest and Wild Florida. The botanical side runs to Asian gardens and the Trout River Plaza. It is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, takes part in more than 95 Species Survival Plans and in over 50 national and international conservation programs, and runs a critical care center for manatees. A colony of wood storks has nested here since 1999. Close to 100,000 schoolchildren come through each year on field trips, and the zoo runs camps and classroom programs alongside them

GETTING THERE

Get Directions ↗Official place website ↗

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