Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park

About Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park

Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park sits at 1101 McCallie Ave in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on 13 acres inside the city's Warner Park. The zoo is owned by the City of Chattanooga and managed by Friends of the Zoo, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), a distinction it has held since first earning it in 1998 and has renewed multiple times since.

The zoo's roots go back to 1900, though a permanent zoo at Warner Park was established in 1937 with a small cage built for two rhesus monkeys. Today the collection has grown well beyond that start: the zoo's own materials describe more than 500 animals representing over 150 different species from around the world, arranged across themed areas such as Deserts & Forests of the World and a dedicated hellbender research and education facility.

The zoo is organized around a mix of naturalistic habitat exhibits, an ambassador animal program used for education and encounters, and a growing set of Species Survival Plan partnerships. Its recent history has centered on expansion — from the Gombe Forest chimpanzee exhibit in the early 2000s to the Cape of Africa expansion that opened in 2024 — alongside conservation work on hellbender salamanders done in partnership with local universities and agencies.

History

The zoo's story begins in 1900, though the current site traces to 1937, when a permanent zoo was established in Warner Park with a cage built for two rhesus monkeys. By 1942 the collection had grown to include lions, buffalo, alligators, and bobcats, and the zoo had become one of Chattanooga's most popular attractions, run primarily for entertainment. After decades without major change, the site briefly became a petting-zoo-style attraction called Zooville in 1969. Conditions later deteriorated, prompting public criticism and the formation of the Friends of the Zoo (FOZ) support group, which pushed for renovations, professionalized staff, and pursuit of AZA accreditation.

The 1990s and 2000s brought a sustained building program. A new jaguar exhibit opened in 1996, and the zoo earned its first AZA accreditation in 1998. A revised master plan expanded the property from roughly 5 to 12 acres beginning in 2000, and the $1.9 million Gombe Forest chimpanzee exhibit opened in 2001, followed by the African Aviary and Misunderstood Marvels exhibits in 2002. The Himalayan Passage — described as the largest indoor Red Panda facility in the country — opened in August 2004, with a second phase adding snow leopard and Hanuman langur exhibits in 2006. A new $4.2 million entrance complex opened in 2008, the same year the zoo grew its property by 35% and received its third AZA accreditation term.

The 2010s and 2020s added the Corcovado Jungle exhibit (2010), a komodo dragon breeding facility (2018), a Giant Anteater in 2019, and the start of an Africa expansion the same year. The zoo became a KultureCity-certified sensory-inclusive facility in 2019. In 2020, three giraffes joined the Makazi ya Twiga expansion, and the Hiwassee Hellbender Research and Education Facility opened in March 2021. The Red Panda Rising exhibit followed, and in 2024 the $3.9 million Cape of Africa expansion opened, adding caracals, servals, Aldabra tortoises, warthogs, and Cape porcupines alongside an expanded giraffe yard.

Exhibits and habitats

The zoo's exhibit areas are grouped loosely by region and habitat type. Deserts & Forests of the World brings together arid- and forest-adapted species, while the Hiwassee Hellbender Research and Education Facility, opened in 2021, gives visitors a close look at the largest salamander species in the United States alongside classroom space used for the zoo's education programs.

The Himalayan Passage, expanded in two phases starting in 2004, is billed as the largest indoor Red Panda facility in the country and also houses snow leopards and Hanuman langurs. The Corcovado Jungle exhibit, opened in 2010 and expanded in 2017 with six new outdoor and six new indoor spaces, is home to South American monkeys and small mammals, including jaguars. Gombe Forest houses the zoo's chimpanzee troop, expanded in 2015 with animals donated from the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University.

The most recent major addition is Cape of Africa, a $3.9 million expansion that opened in August 2024 featuring an enlarged giraffe yard along with caracals, servals, Aldabra tortoises, warthogs, and Cape porcupines. Other named spaces include the African Aviary, Misunderstood Marvels, Warner Park Ranch (home to the zoo's alpacas), the Naked Mole Rat exhibit, and a Nature Play outdoor playground for younger visitors.

Animal highlights

The zoo's own materials describe at least 150 species listed on the zoo's website, spread across more than 500 individual animals. Notable residents include jaguar brothers introduced in 2010, snow leopards that have produced multiple cubs over the years, red pandas housed in the Himalayan Passage, and komodo dragons, one of which produced offspring through parthenogenesis in 2019 without a male parent. Other named animals in the collection include white-cheeked gibbons, prehensile-tailed porcupines, meerkats, giraffes, pied tamarins — a critically endangered species that has bred successfully at the zoo — a two-toed sloth, and the hellbender salamanders featured in the zoo's dedicated research facility. The 2024 Cape of Africa expansion added caracals, servals, Aldabra tortoises, warthogs, and Cape porcupines to the collection.

Conservation and programs

Conservation programming is a stated priority, with the zoo describing its outreach as reaching more than 200,000 people annually. Its most distinctive initiative is the Hellbender Conservation Program, run in partnership with Lee University, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Tennessee American Water Company, and the U.S. Forest Service, which surveys wild hellbender populations and works toward a captive breeding program for a species that has never been successfully bred in human care. The zoo has released batches of headstarted hellbenders back into the wild, including 30 in a prior release and another 31 in May 2024.

The zoo participates in 46 separate Species Survival Plan (SSP) programs, covering species that include the Cape and crested porcupine, Henkel's leaf-tailed gecko, prehensile-tailed porcupine, Roti Island snake-necked turtle, Santa Catalina Island rattlesnake, and southern three-banded armadillo, and it takes part in AZA SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) programs for 12 additional species. Staff also formed a local chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers in 2024, and the zoo maintains long-running partnerships with the Snow Leopard Trust, Proyecto Tití, the Turtle Survival Alliance, the Red Panda Network, and Rainforest Trust, along with an ECO-CELL electronics recycling program aimed at reducing demand for coltan mining in gorilla and chimpanzee habitat.

Planning your visit

As listed on the zoo's website, Chattanooga Zoo is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last admittance at 4:30 p.m., closing only for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. A $3 per-ticket discount applies to online admission purchases made in advance. Through the Museums for All program, SNAP participants pay a reduced $5 per ticket for adults and seniors and $2 per ticket for children ages 3–12. Annual memberships start at $60 for individuals, $75 for pairs, and $110 for families, and include reciprocal admission to more than 160 other AZA zoos and aquariums.

Parking is free, with reserved handicap spaces near the front entrance. The zoo rents strollers and wheelchairs from the gift shop, including an electric wheelchair for $25 plus a refundable $10 deposit, and offers wheelchair-accessible pathways across most of the grounds. As a KultureCity-designated sensory inclusive facility, the zoo provides sensory bags, a weighted lap pad, and a designated quiet zone near the alpacas in the Warner Park Ranch area. Food is available at Wild Burger, the zoo's on-site restaurant, along with several snack carts. Group visits require 15 or more people and a reservation at least three days in advance. Because these details can change, confirm current hours, prices, and accessibility options on the official Chattanooga Zoo website before visiting.