Dallas Zoo - Future

Future

A capital improvement plan has been approved by the Dallas Zoological Society, Dallas Zoo Management, and the Park Board. This improvement plan will completely renovate the original Wilds of Africa and the monorail. Additionally, major improvements will be made to ZooNorth, the oldest section of the zoo. The plan will require a combination of public and private funds in the amount of $53 million over a five-year period.

The Dallas Zoo Conservation Education & Science Center is a proposed 70,400-square-foot (6,540 m2) facility that will be located adjacent to ZooNorth. The facility will be a teaching laboratory for conservation of the world ecology systems and will be LEED certified silver level category. It will include research, teaching and interpretive facilities, and will become the new entrance to the zoo. This project is currently in the design phase and on hold pending funding.

The Dallas Zoo Long Range Development Plan includes a zoo shuttle to transport visitors between the ZooNorth and Wilds of Africa regions. The proposed route would make a circle in the central area of ZooNorth, then proceed south through ZooNorth and through the tunnel on its way to the Wilds of Africa. Once inside the Wilds of Africa, the shuttle would make a circle in the central area of Wilds of Africa, proceed to the Giants of the Savanna exhibit, make a central circle, then proceed back to ZooNorth.