Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium - Exhibits

Exhibits

The exhibits reflect the zoo's theme of ecosystems from the Pacific rim: Southeast Asia, the Pacific Northwest, the tundra, and aquatic environments.

Asian Forest Sanctuary

This 5 acre (2.0 ha) exhibit complex which opened on July 1, 2004 simulates the forests of southeast Asia with a waterfall, streams, and plants native to the region such as bamboo. The complex is designed so that species are rotated to different parts of the exhibit after several days. Asian Forest Sanctuary includes Sumatran tigers, white-cheeked gibbons, siamangs, lowland anoas, Malayan tapirs, Indian Crested Porcupines, Asian small-clawed otters, and Asian elephants.

An expansion called Cats of the Canopy opened on August 27, 2011 and focuses on the clouded leopard. Viewing is provided by a wide glass window along a gravelly stream bed and into a heated den. The twenty-foot high enclosure also allows the cats to climb through the trees.

Rocky Shores

Completed in 1982, this exhibit is based on the shoreline of Cape Flattery, Washington and serves as home to harbor seals, Pacific walruses, sea otters, and tufted puffins in four separate pools. In the middle of the exhibit area is a building for underwater viewing.

Arctic Tundra

1981 saw the opening of this exhibit area, which forms a semicircle at one end of the zoo. Muskoxen and reindeer are housed in separate meadows on the outside of the pathway's arc, while polar bears and Arctic foxes live on the inside of the arc. The polar bears have an eleven-foot-deep pool with above- and underwater viewing.

The Aquariums

The North Pacific Aquarium and South Pacific Aquarium each house species from different parts of the Pacific ocean. The North Pacific Aquarium, opened in 1963, displays species from the nearby Puget Sound such as rockfish, pipefish, and the Giant Pacific Octopus. The 1989-era South Pacific Aquarium simulates tropical Pacific environments, with two coral reef tanks and a lagoon exhibit. The lagoon has small fish and eels, while the 250,000-gallon (950,000-l) Outer Reef tank has nurse sharks, blacktip reef sharks, and four other shark species.

Red Wolf Woods

The habitat was rebuilt in 2009 and opened again in the summer of 2010. The exhibit consists of two separate meadows with a rocky creek, hollow log, and other landscaping. The conservation center is designed to look like an abandoned farm building.

Kids' Zone

A number of animals are present including African pygmy goats, black-breasted leaf turtles, giant African millipedes, gopher snakes, green-crested basilisks, guinea pigs, sheep, Nigerian dwarf goats, Northern Pygmy Owls, ocellated rays, Parma wallabies, poison dart frogs, rabbits, rats, and tiger rat snakes. There are also play structures and a petting zoo.

Animal Avenue, a children's zoo expansion, includes meerkats, ring-tailed lemurs, black lemurs, Damaraland mole rats, Antilles pink-toed tree spiders, emerald tree boas, green tree pythons, western Bell's hinge-back tortoises, pancake tortoises, horned frogs, White's tree frogs, hourglass tree frogs, long-legged desert ants, emperor scorpions, Madagascar hissing cockroachs, African Cichlids and Budgies.

Other exhibits

Unincorporated exhibits include an artificial tide pool and a penguin habitat.