North Carolina Zoo

The North Carolina Zoo is located on 2,600 wooded acres centrally located in the heart of North Carolina, just south of Asheboro in Randolph County. With 500 developed acres, it is the world's largest natural habitat zoo and one of two state-supported zoos. The North Carolina Zoo is an agency of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The North Carolina Zoo grew from an idea initiated by the Raleigh Jaycees in 1967. The Zoo is 75 miles west of Raleigh, 25 miles south of Greensboro and 75 miles northeast of Charlotte. The NC Zoo has more than 1,800 animals from more than 250 species primarily representing Africa and North America. The zoo is open 363 days a year (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas) and receives more than 860,000 visitors annually. The North Carolina Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

## History

In 1967, the North Carolina legislature created the NC Zoological Garden Study Commission to examine the feasibility of a state zoo. The nine-member commission found that a zoo was both feasible and desirable. The next year, the North Carolina Zoological Society was formed with the goal of raising funds and public support for the zoo project. The same year, the legislature created the NC Zoological Authority to oversee the project. The site in Randolph County was selected from 6 sites after a 2-year search by the zoo commission, led by State Representative Archie McMillan of Wake County. After the selection of the site, its 1,371 acres (5.55 km2) were donated to the state. A $2 million bond was passed and Governor Robert W. Scott dedicated the site in spring 1972. Construction of the North Carolina Zoo began in 1974 with the official opening date of August 13, 1976. The first animals, two Galapagos tortoises arrived in 1973 and an interim zoo was opened in 1974.

The ground was first broken for the Africa region in the spring of 1976, and the grand opening of the original five habitats took place in the summer of 1980. Today, it’s home to a multitude of habitats, including those showcasing chimpanzees, giraffes, gorillas, zebras and, elephants.

In 1978, Ham the Chimp, the first hominid in outer space, was moved to the zoo from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. He lived there until his death in 1983 from a heart attack.

The zoo has continued to expand ever since. Throughout the 1980s, the exhibits of the Africa region opened and in 1984 the zoo received accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). In 1993, the first of the North America exhibits was completed, showcasing the animals and habitats of the Sonora Desert. The final North America exhibit opened in 1996.

The Connect NC bond referendum was approved during the March 2015 primary election. Funds from the bond will be used to construct a new Asia region which could with the goal of attracting more than 1 million people a year.

In addition to providing encounters with wild animals living in natural settings, the North Carolina Zoo offers down-to-earth, authentic and memorable ways for families to play and stay together. The Zoo also offers a variety of nature-based, educational programs and camps.

## Future plans

On April 1, 2010, the zoo announced it had acquired adjacent forestland to bring the total land tract to over 2,000 acres (8.1 km2).[9] The main exhibits currently occupy about 500 acres (2.0 km2). The NC Zoo was one of many state facilities to receive money from the Connect NC bond referendum, approved during the March 2015 primary election.  Funds from the bond will be used to construct a new Asia-themed complex that could include tigers, rhinos, orangutans, more Asian animals, and more birds in the Aviary with the goal of attracting an additional 300,000 people a year. There are also plans for a convention center and some Marriott hotels overlooking some animal exhibits to establish the zoo as a multi-day destination.

It was recently approved to receive money from the new Connect NC bond referendum, approved during the March 2015 primary election. Funds from the bond will be used to construct a new Asia-themed complex that could include tigers, rhinos, and orangutans with the goal of attracting an additional 300,000 people a year.

In June 2018, the zoo announced that it is in the final planning stages for two new continents: Australia and Asia. The Zoo hopes to break ground on the additions in 2019. Asia is planned to open in 2026. But in 2023, they destroyed the under-construction Australia and Asia stage and copied the giant circular glass-dome with giant animal enclosures called Mountain Ridge and Valley, the last and fourth stage near North America, the Aviary, and Africa.

## Attractions

The zoo is home to 1,800 animals of more than 200 species. It is home to the largest troop of chimpanzees of any zoo in America as well as the largest collection of Alaskan seabirds in the country. The zoo is also one of only a few AZA (Association of Zoos & Aquariums) in the U.S. with a breeding pair of polar bears which is part of the Species Survival Plan. As of 2019, the pair have yet to produce any offspring.

### Layout

The North Carolina Zoo consists of two main areas: "Africa" and "North America" on opposite ends. There are parking lots located on both ends, so during peak season, visitors can start their day from either side. With approximately five miles of walking paths, the zoo also provides trams and air-conditioned buses for visitors.

The North Carolina Zoo was the first American zoo to incorporate the "natural habitat" philosophy – presenting animals together with plants in exhibits that resemble the habitats in which they would be found in the wild. Most animals are kept in large expanses of land, which reduces many of the behavior problems that can be caused by close confinement. The 37-acre (150,000 m2) African Plains exhibit alone is as large as many entire zoos.

### North America

In the North American half, the swamps of the southeast are to be seen in "Cypress Swamp" area, home to alligators, cougars, red-eared sliders**,** Brazilian teals, Muscovy ducks, Great egrets, bald eagles, raccoons, Brazilian mergansers, Great blue herons, and a variety of reptiles, American crows, and amphibians. "Rocky Coast" depicts the rocky coasts of the Pacific Northwest, with peregrine falcons, polar bears, Commerson's dolphins, macaroni penguins, gentoo penguins, Adélie penguins, rockhopper penguins, walruses, hooded seals, South American sea lions, California sea lions, harbor seals, Arctic foxes, Caspian terns, horned puffins, common murres, pigeon guillemots, and more Alaskan seabirds. The streams of North Carolina can be seen in the "Streamside" exhibit with bobcats, North American river otters, giant otters, and a number of snakes and fish, including the critically endangered Cape Fear shiner. The "Prairie" enclosure shows off the animals including bison, carabaos, African buffalo, water buffalo, muskoxen, gaur, caribou, moose, red deer, pronghorns, black-tailed prairie dogs, wedge-tailed eagles, red-billed oxpeckers, yellow-billed oxpeckers, and elk of the great plains. Black bears, grizzlies and red wolves also each have their own habitats.

### Desert

The flora and fauna of the American Southwest are on display in the glass-domed "Sonoran Desert," which houses ocelots and numbats are outside, while inside are a variety of reptiles such as Banded rock rattlesnakes, black-tailed rattlesnakes, Gorongosa girdled lizards, giant plated lizards, pancake tortoises, and a variety of free-flight birds including a chicken coop such as white-winged doves, house finches, white-headed buffalo weavers, Yokohama chickens, Turkey vultures, burrowing owls, Greater roadrunners, barn owls, lesser roadrunners, African hoopoes, red-tailed hawks, Black vultures, Gila woodpeckers, laughing kookaburras, Gambel's quail, and horned larks. A nocturnal section contains common vampire bats, quokkas, South American coatis, beaded lizard, Gila monster, sand cats, and sidewinders.

### Africa

The "Forest Edge" is a 3.5-acre (14,000 m2), lightly wooded grassland enclosure where zebras, maneless zebras, reticulated giraffes, and common ostriches wander together. The "Watani Grasslands" mimic the great savanna of Africa and are home to black rhinos, white rhinos, African forest elephants, blue wildebeests, black wildebeests, meerkats, rock hyraxes, African bush elephants, Thomson's gazelles, gemsboks, secretary birds, wattled cranes, jabiru storks, saddle-billed storks, storm's storks, Somali wild horses, desert warthogs, waterbucks, sitatungas, blackbucks, blesboks, southern elands, giant elands, lowland nyalas, mountain nyalas, lesser kudu, zebus, Ankole watusi, and greater kudu. Southern red-billed hornbills, Fischer's lovebirds, spotted hyenas, striped hyenas, aardvarks, lions, cheetahs, western lowland gorillas, red river hogs, Hamadryas baboons, and one of the largest mandrill and olive baboon troops in the country each have their own exhibit in the African half of the zoo. Lappet-faced vultures, cinereous vultures,bateleur eagles, and Rüppell's griffon vultures can be seen in the African aviary enclosure swooping down and feast raw meat. The "Dark Forest" is a 3.5-acre (14,000 m2), lightly wooded forest enclosure where okapis, crested porcupines, lowland bongos, mountain bongos, and yellow-backed duikers roam and wander around. Ring-tailed lemurs from neighboring Madagascar were added to the Africa section of the zoo in 2020 during a $100,000 refurbishment of the former patas monkey exhibit, one of the first exhibits when the zoo opened in June 1980.

### Aviary

The R. J. Reynolds Forest Aviary recreates the hot, humid conditions of a tropical forest. It displays more than three thousand tropical plants and allows visitors to walk among 10000 species of free-flying tropical birds including, sunbitterns, Greater coucals, Bornean ground cuckoos, and Great argus pheasants on the exhibit with Green peafowl and Indian peafowl were roaming with birds. Look for Victoria crowned pigeons and Chilean flamingos as well as red-footed turtles, helmeted curassows, great curassows, razor-billed curassows, hamerkops, sunbitterns, red-eared sliders, Pesquet's parrots, marbled teals, spur-winged lapwings, masked lapwings, red-and-yellow barbets, leafcutter ants, blue morpho butterflies, eastern box turtles, blue iguanas, veiled chameleons, Fiji banded iguanas, Nicobar pigeons, sandhill cranes, harpy eagles, Philippine eagles, pink pigeons, brown-throated sloths, eclectus parrots, Asian fairy bluebirds, thick-billed parrots, lilacine amazons, red-lored amazons, hoatzins, horned guans, scarlet macaws, military macaws, hyacinth macaws, blue-throated macaws, Lear's macaws, great green macaws, red-and-green macaws, red-fronted macaws, blue-fronted amazons, white-fronted amazons, Agami herons, green aracaris, channel-billed toucans, red junglefowl, green junglefowl, coral-billed ground cuckoos, maleos, rainbow lorikeets, sun parakeets, Indian flying foxes, shoebills, Demoiselle cranes, sarus cranes, black caracaras, northern crested caracaras, southern crested caracaras, yellow-headed caracaras, viceroies, monarch butterflies, ruby-throated hummingbirds, Anna's hummingbirds, grackles, giant kingfishers, blue-breasted kingfishers, scarlet ibises, cattle egrets, great blue turacos, violet turacos, Ross's turacos, Spix's macaws, Guam kingfishers, Hawaiian ravens, crested partridges, Guam rails, Socorro doves, Angolan colobus monkeys, patas monkeys, eastern rosellas, Sumatran rhinos, Brazilian three-banded armadillos, giant armadillos, Southern three-banded armadillos, nine-banded armadillos, hairy armadillos, blue-and-yellow macaws, red-legged seriemas, Madagascar day geckos, resplendent quetzals, golden-headed quetzals, Central Americanagoutis, lar gibbons, siamangs, Sarus cranes, blue-crowned hanging parrots, magpie geese, American white ibises, red-throated loons, black-throated loons, Pacific loons, common loons, yellow-billed loons, crested screamers, red grouses, white pigeons, Bali mynas, brolgas, greater yellow-headed vultures, lesser yellow-headed vultures, king vultures, long-wattled umbrellabirds, bare-necked umbrellabirds, Amazonian umbrellabirds, and yellow-footed tortoises. Since 2020, the aviary has also been home to Panamanian golden frogs, blue-legged mantellas, brown anoles, and blue poison dart frogs. The Aviary was listed among the bird exhibits in the US by *USA Today*.

### Mountain Ridge and Valley

The Mountain Ridge and Valley glass dome aviary and aquarium recreate the hot and cold, humid conditions of a tropical forest, river, beach, ocean, valley, ridge, and a canyon. It has an aviary with plants, allows visitors to walk among birds flying around, a big waterfall, and a long Chinese skywalk where guests can see flying birds of prey. It has an escalator and a big mall so guests can walk and shop. It has a Ferris wheel and a bungee trampoline inside the mall so visitors can ride, jump, and see quail, giraffes, ground hornbills, and pheasants. It has a large and colorful oceanarium and a giant aquarium tank where guests can see tropical fish, and aquatic animals. It had a long slide so visitors can slide down to the next animal enclosures. It has a large pond so visitors can feed the fish. It has a hotel with some rainforest, beach, ocean, river, valley, ridge and canyon rooms for guests to stay. The animals roaming in the biome settings may include common hippos, pygmy hippos, dromedaries, Bactrian camels, Baird's tapirs, Malayan tapirs, umbrella herons, scarlet kingsnakes, southern cassowaries, dwarf cassowaries, northern cassowaries, Egyptian vultures, Andean condors, rhino hornbills, New Zealand kakas, keas, kakapos, Rothschild's giraffes, spangled kookaburras, king eiders, mallards, mandarin ducks, great cormorants, pelagic cormorants, marabou storks, rock ptarmigans, white-tailed ptarmigans, willow ptarmigans, naked mole-rats, California quail, Virginia quail, koalas, budgerigars, western crowned pigeons, grey go-away-birds, ocellated turkeys, bronze turkeys, black turkeys, wild turkeys, Narragansett turkeys, white-throated kingfishers, American mammoth jackstocks (donkeys), mules, Przewalski's horses, Cyprus donkeys, white-tailed vultures, swallow-tailed kites, roseate spoonbills, Bornean orangutans, yellow-billed storks, painted storks, milky storks, white storks, black-necked storks, toco toucans, keel-billed toucans, red-eyed tree frogs, American bullfrogs, golden mantellas, bonobos, chimpanzees, long-tailed glossy starlings, tawny frogmouths, golden pheasants, ring-necked pheasants, silver pheasants, Lady Amherst's pheasants, western corellas, koi, kohaku fish, great white sharks, leopard sharks, nurse sharks, zebra sharks, manta rays, spotted eagle rays, neon tetras, X-ray tetras, American white pelicans, brown pelicans, white-tailed deer, impalas, jaguars, black panthers, snow leopards, African leopards, green iguanas, Komodo dragons, blue-winged kookaburras, Panamanian white-headed capuchins, bald uakaris, Galapagos tortoises, green sea turtles, leatherback turtles, whale sharks, gray whales, bottlenose dolphins, orcas, beluga whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, West Indian manatees, dugongs, giant anteaters, southern tamanduas, tasmanian devils, African penguins, emperor penguins, Magellanic penguins, king penguins, yellow-legged gulls, masked boobies, northern gannets, blue-footed boobies, leopard seals, red foxes, maned wolves, Arctic wolves, coyotes, red sea urchins, pencil urchins, Atlantic puffins, umbrella cockatoos, sulphur-crested cockatoos,crested guineafowl, helmeted guineafowl, vulturine guineafowl, Grevy's zebras, nile crocodiles, Chinese alligators, gharials, Cape mountain zebras, Hartmann's mountain zebras, Alpine ibexes, Nubian ibexes, scimitar-horned oryxes, Australian brushturkeys, knobbed hornbills, Jackson's hornbills, wrinkled hornbills, congo peafowl, ospreys, Steller's sea eagles, white-backed vultures, pileated woodpeckers, hooded vultures, crested firebacks, blood pheasants, Major's Mitchell's cockatoos, kalij pheasants, white-bellied sea eagles, Siberian cranes, blue cranes, common cranes, red-crowned cranes, whooping cranes, white-naped cranes, grey crowned cranes, black crowned cranes, Indian rhinos, Asian elephants, great hornbills, golden-breasted starlings, eastern yellow-billed hornbills, southern yellow-billed hornbills, urials, common ravens, grey herons, black-headed gulls, grey-headed gulls, giant pandas, red pandas, crested ibises, Abyssinian ground hornbills, southern ground hornbills, mute swans, black swans, black-necked swans, trumpeter swans, whooper swans, tundra swans, Canada geese, snow geese, bighorn sheep, emus, red kangaroos, Himalayan vultures, Harris's hawks, bearded vultures, griffon vultures, white-headed vultures, Indian vultures, greater rheas, golden eagles, Darwin's rheas, white-rumped vultures, American flamingos, greater flamingos, yaks, tiger owls, snowy owls, Siberian tigers, Bengal tigers, cape vultures, and California condors. Next to the animals in the enclosures, the Prehistoric Mansion is combined with The Haunted Mansion, Jurassic World The Ride, and Phantom Manor inside the shopping mall.

## Rides

### Prehistoric Mansion (near Mountain Ridge and Valley)

Before meeting Lord Shen, a pair of sliding doors open to one of two similar octagonal rooms, which are actually large slow-moving elevators with two sets of walls, the lower of which does not reach the ceiling. Lord Shen teasingly welcomes the guests (referring to them as "foolish dinosaurs") and introduces himself as their "Peacock Host" who will take them on a tour of the Prehistoric Mansion. The room contains four paintings, one on every other wall, each depicting a creature from the chest up; previous guests "as they appeared in their corruptible feathered state". The portraits are perched by eight animatronic griffon vultures. A sliding wall panel closes in front of the doorway where the guests entered, trapping them inside the room. As Lord Shen delivers his spiel, the room begins to "stretch" vertically. As the floor descends, the visible extent of the upper walls increases and portrait frames (located behind the lower walls) appear to elongate, revealing the animals from the wild. The paintings wildly depict animal situations: a bald eagle catching a fish, a peacock showing off to the peahen, seven Ruppell's griffon vultures and a marabou stork scavenging on a zebra carcass, and a greater flamingo joins the roseate spoonbill in the river. As Lord Shen challenges guests "to find a way out" of this seemingly windowless and doorless chamber, he concludes his speech with, Of course, there's always MY way... With a sudden thunderclap, the lights go out and on and the ceiling disappears. A colorful vision manifests above: Lord Shen is seen laughing, and cackling. Seconds later, the room plunges into darkness, and a bloodcurdling scream from The Haunted Mansion is heard — falling from the ceiling to the floor, ending with the sound of Lord Shen landing the floor.

As the chamber is re-lit, a wall opens, exposing a Bird Gallery, which takes guests underneath the vulture enclosure and to where the ride actually begins, in a separate warehouse-style show building hidden from within the park by trees. As lightning flashes from the windows on the opposite side of the gallery, the portraits transform into images of animals and birds in synchronization with the lightning. At the corridor's far end are four statuary busts depicting a strict-looking southern cassowary, peregrine falcon, greater flamingo, and an ostrich. The animal statues appear to turn and gaze at guests, following their every move.

Turning a corner, guests enter the Load Area, where a seemingly endless stream of colorful carriages, known as Prehistoric Buggies, descend one staircase and ascend another. Beyond the track, clouds drift past a limbo of boundless mist and decay. The guests then board the carriages, accompanied by the Peacock Host (who lowers the safety bar and provides a safety spiel).

In the Music Room, many exotic musical instruments are displayed. A harpsichord is placed in the center of the room. The magic dust gives life to instruments and music begins to play. The music follows the carriage and plays in the background for the remainder of the journey. Albert watches in fascination from atop a large pipe organ from Oaxaca. A lyrebird from Australia plays music and a cassowary dances to the tune.

Perched near the pipe organ is a black raven with glowing red eyes.

In the Theropod Enclosure, Lord Shen curiously tames his Spinosaurus. An extremely larger dinosaur animatronic faces the riders and roars loudly, lightning crashes, and the room becomes pitch black until the raven glows his eyes again. Soon afterward, the carriage enters the Slavic-Nordic Chamber, where there is a painting with Korrina from Kalos picking the flowers of a tree. She comes to life and blows feathered wind towards the riders. The grass wind leaves the painting and spreads grass throughout the entire room, finally gathering on a large Nordic mirror that watches the guests' reflection. The raven seen moments ago from the Conservatory can now be seen perched on the back of the chair at the table.

The Arms & Armour room is full of weapons and armor that have come alive. First seen is a samurai armor wielding a katana that tries to hack Albert's head off, but he dodges each slash with success, then the tsar cannon opens fire on the guests which knock the carriage back and sends it spinning away. The carriage passes through a hallway containing three suits of armor, their helmets floating next to their bodies and singing along with the music. The carriage then moves in front of a large medieval Ballista, which loads and takes aim at the guests, knocking them into the next room. On the other side of the room, a Mongolian suit of armor can be seen holding a few helmets aloft and laughing evilly. The raven can be seen in the samurai scene.

In a swift move, guests enter the Aviary room, where guests see a griffon vulture squawking louder, a peacock showing off, some roseate spoonbills in the lake, and some greater flamingos in the river. The raven has seen again and the vulture spreads its wings making the riders happy.

The Prehistoric Buggies drift out of an Aviary window and onto the balcony, coming face to face with the lion and the tiger begin roaring amidst a starry and shining sky filled with wispy spirits rising from the Graveyard below. The Prehistoric Buggies turn around and tip backward and forward down and up a 15-percent grade surrounded by tropical, tallish trees with knotted expressions. The red-eyed raven (previously seen from the Conservatory and Séance Circle) caws at guests from a branch overhead as guests enter the Forest. The Doom Buggies then reach the ground and turn towards the gate of the forest. There stands the next room a greater flameback woodpecker and his dog, the attraction's only "living" characters. The greater flameback woodpecker squawks at the guests, while the emaciated dog whines and whimpers. Around the corner, a prehistoric band joins in as a family of peregrine falcons begin to meow and a pair of cuckoos on the trees hoot and join in harmony. A Dilophosaurus from the Jurassic Park ride spits at the guests, a shootout follows between a bank robber fleeing on a mule and a cowardly sheriff, some Nile crocodiles growl like a garden dog and snap at the riders in the river, another red-eyed raven caws at the riders, red-crowned cranes dancing, a toco toucan dancing to the rhythm, a giraffe bending up and down its neck at the riders, a large African elephant trumpets at the guests, a zebra rearing up, a Brachiosaurus eating trees, and the last 2 animals may include a hellhound from The Haunted Mansion and 2 enormous great-horned owls howl at the guests. A raven stands by a tree for awaiting guests when his eyes glowing red at passing riders.

Entering the Hall of Mirrors, the Prehistoric Buggies pass a group of 8 birds flapping for a ride. Around the corner, in large, ornately framed mirrors, the guests see that one of the birds from the octet is in the carriage with them.

While passing through the Hall of Mirrors, the vulture spreads its wings in the background while guests proceed to the continued exit.

The guests then continued their Prehistoric Buggies and ascend back to the "living world." The last apparition they see 2 Peacock Hostesses, also known as "Korrina and Valerie" from Kalos who encourage them to: *Thank you for your prehistoric adventure. We've hope you see you in the Meet and Greet area. But for now, hurry back... hurry back! Be sure to bring your animal certificate, if you decide to join us. Make final arrangements now. We've been living to have you.*

At the end of the ride, Lord Shen thanks the guests for touring his home and bids them farewell as the vehicles move back into the station.

## Events

### Festival of George's Gang

*Festival of George's Gang* is a live stage arena performed in North Carolina Zoo and in Cincinnati Zoo. The show, an ultimate interpretation of Numberblocks, Alphablocks, Swan Lake (ballet), Octonauts, The Lion King, and Walking with Dinosaurs, uses songs, dance, puppetry, and visual effects to portray a tribal celebration in a forest, mountain, savannah, and jungle setting filled with lions, vultures, peacocks, flamingos, elephants, giraffes, secretary birds, ostriches, southern cassowaries, greater rheas, emus, eagles, warthogs, zebras, gazelles, more animals, and more birds.

The show is presented inside an enclosed arena in the Shopping Mall area. Guests sit in five sections, each designated with an animal name: Warthog, Peacock, Flamingo, Bald Eagle, and Lion. Guests are asked to make a noise that corresponds to their animal at certain times during the show, and children are sometimes pulled out of the audience to dance. The show is hosted by five performers: Korrina (From Shalour City leader of the Lion), George (From 644 Orchard Lane leader of the Bald Eagle), Valerie (From Laverre City leader of the Peacock), Five (From Numberblocks leader of the Flamingo), and Ten (From Numberblocks leader of the Warthog).

In 2020, the story of the series is followed. Instead, it is joined with a show of songs from the film and other sources. This is combined with aerobatics performed by the Tumble Monkeys, a group of performers dressed in orange monkey costumes, 2 toco toucans, 30 white release doves, 1 mute swan, 1 black swan, 2 peacocks, 1 bald eagle, 1 walrus, 1 Asian small-clawed otter, 19 great-horned owls, 20 Griffon vultures, 30 ravens, 2 California sea lions, 3 great white pelicans, 4 spot-billed pelicans, 5 Dalmatian pelicans, 30 greater flamingos, 20 scarlet macaws, and 30 blue-and-yellow macaws.

### Numberblocks LIVE! (with Wings of Wonder)

Vultures, sea lions, hornbills, and peacocks, oh my! Join George, Iris (from Pokemon The Series: Black and White), Kyururu, Serval, Caracal and Kaban (from Kemono Friends Season 1 and 2), Serena (from Kalos), Korrina (from Kalos), and the entire Numberblocks Gang (from One to Twenty One with the combination of the episodes including The Flapjack Snaffler, Octoblock to the Rescue, Nine, Fifteen's Minute of Fame, On Your Head, Heist, and Twenty One and On) in their interactive, musical animal, bird, and sea lion show! Get ready, we are looking for the vulture from the Andes that took Ten's white doves! It’s a show the whole family will love as you sing, dance, and play along with your favorite characters and our talented performers in this tragicomic, high energy celebration. Watch out for birds-of-prey, Nigel (from Finding Nemo The Musical), Lord Shen, Toucan Sam, hooded pitohui, and Gandalf the Ruppell's griffon vulture because they are going to summon the secretary bird! And at the end of the show, everyone will receive Planet Zoo's Deluxe Pack, Australian Pack, Aquatic Pack, Southeast Asia Animal Pack, Africa Pack, North American Animal Pack, Aviary Bird Pack, Europe Animal Pack, Arctic Pack, and South American Pack.

This show is a good mixture of the Precure, Charlie Brown's Balancing Act, Snoopy's Boysenberry Jamboree, Strawberry Shortcake (Mascot Musical), Kemono Friends Stage Play, Singapore Zoo's Rainforest Fights Back, Once Upon A River from Singapore Zoo, Wings of Wonder and Cheetah Encounter from Cincinnati Zoo, Festival of the Lion King, UP! A Great Bird Adventure Show, Winged Wonders from Jungle Island, High Flyers Show from Jurong Bird Park, and Kings of the Skies show also from Jurong Bird Park.

## Art

The zoo is home to a large collection of art, primarily sculpture but also murals, mosaics, and paintings. Primarily depictions of animals and their habitats, the artwork uses a variety of materials including marble, steel, bronze, fiberglass, limestone, glass, cement, and others. The zoo's art is intended to enliven and enrich the zoo experience and help fulfill its mission by "promoting individual discovery and new ways of thinking."

The two largest sculptures are located at the zoo's main entrances. One, "Sum of the Parts" is a pile of large metal cubes, about a yard (1 m) on aside. Most of the cubes are shiny and depict extant species, but a few rusted cubes tumbled off to the side memorialize extinct species. The second, "The Elephant Group" depicts several large elephants in bronze and the "Peacock" depicts an Indian blue peacock displaying in concrete.