May offers our region the fastest two minutes in sports and it also marks a big celebration at the Louisville Zoo. The Zoo is 50 years old and celebrating the entire year! Help the Zoo celebrate five decades of making family memories during 50Fest, our big public celebration taking place May 18 – 19. The Zoo’s newest mascots — giraffe Miles and rhino Leroy — and other characters will be on hand for photo ops. Guests will be invited to play games, participate in a Zoo mural and other fun activities as they walk around the Zoo and watch some of their favorite animal ambassadors enjoy special 50th-anniversary enrichment.
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This spring the Zoo also opened two new exhibits: Snow Leopard Pass and Colobus Crossing. Kimti, Neecee, and newest snow leopard Meru are now enjoying their new digs at the foot of Glacier Run near Tiger Taiga (formerly Tiger Tundra). In this new exhibit, guests will be transported to a small Himalayan village in Nepal with gorgeous Tibetan-themed elements throughout. Tibetan wish flags line the courtyard leading to the rock slope viewing area where folks may catch a glimpse of a snow leopard bounding among the rocks. Snow leopards are masters of camouflage and can leap up to 50 feet in one jump. Learn about how villagers strive to live in balance with the snow leopard to support conservation of this majestic species. Walking down the path from Gorilla Forest, visitors can enter Tiger Taiga which is now attached to the upper viewing of Snow Leopard Pass. Look to your left as you walk up to the outlook and above your head when walking to the courtyard from the gorilla side. The new exhibit features passageways that allow the snow leopards to travel above your head and alongside you.
The Cub House presented by PNC rounds out Snow Leopard Pass. This early-learning play space is dedicated for kids ages 7 and under. Kids can get nose-to-nose with a snow leopard as they use the kid’s slide next to a large viewing window inside the Cub House classroom. Check the Zoo’s website for the Cub House schedule.
Grab a snack or lunch at the Zoo’s African Outpost Restaurant and you can meet two new species of monkeys at the Zoo. Colobus and Schmidt’s red-tailed monkeys can now be seen exploring the passageways and climbing structures at the new Colobus Crossing, next to the newly expanded African Outpost deck. Four colobus monkeys have joined the Zoo along with three Schmidt’s red-tailed monkeys. You can recognize the Colobus monkeys through their black and white coloration and flowing whitetails. The Schmidt’s red-tailed monkeys have heart-shaped noses and — you guessed it — red tails! The passageways in the exhibit mimic “colobridges” in Kenya which allow the monkeys to pass over busy roads safely. Yet another way the Zoo is demonstrating the ways humans can live in harmony with the precious species that share our planet.
For more information on Snow Leopard Pass, the Cub House presented by PNC, Colobus Crossing or the Zoo’s 50th-anniversary celebration 50Fest please visit LouisvilleZoo.org.
