Animals

 

At Franklin Park Zoo, children and adults alike can experience hundreds of exotic animal species from around the world right in the middle of Boston! Explore the wonders of a tropical rainforest, the Australian outback, or the African savannah in one of these exhibit areas.

 

Tropical Forest

With thousands of plants and hundreds of animals, the Tropical Forest immerses guests into a tropical rainforest experience. 

Visitors will not want to miss the indoor gorilla exhibit - the most innovative and intimate indoor gorilla exhibit in the world. To learn more about our gorillas, click here.

 

 

This stunning indoor space allows visitors to stand face-to-face with Franklin Park Zoo's seven western lowland gorillas at one of five glass viewing stations. It's a truly unforgettable experience!


The Tropical Forest is also home to species from around the globe including mandrills, ocelots, ring-tailed lemurs, Baird's tapirs, a pygmy hippopotamus and dozens of free-flight birds.

Giraffe Savannah

The Giraffe Savannah is home to Franklin Park Zoo's Masai giraffes Beau, Jana and their offspring Hamisi. Giraffe are savannah animals and cannot tolerate the harsh New England winters. When the temperature is too cold for our giraffe family to be outside, Beau, Jana and Hamisi stay inside their warm barn.

The Giraffe Savannah is also home to a herd of Grevy's zebra on exhibit daily.

Please note: It must be at least 65 degrees for the giraffes to be on exhibit.

Kalahari Kingdom

Imagine coming face-to-face with an African lion sniffing around the hood of your car.  At Kalahari Kingdom one of several creative overlook makes this experience possible.

Climb into a "crashed" land rover, peek from across a moat at three separate locations, or exchange glances through glass at a ranger station with this king of the jungle.

Serengeti Crossing

Serengeti Crossing is a proven favorite among Zoo guests.

This four-acre expanse features open grasslands, and rolling wooded hills. Most of the animals housed in this exhibit were moved from older, less naturalistic habitats in 1997.

These animals now interact with other species typically found on the African Savannah. Species you can spot on the Serengeti Crossing are ostrich, Grant's zebras and white-bearded wildebeests.

Tiger Tales

Tiger Tales features the Zoo’s new tigers, Anala and Luther, and aims to educate guests about the problems that arise when exotic animals fall into the wrong hands as well as information surrounding white tigers (Luther is our white tiger).

The opening of this exhibit in June 2006 marked the first time tigers had been exhibited at Franklin Park Zoo in more than 30 years.

Franklin Farm

Experience life on the farm in the middle of Boston! Franklin Farm features a contact corral, where children can touch and see animals such as goats and sheep, a brooder building, where newly hatched chicks stay warm in incubators, and a chicken coop, where several species of older chickens reside.

The main barn houses ponies, donkeys, goats, and sheep, as well as some special barn "guests" including snakes, spiders, and mice.

The Franklin Farm contact yard is open daily, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., weather permitting.


 

Outback Trail

G'day mate! Welcome to the Outback Trail, a little slice of Australia - the land down under!

In this exhibit, stroll among kangaroos, emus, and sheep. Along the way, check out several different species of cockatoo. Don't miss the native kookaburras, with their distinctly unique calls, or the adorable tree kangaroos.

Franklin Park Zoo’s new Aussie Aviary provides a memorable, interactive experience for Zoo guests, who are able to stroll through the exhibit space among hundreds of brightly-colored budgies. Budgerigars, affectionately called budgies, are also known as grass parakeets and are a variety of small slender parrots with long, tapering tails. As part of the experience, guests have the opportunity to purchase seed sticks and feed the birds as they walk through the free-flight exhibit, located in the Outback Trail. You may be lucky enough to have the birds land right on you!

Bird's World

As one of the original buildings still present from Franklin Park Zoo's 1912 opening, Bird's World has gone through many changes throughout the years. This stunning building is now home to dozens of species of birds from around the globe. Indigenous birds from several regions such as the swamp, scrublands, and wetlands are highlighted here.