Today I visited the Nashville Zoo, and have to say...

Today I visited the Nashville Zoo, and have to say that I enjoyed it a lot. In general, I felt the species present, exhibit design, and general theming to be of high quality. From the entrance of the zoo, you are quickly immersed in a well thought out experience, music playing as you reach the thatch-roofed Entry Village. From there you are free to explore the park, which was easy to do, as the zoo was laid out simply, with little need to back-track in order to see animals.

My favorite exhibit area was the Unseen New World building, which housed numerous varied species from the Americas. Among these animals were reptiles, such as snakes and lizards, but also some less expected creatures, such as cobalt crayfish and leaf-nosed bats. Attached to the building was a small tropical aviary with a number of bird species as well. One of my favorite animals housed in this building was an albino bullfrog.

Another interesting section of the zoo was the Grassmere Historic Home and Farm , which existed on the land before the zoo, and is now home to some of the zoo animals. Housed in that area were a number of domestic animals including sheep, a donkey, and a breed of heritage cattle. There was also a barn owl exhibit. However, while the farm was interesting, it felt somewhat disconnected from the rest of the zoo both in style and location.

My one gripe that I can really give was that the theming of the zoo often felt unrelated to the animals on display. For example, in the bamboo forest region of the zoo only two of the species can really be associated with bamboo (and only one of them strongly), those being the red panda and clouded leopard, both with range in China. The other species in this region of the zoo, lemurs and rhinoceros hornbills, don t really go along with the otherwise East Asian theme. To a lesser degree, the same can be said about the Expedition Peru region, which, while mostly sticking to that theme, also has an American alligator exhibit basically right in the middle of it (although as far as I can tell, the alligator exhibit was there first, so it really doesn t bother me much).

To conclude, I ll say that I really like the zoo, despite some questionable theming. Even when the theming made little sense, it still looked gorgeous. Many of the animals were not out due to the cold (can t blame them), so if you decide to visit, I suggest a season other than winter (although the cold weather also keeps the zoo from being crowded). Otherwise, great zoo, lots of animals, easy to traverse, and overall, an enjoyable time!