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Knoxville Zoo attracts record number of visitors

The Knoxville Zoo flew high setting an attendance record at home and getting international exposure through two of its animals.

If you saw the film "Walk the Line," based on the life of music legend Johnny Cash and wife June Carter Cash, you saw a Knoxville Zoo bird in action. Edgar, the zoo's American crow, appears in the film's opening minutes.

But Edgar likely isn't as well known for his budding film career as the zoo's African gray parrot Einstein. Last year, talking, dancing Einstein made the night and morning talk-show circuit. Her appearances included "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "The Early Show" on CBS.

Knoxville Zoo visitors can see both Edgar and Einstein perform at the park's summer Bird Show that begins in April and lasts through October.

The 57-year-old zoo hit an attendance high last year. A record 412,762 people visited the zoo in Chilhowee Park and off Interstate 40's Exit 392. That broke the attendance record of 410,377 set in 1997.

One reason for the zoo's high attendance may have been its latest exhibit area. Long known as a place where families can see exotic animals from African elephants to red pandas, last year the zoo added a playground to its landscape. Designed primarily for children 3-10 and their families, Kids Cove combines animal exhibits with a human child playground.

Additional exhibits added to Kids Cove this summer include a barn loft that will exhibit such native animals as rats, snakes, spiders and barn owls and a nocturnal "Night Club" where bats, skunks and raccoons will live.

Kids Cove is the latest in the renovations and expansions done at the zoo since 2000. Other areas completed in the construction program include a new entrance plaza, gift shop and 4,500-square-foot indoor Pilot Traveling Exhibit Center. New major animal habitats include Black Bear Falls, the Stokely African Elephant Preserve and Grasslands Africa.

The zoo began shortly after the end of World War II. Opened in 1948 with one animal - an alligator named Al - the 53-acre park now has a $6.1 million operating budget and 956 animals representing 219 species. Animals at the zoo are diverse and include regal tigers, slow-moving tortoises, sleek river otters, tall giraffes and comic penguins.

The zoo isn't just a place to see exotic creatures. The zoo participates in 30 Species Survival Plans through the American Zoological Association. Zoos work together through such plans to help endangered animals reproduce and survive in the wild.

The zoo is internationally known for its red panda breeding program, having more cubs of the species than any other North American zoo. It was also the first zoo in the world to breed Papuan vipers.

Knoxville Zoo
• What: 53-acre zoo with 956 animals
• Where: Off Interstate 40, Exit 392
• Hours: Open every day but Christmas Day. Hours vary depending on time of year.

Fore more information visit www.knoxville-zoo.org.