January 6 & 9, 2022

MONTGOMERY ZOO & MANN WILDLIFE LEARNING MUSEUM

2301 Coliseum Pkwy, Montgomery, AL 36110

“Montgomery Zoo is a 40-acre zoo located on the north side of Montgomery, Alabama. The zoo is an independent city department, and is supported in part by The Montgomery Area Zoolocal Society. It is home to approximately 750 animals representing 140 species.” Wikipedia

If you’ve been following my journies you know I love visiting zoos and so I blocked off an afternoon to visit Montgomery’s zoo. I find joy in finding animals I haven’t seen at other zoos and to my surprise this zoo had some true treasures for me. I visited on a Thursday afternoon in January and rain was in the forecast so the zoo was not very crowded, at times I felt like I was all by myself which was wonderful, but also sometimes a little spooky. Facility-wise the zoo may be a little dated but mainly well kept. I was so impressed with the zoo I made a return visit a couple days after my first visit and had wonderful time on the second visit.

My favorite animals in this zoo include the Chimpanzees, Pygmy Hippos, Peacocks, and the Komodo Dragon. The Giant Anteater was a surprise find, I’m not sure I’d ever seen one before. The zoo also has a nice collection on felines including, African Lions, Bengal Tigers (one white), Cheetahs, Canadian Lynx, Cougars, and Jaguars (one black). The first day I got intimidated as one of the cougars stocked me, honestly it did.

Included with the zoo admission was entry to the Mann Wildlife Museum, a collection of stuffed animals mainly from North America. The trip through the building was educational and the exhibits were well done.