Brevard Zoo

Florida, little to anyone’s surprise, is known as a beach city with extravagant seaside sceneries and swimming locations. However, the wild-side of Florida is seldom explored. Brevard Zoo, situated in Melbourne of Florida, is a special zoo dedicated to protect and exhibit wildlife like it has never been done before. It currently holds 650 different species of animals, with a large percentage being native Floridian animals such as alligators, otters and bobcats. The aim of this zoo is to represent wildlife in its purest untouched form, while keeping animals in a safe yet natural captivity. Spanning across 50 acres of land, Brevard Zoo brings in over 450,000 visitors every year, owing to its popularity as a wildlife exhibition. Filled with various activities such as kayak tours, paddle boating, animal feedings, and close encounter with animals in their natural habitat, this zoo is a must-visit for any fauna-loving tourist.

The ‘Jungle Encounter’ is one of the most successful attractions in the zoo. It allows the visitors to come into contact with animals such as tamanduas, giant anteaters, and sloths. This gives access to other areas of the zoo, specifically La Selva and Paws On. La Selva is filled with tamarins and jaguars, and has a special exhibition involving vulture feeding. From king vultures to turkey vultures, visitors are expected to find a variety of these scavengers roaming around these parts, with iguanas and tapirs accompanying them. Paws On is exclusively for children, and features a petting zoo where harmless beasts can be touched and fed by youngsters. Goats, horses, chickens, etc. can be found here and a recent update has included a watering hole with stingrays, hermit crabs, and tortoises. Other animals that can be found among these parts are armadillos, alpacas, tarpons, conchs, capybaras and even the near-extinct Floridian exclusive red wolf.

Brevard Zoo cannot be talked about without mentioning its one-of-a-kind ‘Expedition Africa’ attraction. This is where kayak tours can be found, which offers a close experience with African wonders like giraffes, impalas, ostriches, white rhinos, zebras, and blue cranes. The tour is kept at a steady pace so visitors can take their time viewing the animals in all their glory, that too in an environment similar to the African wetlands. The tour also includes going up to an observation platform where the giraffes can be fed by the visitors. Expect to come across beasts such as lemurs, klipspringers, meerkats, and even cheetahs, on the way. The other exhibition area of Brevard Zoo, the ‘Australia’ section, speaks for itself. Here the visitors can find wallabies, emus and the Australian trademark: kangaroos. Here too the visitors can feed the animals, especially the birds such as kookaburras, lorikeets, cockatiels and shelducks. There is simply no end to the amount of wildlife one can experience at Brevard Zoo.