Kids' Zone

How are goats like humans? Well, we’re both sociable, and we both love climbing and playing. And who doesn’t like to eat?

In the wild they live in the African savannah. Here at the Zoo our meerkats have a special habitat that imitates their natural environment with rocks and caves – watch them pop up and scout outside, then dig and tunnel inside with their family.

And look for our Damaraland mole rat nearby.

We have our own little piece of Madagascar here at the Zoo! Our black-and-white ruffed lemurs love to swing, climb and play in their treetop ropes and low rocks.

Listen out – they can make a big noise!

Emerald tree boa, green tree python, corn snake, New Caledonian day gecko, prehensile-tailed skink – they all have two things in common. They’re all reptiles, and they all live in Kids’ Zone!

Tucked inside beautiful “jewel” habitats inside, they stay warm – just the way they like it – coiled around branches.

How many frogs can you count in Kids’ Zone? Magnificent tree frog, orange-legged tree frog, White’s tree frog, poison frog – see if you can spot them all!

Then find our axolotl – a feathery little salamander who’s also an amphibian.

What’s the difference between a tortoise and a turtle? Well, the biggest difference is that tortoises live on land, so they have columnar hind-feet – not webbed. Turtles also eat meat, while tortoises are usually vegetarian. But they’re both reptiles!

Look for our Western Bell’s hinge-back tortoise, pancake tortoise and black-breasted leaf turtle.

Where else in Tacoma can you play right next to a school of piranhas? Watch our red-bellied piranhas, with their sharp, triangular teeth, right next to the giant play structure in Kids’ Zone.

Then walk around to see our brightly colored African cichlids.

When you’re an insect, it helps a lot if you look like the thing you sit on. Our giant leaf insects look so much like a bright green leaf that they’re often tricky to spot!

But you could always just hiss instead. Our Madagascar hissing cockroaches are around 2-4 inches long (wow!) and hiss at each other both to communicate and for males to warn off other males.

And don’t miss our arachnids – the giant tailless whip scorpions.

Love to hop? So does our Parma wallaby! These marsupials are much smaller than their relative the kangaroo, but they do the same thing when it comes to babies – they carry the joey in a front pouch until it grows bigger!