Please note: All non-member Zoo tickets must be pre-purchased online or at the onsite kiosks.

×

Visitor Info
Open 8:00am to 5:00pm

Menu

Animals

Factoid:
To protect themselves from strong winds and the glaring sun during the day, addax dig ‘beds’ into the sand with their forefeet in which they rest, often in the shade of boulders or bushes.

Addax at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Addax

Factoid:
African wild dogs’ large, round ears allow for excellent hearing that is vital to the pack hunt, but they also serve as radiators of heat in a hot climate.

African Wild Dog at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

African Wild Dog

Factoid:
The badger is well known for its incredible ability to DIG!

American Badger at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

American Badger

Factoid:
The Amur leopard is one of many species of animal that zoos are conserving through captive breeding.

Amur Leopard at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click here to see more.

Amur Leopard

Factoid:
They are often called the “unicorn of the desert”, because, when you look at them from the side, they appear to have only one horn.

Arabian Oryx at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Arabian Oryx

Factoid:
Although dwarf and banded mongoose are cousins with similar traits, these African animals have unique characteristics all their own.

Banded Mongoose

Banded Mongoose

Factoid:
The bat-eared fox is possibly named after the Egyptian slit-faced fruit bat, which also has ears that are large in proportion to its head.

Bat-Eared Fox at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Bat-Eared Fox

Factoid:
The name “dragon” comes from the color of the interior of the mouth. When opened, it gives the appearance of breathing fire. This action is used to deter predators or male rivals during the breeding season.

Bearded Dragon at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Bearded Dragon

Bennett's Wallaby at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Bennett's Wallaby

Bettong at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Bettong

Factoid:
Black rhinos are not black at all, but rather dark gray. They are constantly coated in a mud coat to help keep them cool and prevent insect bites.

Black Rhinoceros Female

Black Rhinoceros

Factoid:
Blue-tongued skinks are threatened by habitat loss, increasing wildfires due to climate change, agricultural toxins, and predation by foxes, dogs, and feral cats.

Blue-Tongued Skink at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Blue-Tongued Skink

Factoid:
Bobcats get their name from their short, stubby tails, and their bobbing gait.

Bobcat at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Bobcat

Factoid:
They cannot shoot their quills.

Cape Porcupine at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Cape Porcupine

Factoid:
Possibly the best bird hunter known! It is an expert jumper, often catches birds by leaping at them to a height up to 10 feet and swats them out of the air with its paws: up to 10 at a time.

Caracal at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Caracal

Factoid:
Until recently, this species was known to science only through fossil remains. The first modern-day sightings of live Chacoan peccaries in Paraguay were reported in 1972.

Chacoan Peccary at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Chacoan Peccary

Cheetah at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Cheetah

Factoid:
When threatened, they will dive into a crack in the rocks and gulp air until their body inflates and becomes wedged so tightly between the rocks that they cannot be pulled out.

Chuckwalla at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Chuckwalla

Factoid:
Their scientific name means “Barking dog”.

Coyote at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Coyote

Factoid:
The local Arabic name for them is “edmi gazelle”.

Cuvier's Gazelle at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Cuvier’s Gazelle

Factoid:
Bighorn sheep are specially designed for the unforgiving rocky mountain terrain they call home, from cloven hooves and use of vegetation for hydration to large domineering horns.

Desert Bighorn Sheep at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Desert Bighorn Sheep

Factoid:
These clever reptiles build up most of their fat and water reserves in the spring when the desert is painted with wildflowers, grasses and succulent green plants.

Desert Tortoise at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

Desert Tortoise

Factoid:
Dromedary camels were introduced to arid regions of central Australia, where some of the only feral populations now persist.

Dromedary Camel at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Dromedary Camel

Factoid:
Although dwarf and banded mongoose are cousins with similar traits, these African animals have unique characteristics all their own.

Dwarf Mongoose

Dwarf Mongoose

Factoid:
A Bird With Many Hidden Talents

Emu at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Emu

Factoid:
When threatened, they can leap approximately four times their body length from a standing position and burrow rapidly into the sand.

Fennec Fox at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Fennec Fox

Factoid:
Affectionately known as the ‘Watchtowers of the Savannah’ because coexisting species look to the giraffe as indicators of safety.

Giraffe at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Giraffe

Factoid:
Africa’s second largest antelope.

Greater Kudu at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Greater Kudu

Factoid:
It is widely believed that this zebra was the famed “Hippotigris” (horse-tiger) of the Roman circus. The first specimens known to the scientific world were named for President Grevy of France, so although the species may have been new to science, it was known to earlier Europeans.

Grevy's Zebra at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Grevy’s Zebra

Island Fox at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Island Fox

Factoid:
Jaguars are the largest cats in the Americas and the only representative of the genus Panthera

Jaguar at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Jaguar

Factoid:
Kit foxes are the smallest member of the family Canidae in North America

Kit Fox at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Kit Fox

Kookaburra at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Laughing Kookaburra

Factoid:
Klipspringers are rock-climbing masters. With special hooves, that make it appear they’re on tip-toe, these antelope are nimble make their homes in the rocky outcroppings, called kopjes.

Klipspringer

Klipspringer

Factoid:
Leopard tortoises are the fourth largest species of tortoise after the Sulcata tortoise, the Galapagos tortoise and Seychelles Island tortoise.

Leopard Tortoise at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Leopard Tortoise

Factoid:
Whether out foraging or just playing near their burrows, there is always a “watch meerkat” posted to warn the group of approaching danger.

Meerkat at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Meerkat

Factoid:
Mexican wolves have a complex social structure and communication system, which includes vocalizations, facial expressions, scent marketing and body language.

Mexican Wolf at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Mexican Wolf

Factoid:
Despite its size, it is more closely related to the small cats, and like them, purrs (due to an ossified hyoid bone in the throat) and cannot roar.

Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion

Naked Mole Rat

Naked Mole Rat

Factoid:
Nigerian dwarf goats are popular as pets and family milkers due to their easy maintenance and small stature.

Nigerian Dwarf Goat at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Nigerian Dwarf Goat

Factoid:
The North American porcupine is a good swimmer, its hollow quills help keep it afloat.

North American Porcupine at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

North American Porcupine

Factoid:
They are the world’s fastest living hoofed mammals and the second-fastest land mammals.

Peninsula Pronghorn at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Peninsular Pronghorn

Factoid:
Modern ringtails so closely resemble their upper tertiary (2 mil.+ years) ancestors that they are like living fossils.

Ringtail at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Ringtail

Factoid:
Sand cats have an exceptionally large middle ear cavity making them extremely sensitive to the small scratching sounds of burrowing rodents as well as large ears that can swivel and funnel sounds to the inner ear.

Sand Cat at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Sand Cat

Factoid:
They can jump up to 10 feet to catch birds in flight.

Serval at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Serval

Short Beaked Echidna at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Short Beaked Echidna

Factoid:
If a group of donkeys is attacked, they will form a circle and fight the predator with their hooves.

Sicilian Dwarf Donkey at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Sicilian Dwarf Donkey

Factoid:
In Arabic, “ghazal” means “bright-eyed.”

Slender-horned Gazelle at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Slender-horned Gazelle

Factoid:
Springbok are known for their pronking ability, in which they spring into the air lifting all four feet at the same time.

Springbok

Springbok

Factoid:
The closest living relative to the hyena family is the civet family, and they are more closely related to the cat than the dog family.

Striped Hyena at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Striped Hyena

Factoid:
Dens can get very complex with up to 24 “entrances”, although most have only two to seven.

Swift Fox at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Swift Fox

Factoid:
The tawny frogmouth is named for its wide, frog-like beak. This nocturnal and carnivorous bird is often mistaken for an owl.

Tawny Frogmouth at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Tawny Frogmouth

Factoid:
Because of moving and feeding on their knees, warthogs develop thick calluses on their wrists.

Warthog at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Warthog

Factoid:
Waterbuck are highly dependent on water. They must drink daily and only inhabit areas that are adjacent to water sources

Waterbuck

Waterbuck

Factoid:
Yellow-footed rock wallabies are threatened by predation by foxes and feral cats, habitat fragmentation, wildfires, and drought due to climate change.

Yellow-Footed Wallaby at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Click to see more.

Yellow-Footed Wallaby