The Sedgwick County Zoo is an AZA-accredited wildlife park and major attraction in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1971, with the help of the Sedgwick County Zoological Society, the zoo has quickly become recognized both nationally and internationally for its support of conservation programs and successful breeding of rare and endangered species. Having over 3,000 animals of nearly 400 species, the zoo has slowly increased its visitors and now ranks as the number one outdoor tourist attraction in the state.

Exhibits

Downing Gorilla Forest

Opening in 2004, the Downing Gorilla Forest starts out in a recreation of a small Congo village with exhibits for colobus monkeys and white pelicans. Across a bridge is an exhibit for saddle-billed storks, as well as one for black crowned cranes and okapis. The main attraction is a large gorilla exhibit. They can be viewed in their indoor home, outside through large viewing windows or across a moat.

Pride of the Plains

Opened May 29, 2000, A path winds around exhibits of lions, red river hogs, and two exhibits of meerkats. Each exhibit has several views from all sides. The whole area has a kopje theme with giant boulders. At the end is an exhibit for African painted dogs.

Penguin Cove

Opened in 2007, Penguin Cove is the zoo's first marine exhibit, and home to a colony of Humboldt penguins. The $1.5 million exhibit features a 42000 gal pool with rocky areas and coves on each side.

African Veldt

This exhibit features reticulated giraffes, African bush elephants, grévy's zebras, and a black rhinoceros. On March 11, 2016, six African elephants arrived at the zoo from Eswatini's Hlane Royal National Park to survive a drought. A new elephant exhibit named "The Reed Family Elephants of the Zambezi River Valley" opened in May of that year, housing all of the elephants. Later, a male African elephant, Ajani, from Alabama's Birmingham Zoo, joined the six female elephants for breeding purposes in May 2018. In May 2023, Callee was introduced to the herd from Omaha, Nebraska's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. A few months later, Ajani transferred to the Toledo Zoo to breed with its two female elephants.

Asian Big Cat Trek

This $3 million Asian themed naturalistic exhibit was opened in 2009 as the Slawson Family Tiger Trek, and housed Amur tigers, Malayan tigers, red pandas, and brow-antlered deer. In 2021, the exhibit was added on to an reopened as the Slawson Family Asian Big Cat Trek, and added amur leopards, snow leopards, and an area where they can be seen above guests' heads.

List of animals

• Arapawa goat • Asiatic water buffalo • Clydesdale horse • Domestic yak • Domestic zebu • Dromedary camel • Gloucestershire Old Spot pig • Guinea hog • Heritage Shorthorn cow • Honeybee • Indian runner duck • Karakul sheep • Magpie duck • Milking Devon cow • Miniature donkey • Nankin Bantam chicken • Navajo-Churro sheep • Pineywoods cow • Poitou donkey • Sebastopol goose • Silkie Bantam chicken • Watusi cow • White Park cow • African green toad • Aldabra giant tortoise • Angolan garter snake • Armenian viper • Barnett's lancehead • Indochinese spitting cobra • Black mamba • Black-breasted leaf turtle • Black-spined toad • Black-tailed horned pitviper • Blessed poison frog • Cape coral snake • Cape twig snake • Carrot-tail viper gecko • Chinese alligator • Chinese crocodile lizard • Chuckwalla • Collared tree runner • Dyeing poison dart frog • Egyptian tortoise • Four-eyed turtle • Gan's egg-eating snake • Gila monster • Green keel-bellied lizard • Eastern green mamba • Green sunfish • Jamaican iguana • Kaup's caecilian • King cobra • Kwangtung river turtle • Levantine viper • Long-nosed viper • Longnose gar • Mandarin rat snake • Oaxacan knob-scaled lizard • Okinawa newt • Pan's box turtle • Pascagoula map turtle • Karsten's plated lizard • Rainbow whiptail • Razor-backed musk turtle • River cooter • Rough-scaled python • Rubber boa • Sahara sand viper • Egyptian saw-scaled viper • Sonoran desert toad • Sonoran spiny-tailed iguana • Spiny softshell turtle • Spiny-tailed monitor • Spotted gar • Spotted turtle • Tentacled snake • Three-striped dart frog • Western gaboon viper • Yellow pond turtle • Yellow-blotched map turtle • Asian fairy-bluebird • Asian forest scorpion • Australian lungfish • Baikal teal • Beautiful fruit dove • Black crake • Black-faced dacnis • Blue-gray tanager • Boeseman's rainbowfish • Brazilian salmon birdeater tarantula • Bruce's green pigeon • Chestnut-backed thrush • Chinese hwamei • Cinereous finch • Climbing perch • Collared finch-billed bulbul • Common bulbul • Crested coua • Crested quail-dove • Crested wood partridge • Cuban crocodile • Emerald starling • Falcated duck • Fly river turtle • Giant cave roach • Giant red tail gourami • Golden-breasted starling • Golden-headed quetzal • Great blue turaco • Green-naped pheasant pigeon • Grosbeak starling • Guam kingfisher • Luzon's bleeding-heart dove • Mandarin duck • Marbled teal • Mariana fruit dove • Nicobar pigeon • North American ruddy duck • Oriole warbler • Pink-necked fruit dove • Plecostomus • Queensland redclaw yabby • Red-capped cardinal • Red-crested turaco • Red-legged honeycreeper • Regent parrot • Sabah thorny stick insect • Scarlet-faced liocichla • Silver moony • Snowy-headed robin-chat • Spangled cotinga • Speckled mousebird • Seven-spot archerfish • Spotted scat • Sunbittern • Sunda parrotfinch • Victoria crowned pigeon • Edwards's pheasant • Violet-backed starling • White spotted river ray • White-breasted woodswallow • Wonga pigeon • Sunda wrinkled hornbill • Brownbanded bamboo shark • Cownose stingray • Southern stingray • Whitespotted bamboo shark African Veldt • Blue crane • Caracal • Eastern black rhinoceros • Grevy's zebra • Hippopotamus • Marabou stork • Reticulated giraffe • Warthog Pride of the Plains The Reed Family Elephants of the Zambezi River Valley The Downing Gorilla Forest The Slawson Family Asian Big Cat Trek • Amur leopard • Amur tiger • Red panda • Snow leopard • American bison • Elk • American wigeon • Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake • Bald eagle • Banded rock rattlesnake • Black-footed ferret • Black-tailed prairie dog • Cinnamon teal • Osage copperhead • Cougar • Grizzly bear • Hooded merganser • Mexican wolf • North American river otter • Northern black-tailed rattlesnake • Northern pintail • Prairie rattlesnake • Timber rattlesnake • White-tailed deer • Austalian shoveler • Australian wood duck • Black swan • Blue-faced honeyeater • Eastern rosella • Eclectus parrot • Emu • Freckled duck • Galah • Kea • Laughing kookaburra • Masked lapwing • Pale-headed rosella • Pied imperial pigeon • Plumed whistling duck • Radjah shelduck • Salmon-crested cockatoo • Southern cassowary • Straw-necked ibis • Tammar wallaby • Tawny frogmouth • Wallaroo • Argentine ruddy duck • Blue-and-yellow macaw • Blue-billed curassow • Blue-crowned motmot • Blue-headed pionus • Blue-throated macaw • Boat-billed heron • Buffon's macaw • Capybara • Chacoan peccary • Chiloé wigeon • Guianan squirrel monkey • Coscoroba swan • Giant anteater • Golden conure • Green aracari • Green iguana • Green-winged macaw • Hyacinth macaw • Maned wolf • Peruvian thick-knee • Puna ibis • Puna teal • Red shoveler • Red-footed tortoise • Red-fronted macaw • Red-legged seriema • Roseate spoonbill • Scarlet macaw • Southern pudu • Southern screamer • Spectacled owl • Sun conure • Thick-billed parrot • Umbrella cockatoo • Venezuelan troupial • Galápagos tortoise • White-cheeked pintail • White-faced whistling duck • White-nosed coati • Wood stork • Yellow-collared macaw • Yellow-footed tortoise • Yellow-headed amazon • Yellow-naped amazon

Future

As of June 2021, the zoo is currently making a new elephant management complex, as well as some new additions to the Amphibians and Reptiles building. On April 16, 2022, they are expected to open a Shark and Stingray exhibit. They also have been expanding and moving the majority of exhibits, and planning on adding a lodge, water park, and savannah exhibit. A new entrance for the zoo opened on May 27, 2021.

Incidents