The Potawatomi Zoo began as a modest duck pond in Leeper Park in the spring of 1902. Originally called the South Bend Zoo, it is the oldest zoo in Indiana. The venue saw minimal growth and the location was changed in 1912 when a herd of deer were moved to Potawatomi Park. The new zoo was based out of a house on Wall Street, which had been used by the Anti-Tuberculosis League to house TB patients.
Exhibits
Australian Walk-a-bout: Our Australian walk-a-bout allows visitors to stroll through the Australian outback surrounded by kangaroo, wallaby, and several species of Australian birds.
Zoo Farm: Completed in 1988 this exhibit features animals such as alpaca, horse, goats, donkeys and turkeys. The animals may change in Zoo Farm from year to year, but the exhibit always features domesticated farm animals from various regions such as Africa, Asia and South America. There is a goat pen where children and grown ups can interact with the goats and pony rides are available for $3 or $6 with picture.
Red Panda Forest: Opened in the summer of 2002 with the support of the physicians from Radiology Incorporated, the red pandas have bred several cubs, which have delighted zoo visitors as well as increased the numbers of these very rare animals.
Lion Exhibit Expansion: Completed in the summer of 2006, the lions, Tango and Onyo, now have access to an additional 2,200 square feet, which includes another rocky cliff and a cool grassy area to roll around in.
Old World Monkey Exhibit: Opened in 1984 this exhibits houses our colobus monkey, which is also the zoo and zoological society’s logo animal. As part of this exhibit the Zoological Society funded a major graphic project adorned on the outside of the exhibit.
Tiger Exhibit: Constructed in 1979, and originally called Bear Grotto, an addition of a glass viewing area was added along with water features. This exhibit now houses our Amur Tiger and White Bengal Tiger. The exhibit includes a 10 foot viewing area where visitors can come face to face and paw to paw with our tigers.
Leopard Exhibit: This exhibit features rare and exotic Amur and Snow Leopards, both of which are critically endangered in the wild. Potawatomi Zoo supports several leopard conservation programs in hopes that we can sustain and grow the wild population of these beautiful species.
The Learning Center: Completed in 1979, the Leaning Center serves as the zoo’s secondary entrance and exit and contains the Zoo administrative offices and education center which houses birthday parties, classes and other educational events. The Learning Center also houses several exhibits representing the diversity of the animal kingdom and the habitats they live in. Some species include rare frogs, snakes, bats, lizards, tortoise, various small primates and invertebrates. The Learning Center is also home to the zoo’s education animals, which include ferrets, a chinchilla, a rabbit, blue tongue skink and hissing cockroaches.
North American Prairie Exhibit: Opened in August of 1990 this exhibit features black tailed prairie dogs. An indoor/outdoor alligator exhibit was added 1999 which houses the American and Chinese alligators.
South America: Opened in summer of 2008 the South/North America yard features a giant anteater, South American collard peccaries and crested screamers, along with aviaries featuring different species of toucans. Our Bison were moved from their old exhibit into the North America yard in 2008, giving them more space.
African Area: The African area includes the lion exhibit, ankole cattle, warthogs, and Grant’s zebras. The African area features several primates including DeBrazza monkeys, Colobus, and Diana monkeys. The newest addition to Africa is our African wild dogs.
Butterflies in Living Color!: Opened in May of 2008 this full immersion exhibit features exotic butterflies from all over the world.
Information from the Potawatomi Zoo Web site (
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