Complete List of North Carolina Zoos for the 2025 Season

The Carolina Raptor Center in Huntersville, North Carolina is a leading destination for avian rehabilitation, education, and conservation in 2025. Visitors can explore the Raptor Trail, open daily from 10 AM to 4 PM, where they encounter a diverse collection of raptors and learn about their role in the ecosystem. The center offers interactive experiences such as Nose-to-Beak Experiences, allowing guests...

The Cherokee Bear Zoo in Cherokee, North Carolina is a small roadside zoo where visitors can get up close to black bears and other animals native to the area. The zoo is known for allowing close encounters with its animals, particularly bears, housed in concrete pits or cages. Other animals may include native wildlife species, though bears are the main...

The Animal Park at the Conservators’ Center in Burlington, North Carolina is a nonprofit wildlife conservancy home to more than 80 animals, offering immersive and educational experiences for visitors in 2025. Key features include guided tours that bring guests within five feet of lions, tigers, wolves, and other exotic species, emphasizing both animal care and conservation education. The park is known...

Welcome to JB’s Rattles where are motto is “The Reptile Zoo That Comes To You!” We have over 100 different Venomous and Non-Venomous animals in our collection for “Reptile Birthday Parties” or a reptile show for Boy or Girl Scouts, Library, even Schools or any other occasion for someone who enjoys learning about reptiles.

The Museum of Life and Science in Durham, North Carolina is an expansive destination featuring interactive indoor and outdoor exhibits, making it a top family attraction for 2025. Key features include the Aerospace’s Launch Lab with hands-on activities, the Dinosaur Trail, a pollinator garden, Hideaway Woods with accessible treehouses, a farmyard with farm animals, and a scenic train ride equipped for...

Roam through the Dinosaur Gallery and come face-to-face with a 36 foot Tyrannosaurus rex model. Discover Earth’s masterpieces in the Gem and Mineral Gallery. Enjoy touch labs featuring aquatic life. Visit live snakes, amphibians and sea creatures. Wander though Animal Discovery, our new outdoor zoological park, and come face to face with tigers, gibbons, wallabies, lemurs, howler monkeys and many,...

Welcome to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, located in Kure Beach, NC at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Open 362 days a year, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily. Visitors enjoy “The Waters of the Cape Fear”, as they take a journey down the Cape Fear River – from freshwater streams and swamps, to coastline habitats, to reefs...

Feel the spray of a mountain waterfall. Watch river otters play. Touch a stingray. Look a shark in the eye. Explore shipwrecks – without getting wet. See a rare white sea turtle and let your spirits soar as raptors and waterbirds fly overhead. Thousands of aquatic animals take you on a journey from the state’s grand peaks to the open...

Planning a visit to the NC Aquariums?  Over 1 million people visit the NC Aquariums each year, frequently returning from year to year as there is always something new to see and do.  The Aquarium includes indoor and outdoor exhibits, educational programming, classrooms, meeting spaces and a gift shop.  In addition, there are two changing exhibit galleries, after hour opportunities,...

Visit the North Carolina Zoo for fun with family and friends, for face-to-face animal encounters, to enchant and educate children or perhaps to enjoy the glorious gardens. Connect with wildlife from two different continents as you explore 500 acres of exhibits carefully constructed to resemble natural habitats.  Walk from Africa’s grasslands to North America’s Arctic coast.

Triangle Metro Zoo was a privately owned and operated 40-acre zoo that was open from 1998 until 2006. It was located in Wake Forest, North Carolina, United States.

We are a community group of committed individuals, businesses and grantors who together support the WNC Nature Center with vital funding to provide an enriching and educational experience for visitors and schoolchildren. The Mission of the Friends of the Western North Carolina Nature Center is to create awareness and provide financial resources, through fundraising and events, in support of the Nature...