The trail now features a "north woods" look and includes exhibits for raccoons, coyotes, and gray wolves together with long-time residents like beaver, otter, puma, and lynx.

Smaller Minnesota animals, like turtles, frogs and salamanders are featured in the exhibit's "trailhead", which is styled after a lodge.

The quarter-mile (400-meter) trail takes guests through more than fifteen wildlife exhibits where they experience a variety of Minnesota landscapes, ranging from views into a beaver pond, a walk alongside a northern forest glade and a bird-watching perch in the treetops.

The zoo ended their breeding program around 2011 due to the warming climate of the state taking a toll on the health of the animals in the summer, with the last two members of the aging herd being euthanized in late April 2021.

At the entrance to the Tropics building, visitors can see the Wyland mural titled "Our Ocean Family", dedicated on September 8, 1997.

In later years, a bone infection was found within "Big Mouth's" jawbone (resulting from a collision with one of the tank fixtures) and forced immediate transfer of both whales to SeaWorld San Diego in the hopes of obtaining a more sophisticated means of veterinary treatment.

Big Mouth, whose bone infection eventually proved to be fatal, was euthanized on July 16, 1990, at the age of seventeen.

Director Lee Ehmke mentioned that in the future, perhaps a slim chance will come along that will allow the return of dolphins to the Minnesota Zoo.

[24] In 1992, Rio gave birth to the zoo's first successful captive-born dolphin, a male named "Shadow" sired by Semo.

[28] Two females, Allie and her mother, April, were additions to the Minnesota Zoo's bottlenose dolphin family in 2008.

In September 2009, three bottlenose dolphins from the Brookfield Zoo arrived at the Discovery Bay habitat while their home stadium, the Seven Seas Dolphinarium, was being renovated.

The three dolphins, Tapeko, and her daughters Noelani and Allison, remained in Minnesota for roughly six months until the tank in Brookfield was completed in the spring of 2010.

Spree too was sent to Brookfield after it was decided she would have a better chance at acclimating herself to their social structure as she was generally outcast by Semo, April and Allie.

With Semo then in his mid 40s, the zoo felt it was best for them to avoid the more high-energetic behaviors usually performed by the younger members of the group.

[32][33] In all, a total of 19 dolphins have been housed at the zoo over the years: Semo, Flipper, April, Rio, Vince, Mindy, Chinook, Allie, Shadow, DJ, Ayla, Mindy's 1997 stillborn, Spree, Harley, Tapeko, Noelani, Allison, Allie's 2009 stillborn, and Taijah.

[32] The Minnesota Legislature had recently granted the zoo $4 million towards the renovation of the Discovery Bay dolphin tanks, which were in need of repairs.

Semo was moved to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, California, while Allie was sent back to the Brookfield Zoo just outside Chicago.

[35] They were displayed in their Discovery Bay tank for several months until they returned to their Brookfield Zoo habitat in Spring of 2024.

However, an incident occurred on May 31, 1980, where an electrical malfunction caused the monorail train to stall, its engine to spark, and produce a lot of smoke.

A second incident on the ride occurred in August 1992, where 10 passengers had to be removed by ladder from a smoke-filled monorail car after an electrical fire broke out in a motor.

[41] Construction of the 1.25-mile (2 kilometer) elevated pedestrian loop, which is the world's longest, began at the end of April 2022 and was completed in the summer of 2023.

[45] In 1987, the zoo served as the filming location for All About Animals, a title in the Little Schoolhouse series of educational children's videos.