Niabi Zoo

Niabi Zoo is a public Zoological Park in Coal Valley, Illinois, serving the Quad Cities Area.

Niabi Zoo is open for general admission April–October annually and offers robust education and outreach programs year round.

Niabi is one of six facilities owned and operated by the Rock Island County Forest Preserve District.

[1] The zoo's name "Niabi" comes from the Native Americans language of the Wazhazhe (Osage Nation) and means "the fawn spared by the hunter."

2005: Gibbon habitat opened featuring modern zoo design, Australia walk-about constructed, and animal nutrition center was built.

2011: Zoo Discovery Center for education, administration, and admissions to new entry plaza and pond constructed.

2017: Oceans exhibit opened in Discovery Center gallery, renovations to Biodiversity Hall and Reptile House.

2019: Niabi's conservation education department helped develop field education program for Painted Dog Research Trust [3] in Zimbabwe, Africa and participated in Whale Shark tagging research with Ch’ooj Ajauil [4] in Cancun, Mexico.

Biodiversity Hall: This biologically diverse collection of species includes Linnaeus's two-toed sloth, fennec foxes, slender-tailed meerkats, African porcupine, Seba's short-tailed bats, white cockatoos, Axolotl, a 17 foot long reticulated python, and many more.

Programs include Zoo Camp, classes, field trips, tours, animal encounters, Zoo2U outreach, guest speakers, university instruction, and media appearances.

Other: Playground, picnic areas, pavilions, education center, gift shop, concessions, facility rentals, etc.