The zoo is open 363 days a year (closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas) and in 2023 received over one million visitors for the first time.

In 1967, the North Carolina legislature created the NC Zoological Garden Study Commission to examine the feasibility of a state zoo.

Following next year, the North Carolina Zoological Society was formed with the goal of raising funds and public support for the zoo project.

On April 1, 2010, the Zoo announced it had acquired adjacent forestland to bring the total land tract to over 2,000 acres (8.1 km2).

The North Carolina Zoo was one of many state facilities to receive money from the Connect NC bond referendum, approved during the March 2015 primary election.

Funds from the Connect NC bond will be used to construct the new Asia region which will include tigers, Komodo dragons (which originally arrived at the zoo as juveniles exhibited in the Desert Dome), Visayan warty pigs, Asian small-clawed otters, cinereous vultures, red-crowned cranes, wrinkled hornbills, king cobras and northern white-cheeked gibbons among others.

There are parking lots located on each end of Africa and North America, so, during peak season, visitors can start their day from either side.

With approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) of walking paths, the Zoo also provides trams and air-conditioned buses for visitors.

Outside are ocelots, while inside are a variety of reptiles such as blue-tongued skinks, spiny-tailed monitors, ornate uromastyx, Gila monsters, Mexican beaded lizards, desert tortoises, pancake tortoises, and birds such as burrowing owls, greater roadrunners, Von der Decken's hornbills, laughing kookaburras, white-winged doves, Gambel's quail, white-headed buffalo weavers, and crested couas.

[16] A nocturnal section contains common vampire bats, gray mouse lemurs, brush-tailed bettongs, and sidewinders.

[17] On April 21, 2022, the Zoo announced the permanent closure of the R.J. Reynolds Forest Aviary due to structural deterioration caused by high humidity and wet conditions.

[18] The aviary had previously been closed since January 2022 due to avian influenza being detected in wild birds in North Carolina.

The Watani Grasslands Reserve mimics the great savannas of Africa, totaling 47-acre (190,000 m2) and is home to a herd of African elephants.

Primarily depictions of animals and their habitats, the artwork uses a variety of materials including marble, steel, bronze, fiberglass, limestone, glass, cement, and others.

The Zoo's art is intended to enliven and enrich the guest experience and help fulfill its mission by "promoting individual discovery and new ways of thinking.

[23] Also in Cameroon and its neighbor, Nigeria, the Zoo is working on a project to monitor the rare Cross River gorilla, a subspecies that was thought extinct for many years.

Ngogo researchers study primate plant use and rainforest regrowth after logging among other things, and remove illegal snares from the park which can seriously injure or kill protected animals.

Protection and research of the hellbender salamander, which is globally recognized as near threatened but is classified as "endangered" in several US states including North Carolina, is the target of a project in the Appalachian Mountains.

In 2001, a road expansion project by the North Carolina Department of Transportation threatened a significant population of the flowers.

[27] Since 1995, the North Carolina Zoo has been a part of the American Red Wolf Species Survival Plan and reintroduction program.

It receives around 60 percent from the state with the remainder being made up of ticket and merchandise sales and donations from the North Carolina Zoological Society, which remains the Zoo's fund-raising and membership arm.