Marlin Perkins, Director of the St. Louis Zoo and star of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom gave advice.

red river hogs and colobus monkeys share a home, and the African crested porcupines and Aldabra giant tortoise also live together.

[4][13] The zoo's adult female Amur (Siberian) tiger, Kyra, mother of four cubs (two males—whose conservation plan called for them to eventually be relocated to other zoos—and two females), died suddenly on the evening of Sunday, August 18, 2013, of what preliminary was believed to be a serious acute infection that turned septic.

[16] On November 3, 2023, the zoo announced its 18-year old male lion Arthur had been humanely euthanized due to lymphoma.

[17] Arthur was born on September 9, 2005, and moved to Peoria Zoo on November 16, 2008, where he lived with his mate Lizzy.

[20][21] A small animal building houses smaller animals such as the zebra mouse, Zambian mole-rats, pancake tortoises, dung beetles, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, African rock pythons, Madagascar tree boas, and Taveta golden weavers.

[10] The Tropics Building houses many species, including: greater spear-nosed bat, western hognose snake, Dumeril's ground boa, Mexican beaded lizard, desert blond tarantula, green tree python, New Caledonian giant gecko, Burmese python, red-footed tortoise, Standing's day gecko, cotton-top tamarin, Hoffman's two-toed sloth, mongoose lemur, northern tree shrew, ring-tailed lemur, cardinal tetra, firehead tetra, southern three-banded armadillo, and black-handed spider monkey.

The Conservation Center is a building for endangered species, mostly reptiles and amphibians such as: alligator snapping turtle, Colorado River toad, green and black poison dart frog, prehensile-tailed skink, Panamanian golden frog, Chinese alligator, and spotted turtle.

The Glen Oak Pavilion building was designed by local architects William Reeves and John Baille.