Utah's Hogle Zoo () is a Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) accredited facility. Located at the mouth of Salt Lake City's Emigration Canyon, Hogle Zoo is one of the largest zoos in the Intermountain West, and houses over 800 animals representing 139 species.
The zoo is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and is supported through Salt Lake County's Zoo Arts and Parks Tax and private donations raised by the Utah Zoological Society and the zoo's board of directors.
History The zoo has been at its present location at the mouth of Emigration Canyon since 1931 on land donated by Mr. and Mrs. James A. Hogle. Its original location was in Salt Lake City's Liberty Park. In 1916, the zoo purchased Princess Alice, an elephant, from a traveling circus. She gave birth to Prince Utah, the first elephant born in Utah. He died after eleven months.
Affiliations Hogle Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Only ten percent of the United States' zoos are accredited by the AZA. As part of the AZA, Hogle Zoo must abide by strict husbandry, education, and guest service requirements. The organization sets standards for exhibit designs that all new exhibits must adhere to. The association manages the majority of accredited zoo's collection through Taxon Advisory Groups. Animals are only moved to other AZA locations or through programs with European accredited facilities. Every four years, members of the AZA visit Utah's Hogle Zoo to ensure their expectations are being met. As of September 2025, Hogle Zoo was accredited through September 2030.
Most of the animals at Hogle Zoo have a Species Survival Plan (SSP), which is run under the AZA and ensures genetic diversity among captive populations. The SSP pairs animals together for breeding based on their hereditary and gene pool. Most Species Survival Plans focus on threatened species or those at risk of extinction. Other animals in the zoo's collections, including in the "Rocky Shores" habitat, are rescues from the wild.
Utah's Hogle Zoo is also accredited by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). The organization serves a similar function as the AZA but on a global scale with a purpose of wildlife conservation and the best practices for animal welfare.
Exhibits
Small Animal Building On June 12, 1971, the Small Animal Building opened to guests and it includes a number of smaller mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods and fish. It is Hogle Zoo's oldest exhibit today, and surrounding the Small Animal Building are summer yards for the exhibit's tortoises and crocodiles as well as a hillside habitat for two sibling pairs of red fox.
Great Apes The Great Apes exhibit opened in 1983. The exhibit includes four indoor habitats for the apes during Utah's cold winter months as well as two outdoor yards. The exhibit currently features a breeding troop of western lowland gorillas and two groups of Bornean orangutans. The zoo also has successful breeding programs with both apes, which has led to the births of gorilla Addo (in 2024)https://www.hoglezoo.org/gorilla-infant-born/ and orangutan Weila (in 2025).https://www.hoglezoo.org/orangutan-newborn/
Primate Forest
The first phase of the A. LaMar Farnsworth Primate Forest opened on August 1, 1996, when a new exhibit was created for the Zoo’s guereza group. Other primates such as black howler monkeys and spider monkeys are also featured there.
High Desert Oasis Originally opened as Elephant Encounter in 2005, the exhibit was rethemed after the Zoo ended its elephant program in 2023. Today High Desert Oasis features threatened species from extreme environments like the Gobi Desert and Namibia’s Great Escarpment. Four species rotate among the exhibit’s three guest-facing yards including Przewalski’s horse, Hartmann's mountain zebra, southern white rhinoceros, and Bactrian camel.
Asian Highlands
Just months after the opening of Elephant Encounter in 2005, the old Feline Building was renovated into an Asian-themed modernized exhibit that opened in 2006, featuring highland felids such as Siberian tigers, Amur leopards, snow leopards and Pallas cats. Markhors and Chinese red pandas later joined the collection a decade later.
Rocky Shores
Rocky Shores is a modernized coastal habitat and aquarium, built in 2012, and featuring a breeding pair of polar bears, grizzly bear siblings, harbor seals, California sea lions, North American river otters, and bald eagles.
African Savanna In 2014, 4.5 acres of land was transformed into two modernized spaces for animals from the grasslands of Africa. One includes space for African lions, while the other, larger space currently includes reticulated giraffes, Hartmann's mountain zebras, common ostriches, common warthogs, and helmeted guineafowl. A third habitat, Meerkat Manor, opened in 2019, and guests can feed giraffes at Twiga Terrace, one of the viewing platforms.
Wild Utah Wild Utah opened in 2024, transforming three acres of the zoo's east side which was previously only visible by the train. Featured in the exhibit are Utah native species with the intent to educate Utah's public and tourists about the state's iconic wildlife, such as pollinators, burrowing owls, desert tortoises, mountain lions, boreal toads, desert bighorn sheep, an American badger, American porcupines, gray foxes, a bobcat, and yellow-bellied marmots.
Attractions
Oasis Plaza Oasis Plaza serves as a connecting hub in the center of the zoo. Four paths stemming from the plaza lead guests to all corners of the zoo. The zoo's Conservation Carousel decorates the plaza and is a popular attraction. The plaza's Oasis Cafe serves pizza, sandwiches, ice cream, and drinks.
The World of Wildlife Amphitheater is accessible from the plaza. The amphitheater which was once home to the popular World of Flight show, is now home to the zoo's Canine Champions for Conservation program.
Creekside Completed in 2016, Creekside provides learning opportunities for children. Programs with the zoos animal ambassadors occur at the Discovery Theater. These programs feature insects, reptiles, mammals, and birds. Creekside also features a playground and boardwalk that over looks Emigration Creek.
Notable animals
Dari Dari lived to be the oldest living African elephant in the world. She lived to the age of 55 and died due to age-related problems. She was known for her caring attitude toward the other elephants in her herd.https://kutv.com/news/local/north-americas-oldest-african-elephant-dari-dies-at-utahs-hogle-zoo
Daphne Daphne was the oldest living giraffe in the world. She came to Hogle Zoo in 1985 from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. She had nine calves at the zoo. Daphne died at the age of 31, which is double the average lifespan for giraffes.
Animal attacks and escapes In 1997, Tino, a 450-pound male western lowland gorilla, attacked and bit Robert Pratt, the zoo's team leader for primates. Tino gained access to a room which Pratt was cleaning after a door was left open. Pratt was knocked down by the gorilla and suffered some bite wounds. Pratt returned to work soon after the incident.
In 1999, two zookeepers were attacked by three chimpanzees after a man failed to close the gate to their indoor enclosure. Two chimpanzees were shot and killed and a third was contained and was sent to a zoo in Kansas. Both zookeepers were severely injured. Chimpanzees were absent from the zoo's collection since.
In 2006, Maddi, an eight-year-old female grey wolf, leaped over an eight-foot fence and escaped from her enclosure. She was out of her enclosure for about an hour until zoo officials could secure her and bring her back into her enclosure. No one was hurt in the incident.
In 2011, four spider monkeys escaped from the outdoor enclosure. The four primates did not travel far and were coaxed back into their exhibit by zookeepers. No one was harmed in the situation.
In 2016, Zeya, a four-year-old Amur leopard, climbed through a six by six-inch opening at the top of her enclosure. The sixty-pound endangered cat rested on a beam just outside her enclosure and fell asleep. Zeya was tranquilized and put into a holding area in the zoo's hospital.
In 2021, an Indian peacock attacked four young guests throughout the zoo grounds. This resulted in a pushback leading zoo officials to reluctantly pause care for decades of housing free-roaming Indian peafowl after receiving complaints from the guests' parents about any disregard for safety and intervention. The remaining two peahens were briefly rotated between Primate Forest and South Pathway but were since relocated as well, resulting in the species' absence.https://www.abc4.com/news/hogle-zoo-sued-for-alleged-peacock-attack-on-multiple-children/
Conservation efforts Conservation efforts at Hogle include a reduce, reuse, recycle program, water conservation, and earth-friendly biodegradable products. The zoo's efforts were recognized in 2005 by the Recycling Coalition of Utah, and it received the Thomas A. Martin Utah Recycler of the Year award for a non-profit business.
Following a June 2010 oil spill from an underground Chevron pipeline in Red Butte Creek, 150 to 200 birds, many of them Canada geese, came in contact with the oil and were taken to Hogle Zoo to be cleaned.
The Big Six Program is the Hogle Zoo's biggest conservation program. The program works with six organizations that are working with six endangered species. The big six animals that are a part of the program include the African lion, Bornean orangutan, polar bear, African elephant, radiated tortoise, and boreal toad.
Wildlife reintroductions In the 1960s concern grew for the dwindling population of America's symbol the bald eagle. The species was declared an endangered species in 1967 after DDT poisoning had decimated North America's population. Reintroduction efforts were needed to help bolster the remaining wild individuals. Sam and Betsy, Hogle Zoo's mated pair in the Woodland Edge exhibit had successfully produced fertile eggs in 1989, 1990, and 1991. All three of their chicks were determined good candidates for release as their genetics were not well represented in wild populations. The 1989 chick was released in Arkansas and the 1991 chick in Georgia. The chick from 1990 was unfortunately lost to predation from a red fox after its release. Without the banning of DDT in 1972 and reintroduction efforts made by organizations like Utah's Hogle Zoo, the bald eagle would have not recovered and been taken off the endangered species list in 2007.
The golden lion tamarin, a small New World monkey, has lost all but two to five percent of the species' original habitat in Brazil. The first population estimate in 1972, found between 400-500 golden lion tamarins left. From 1984 to 2001, an extensive effort to reintroduce the species to its native habitat took place involving 43 institutions in 8 countries. Utah's Hogle Zoo was involved in this effort. On April 29, 1993, Hogle Zoo sent Bagel, a male golden lion tamarin, to the Smithsonian's National Zoo's former Center for Biological Research for a quarantine period in preparation to be released into the wild. On February 4, 1994, Bagel was introduced into the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve in southeastern Brazil, one of three small areas left in the wild that are home to the critically endangered species.