Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo Review

The Santa Fe College Teaching zoo is unique because it is run by Zoology students at Santa Fe College, in Gainesville, Florida. We stopped here on our way to a Florida Vacation. It’s a small zoo, and won’t take more than an hour – perfect if you have little kids. The staff was extremely friendly, and they have some engagement activities for children throughout the zoo. The paths are woodchips, so they are easy to walk on. A fresh breather from the large, concrete zoos in big cities, this zoo is a nice change of pace.

Highlights:

Florida Walk-Thru Aviary – As we’ve repeated a lot, we love it when zoos embrace their natural habitat. This aviary feels like a Floridian forest preserve. The spoonbills would fly right over us!
Alligator exhibit – They have a pretty large alligator, and a nice swamp area for it to swim in. You can view the alligator from a boardwalk.
Otter Exhibit – Who doesn’t love otters? This zoo is home to a family of four otters (for now). Eventually the sisters may be sent to another zoo for breeding purposes. But for now, it was fun to watch them play together!
Tree Kangaroo – In the Midwest, tree kangaroo exhibits are typically inside (with a few exceptions, i.e. Detroit Zoo). So an outdoor tree kangaroo exhibit will get our attention! These animals are fun to watch when they’re awake – and they happened to be when we were visiting.

Lows:

Caged exhibits – A lot of the exhibits were not photogenic because of the caged wire fences. I would love it if they could amend this to give visitors into photography a better chance to capture their animals on camera.
Interactive Opportunities – Small zoos (typically) thrive on interactive opportunities. There weren’t many at this zoo. While the walk-thru aviary was our favorite, I would recommend some more immersive exhibits or feeding opportunities.

Thanks for reading our Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo review. Interested in other Florida zoos? Check out our comparison here.