The Nashville Zoo at Grassmere - Highlighted Habitats

Highlighted Habitats

African Crested Porcupine

Nashville Zoo has some new prickly pals - two male African crested porcupines.

The African crested porcupine is the largest porcupine in sub-Saharan Africa. They are characterized by quills along the head, nape and back that can be raised into a crest. Sturdier quills along their sides and the back halves of their bodies are used for defensive purposes. These porcupines have poor eyesight but an excellent sense of smell. African crested porcupines are also excellent swimmers, so you might catch them taking a dip in their pool.

The porcupine exhibit replaced the golden eagle habitat located near Bamboo Trail. Nashville Zoo’s male golden eagle recently passed away due to geriatric issues. The remaining female was sent to Indiana’s Potowatami Zoo to be with a companion eagle.

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Unseen New World

The Wildest Things You’ve Never Seen!

Hop on over to the Unseen New World, and see our six new exhibits!

In connection with 2008: Year of the Frog and worldwide amphibian conservation efforts, Nashville Zoo opened six new frog exhibits on Leap Day, Feb. 29.

The new exhibit space, located at the doors to the aviary in the Unseen New World, summarizes the plight amphibians are facing. Two threatened amphibians, the golden frog and the Puerto Rican crested toad, are highlighted in this new exhibit space.

The strange, the scary and the scaly made their first appearance at Nashville Zoo when the Unseen New World opened in 1998. This habitat includes approximately 75 species of reptiles, amphibians, insects, mammals and birds. Anacondas, Gila monsters, rattlesnakes, turtles and caimen are a few of the more than 250 unusual residents.

The habitat space is broken into three primary geographic regions to emphasize the relationships between the animals and their native homes. These regions are North America, Central and South America, and the West Indies.

The Unseen New World focuses on the many characteristics and behaviors that species use to hide from both predators and potential prey in the wild. Some of the physical characteristics that make these animals unseen are camouflage (physical traits that resemble their surroundings, such as chameleons) and mimicry (physical traits that resemble those of a poisonous or fierce animal, such as the false water cobra).

Behavioral traits that make these animals a challenge to find in the wild include: imitation (such as the alligator snapping turtle whose shell resembles a rock when they lay still on the lake bottom), burrowing (such as centipedes), and nocturnal lifestyle (such as fruit bats, maroon-eyed tree frogs and bushmaster snakes). Another unfortunate reason why many of these species are categorized as unseen is their rarity, due to habitat loss, predation and human incursion.

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Eurasian Lynx

Nashville Zoo recently welcomed a pair of Eurasian lynx, the largest of all the lynx species.

The Eurasian lynx is one of four species of lynx: Canadian, Iberian, Eurasian, and bobcat. All four species are known for the black tufts of hair on the tips of their ears and their short, or bobbed, tail. The back legs of lynx are longer than the front, tipping the animal forward slightly and creating a bobbing action when they run. These expert predators are also known for their sharp vision and hearing, which allows them to effectively stalk both small and large prey.

You can see the lynx in their new exhibit near the Bengal tigers and Alligator Cove. Nashville Zoo would like to thank the Kathryn and David Brown family for their generosity and support that made this exhibit possible.

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Grassmere Historic Farm

The Grassmere property is rich with history and a perfect spot for Nashville Zoo. The property and Historic Home date back to the early 1800s and were parts of a working farm until the middle of the 20th century. Just as the Home and gardens represent life at this time, we hope that the barnyard will continue your trip back in time to an earlier Nashville.

Records from the Farm's early days were used to re-create a barnyard with animals that might have called Grassmere their home in the 1880s, including: horses, sheep, chickens and cattle.

The Farm has both Percheron draft horses and Tennessee walking horses. Percheron draft horses were the true "work horses" of the Farm. These horses were used in the fields to pull plows and to work the land. In a time before the introduction of mechanized farm equipment, these amazing animals were crucial to farmers’ success. In contrast, Tennessee walking horses were popular for riding, driving and light farmwork. Their unique "running walk" is inherited and cannot be taught. These horses would have been used at Grassmere to inspect fields and pull buggies as well as for short trips to Nashville.

Sheep were kept as a source of wool and food. Wool could be spun into yarn to create clothing and household items. Often, wool was dyed using natural plants and other materials available on the Farm. Though not part of the daily tour of the Historic Home, we occasionally have artisans that demonstrate the art of spinning wool and creating tapestries.

Across the bridge from the barnyard is the chicken coop. We are not sure of the original placement of the chicken yard, but it was probably a bit further from the gardens and house, close to the former barn site. Chickens were a staple of farm life used for their eggs and for Sunday dinner.

The Farm has one cow and one steer, but in earlier years, Grassmere had a large group of cattle, which eventually dwindled as the primary focus shifted from livestock to cash crops and land cultivation.

Grassmere Farm is fortunate to have been adopted by the Master Gardeners of Davidson County as one of their ongoing projects. They have provided manpower, resources and expertise to transform the areas around the Home to their former beauty and bounty.

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Critter Encounters

Critter Encounters features a variety of animals that you can enjoy in up-close and personal experiences.

This exhibit has hornbills, toco toucans, alpacas, a donkey and several loveable goats and sheep. There are also ducks, a Vulturine Guinea fowl and a turkey.

Keepers are on-hand to help small children have an opportunity to touch the animals, but our critters also have an "animals only" area they can scoot into when they have had enough of little hands. (Please note that not all animals are able to be touched.)

While in Critter Encounters, please remember to hide your Zoo map and other paper goods. Our goats like to nibble on those items!

Critter Encounters was made possible by generous donations from Franklin Industries, Inc. and Tennessee's BEST college savings programs.

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Bamboo Trail

Bamboo Trail offers six exhibits displaying animals found in bamboo forests across the globe: clouded leopards, red pandas, ring-tailed lemurs, Schmidt’s guenons, cassowaries and rhinoceros hornbills.

Bamboo Trail also offers a koi pond, viewing shelter and a bamboo garden displaying a wide variety of bamboo found around the world.

Nashville Zoo would like to thank the generous sponsors who made Bamboo Trail possible: Courtney Daily for sponsoring the Schmidt's Guenon exhibit, The Beaman Family for sponsoring the Clouded Leopard Exhibit, Frank Garrison for sponsoring the koi pond, and Rusty, Sandy, Winston & Chase Siebert for sponsoring the Viewing Shelter.

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