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Something New at Audubon Zoo

January 22, 2015
Audubon Zoo’s newest attraction offers pint-sized visitors an opportunity to get up close and personal with some four-legged friends.

Watoto Walk, designed to resemble a Masai village that might be found on the plains of Kenya or Tanzania, opens its gates Saturday, December 20 across from the Giraffe Presentation in the Zoo’s African Savanna. Watoto is Swahili for “children.’’

The 3,000-square-foot enclosure is home to four species: Gulf Coast sheep, St. Croix sheep, Nigerian dwarf goats and domestic goats.

The new exhibit is the next generation of the popular Embraceable Zoo which was formerly located near the Discovery Walk.

In the new location, visitors will find themselves inside a miniature “boma,’’ an African village built atop a crushed-granite surface and surrounded by a fence made of corkscrew willow branches designed to protect inhabitants and their livestock from predators. The willow is similar to acacia, a shrub used for the same purpose in Africa.

The village includes a rounded thatched hut that will double as an education area featuring kid-friendly, low seating for eye-level presentations and interaction with the free roaming sheep and goats.

Audubon Zoo is located at 6500 Magazine Street. Regular admission to Audubon Zoo is $17.50 for adults, $12 for children 2-12, and $13 for seniors 65+. Audubon Nature Institute members are admitted free of charge.