You’ll love every one
Our Animals

Wildlife Preservation  –  our reason for being here!

An impressive array of animals greets the visitor to the Darling Downs Zoo. Our animals come to us from other zoos or wildlife parks, private breeders, aviculturalists and herpetologists. Some of them had been injured or orphaned animals that were deemed not suitable for release to the wild so they will now have a safe and happy life with us. Others are part of globally recognised captive preservation breeding programs.

You can see brilliantly coloured Macaws from South America, snappy Crocodiles, mischievous Monkeys from South-east Asia, haughty Peruvian Llamas, tiny rainforest Marmosets, Ssssssssnakes galore, bouncing Baboons from Africa, two prides of mighty Lions, Green Iguanas from Brazil and exotic Parrots of all sizes and colours. Ducks, Lizards, Swans, Pelicans, Koalas, Wombats, Kangaroos, Ostriches, Dingo, Emu, Waterbirds, Turtles and Tortoises and many more species also call our zoo home.

The zoo participates in preservation programs for Sumatran Tiger, Emperor Tamarin, Cotton-top Tamarin, African Lion, Zebra, Giraffe, Stilts, Bilbies, Noisy Pitta, Regent Bowerbirds, Rose-crowned Fruit Doves and many more.  A lot of our breeding programs are off display and the youngsters are moved out into conservation reserves when they are independent enough.  In this way we have released Bush-stone Curlews into reserves in Victoria, NSW and the ACT as well as Bilbies into reserves in WA, NSW and here in Queensland.  Two of our Bilbies can be seen at the Save the Bilby Fund display centre at Charleville as well.

The Darling Downs Zoo is the only zoo in Queensland where you can see African Lions, White Lions, Servals,  Addax, a Pygmy Hippopotamus and the largest family of Hamadryas Baboons and herds of Zebra, Blackbuck Antelope and Aldabra Giant Tortoises.

We are also home to Queensland’s first ever Meerkats!