All of our experiences are generally available during the summer season. However, occasionally Mother Nature requires that we close them for safety.
Note: Availability is subject to weather. Please call (616)336-2017 for daily availability.
As the main eatery in the heart of the zoo, we offer a large variety of lunch and snack items. From Hot Dogs and Fries to Chicken Tenders and Burgers, there is something here for everyone! This is also the place to get a Soft Serve Ice Cream Cone after a hot day at the zoo. Gluten-Free Buns are available for those with dietary restrictions.
Hippo Salad – a beautiful salad served in a carved out watermelon
*Open daily
Located by our Spider Monkey Exhibit, guests can enjoy a variety of Craft Beers, Seltzer, or a Cold Slushie with a Shot of Rum or Jack Daniels. Roasted Nuts are also available for those with an empty stomach!
*Open daily
Ripe fruit, leaves, nuts, seeds, insects, and sometimes eggs.
Rainforests. Spending most of their time in the upper branches.
Critically Endangered
Yes
Central America to northern South America
Long prehensile tails that act as a fifth limb to help them swing through branches of trees.
Can leap in excess of 9 meters (30 ft.) from branch to branch.
Their hands are formed for climbing, they only have four fingers and lack a thumb. This increases their strength and grip.
Male
Female
Female
Female
Female
Mainly fruits. Some insects, eggs, seeds, grains, & nuts
Forests, Shrubland, and Savannahs
Least Concern
Yes
Argentina, Peru, French Guiana, Bolivia, Paraguay, Suriname, & Brazil
Thin layer of skin surrounds the eye giving the iris a blue appearance.
Do not use their tongue in the process of swallowing food, instead they place a piece of fruit between the very ends of their beak and lean their head back at an approximately 180 degree angle causing the food item to project directly into the pharynx.
Male
Female
Leaves and seeds, on occasion they eat insects and flowers
Upland and lowland rainforests
Least Concern
Yes
Brazil and remote parts of Argentina
Female
Male
Insects, algae, shrimp, mollusks, worm, crustaceans, and plankton
Muddy, shallow, alkaline, and brackish lakes
Near Threatened
Yes
Found from central Peru through the Andes and Uruguay to Tierra del Fuego
They stand on one leg to conserve body heat, drawing the other leg close to the body and tucking the head under the wing.
Flamingos face the wind when resting, to stop the wind and rain from penetrating their feathers.
Enjoy this shaded space overlooking the center of the zoo. The boardwalk tent is the perfect place to rest your feet, eat a snack, and see a view of the zoo from the top.
Picnic tables available – first come, first serve
Birds and mammals. Primarily Blue Sheep, but also Ibex, Markhors, and Wild Boar
Steep, rocky, and broken terrain is preferred. Mountains, savanna, or grassland
Vulnerable
Yes
Central Asia. This includes the entire Himalayan mountain system and extends to southern and western Mongolia and South Russia.
Mother is solely responsible for supplying the cubs with food, protection, resources, and learning for the first year of their life.
Extremely long tail, equaling 75% to 90% of total body length, is used for balance, but also to cover up their extremities during harsh winter weather.
Female
Male
Moose, elk, white-tailed deer, mule deer, caribou, squirrels, muskrat, porcupine, beaver, raccoon, striped skunk, coyote, bobcats, other mountain lions, rabbits, opossums, birds, and even snails and fish.
Coniferous forests, lowland tropical forests, grasslands, dry bush lands.
Least Concern
Yes
Ranging from areas in Canada, down through the United States, south to Central and South America.
Stalks prey animals, then leaps at close range onto their back and breaks the animal's neck with a powerful bite below the base of the skull.
One additional smaller premolar on each side of the upper jaw as compared to lynx.
Female
Male
Grass, roots, moss, bulbs, fruits, nuts, fungus, berries, tubers, insects, carrion, and fish. They are known to hunt moose, elk, mountain sheep, and mountain goats
Desert edges, high mountain forests, ice fields, tundra, alpine meadows, and coastlines.
Least Concern
No
Western Europe and Palestine to eastern Siberia and the Himalayan region. Stable populations are found in Northern North America and small populations in parts of Western United States.
200-1300 pounds.
Males may guard the females for 1-3 weeks.
Implantation in the uterus is delayed for 5 months. Gestation period: 180-266 days. Females do not ovulate for 2-4 years after giving birth.
Our bears are three-strike bears. Yogi came from the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 1994. Boo Boo came from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game in 1994.
Male
(Smaller, darker color), Grizzly Bear, Wild Born in Montana
Female
(Larger, lighter color), Alaska Brown Bear, Wild Born in Alaska
Primarily snowshoe hares, also rodents, birds, and fish
Usually mature forests with dense undergrowth, but also rocky areas, or tundra
Least Concern
Yes
Throughout Canada, in western Montana, and in nearby parts of Idaho and Washington. There are small populations in New England, Utah, and possibly in Oregon, Wyoming, and Colorado.
Females give birth to 1 litter a year, usually in fallen logs, stumps, clumps of timber, or tangles of roots & branches.
Paws are large and furry, helping to distribute their weight while on top of snow.
Male
Leaves, roots, tubers, wood, bark, stems, seeds, grains, nuts, fruit, and flowers
Open tundra, savannah, grassland, and deciduous forests.
Least Concern
Yes
Found throughout most of Alaska and Canada, in the northern part of the Great Lakes region, and all throughout the west and northeast regions of the United States.
An individual porcupine has approximately 30,000 quills.
When threatened, a porcupine will chatter its teeth and produce a chemical odor, intended to warn off any predator.
Male
Female
| Description | Accessibility |
|---|---|
| Restroom | Men Restroom with Baby Changer |
| Restroom | Women Restroom with Baby Changer |
| Drinking Fountain | 1 Drinking Fountain with Bottle Re-filler |
Fish, turtles, crayfish, crabs, birds, eggs, small land mammals, and aquatic plants.
Freshwater and marine habitats such as lakes, rivers, swamps, and estuaries. Anywhere with a permanent supply of food and a water source.
Least Concern
Yes
Canada and the United States, except for New Mexico and the Mohave Desert of Nevada and Colorado.
At 6 months the pups head off on their own.
Two layers of fur; a thick, dense under layer and a longer over layer of guard hairs that trap air bubbles for insulating while swimming.
Can stay underwater for up to 8 minutes.
Male
The Central Stage at John Ball Zoo features seasonal Daily Animal Programs, live entertainment on event days, and is a great place to take a rest and enjoy a snack.
Picnic tables with umbrellas available – first come, first serve.
Primarily small mammals such as rabbits, hares, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and marmots. They also eat birds, reptiles and fish in smaller numbers.
Tundra, shrub lands, grasslands, woodland-brushlands, and coniferous forests. Most golden eagles are found in mountainous areas, but they also nest in wetland, riparian and estuarine habitats.
Least Concern
No
They occur throughout Eurasia, in northern Africa, and in North America. In North America, golden eagles are found in the western half of the continent, from Alaska to central Mexico, with small numbers in eastern Canada and scattered pairs in the eastern United States.
Male
Male
The Michigan Stream features both an outdoor and indoor viewing area. You can also feed the fish in the stream! Fish food is regulated for proper dietary needs.
Become one of your favorite animals for your visit to the Zoo. Choose from either a cheek design or a full face design. All of the paintings are done freehand by our talented face painting employees. Choose between 9 different cheek designs and 9 different full face designs. Please remember, artists’ styles may vary.
Stop here for your favorite flavor Dippin Dots! You can also grab a bag of Popcorn or a Soft Pretzel with some Canned Soda or Water.
*Open daily
These are the domestic bees that everyone has heard about. Right now we have three hives at the zoo. They are smaller, fuzzy bees and very docile. They sting but only if they are contacted or defending their hives.
These are larger fuzzy bees that are also social. Each spring new queens will start hives that last one year. They can sting but will only do so when caught or defending hives. They typically nest in the ground.
These large bees resemble bumblebees but have a shiny black abdomen. They don't form hives, each female will burrow into wood in order to lay eggs and raise her young. They only sting when trapped. Males will guard nests and buzz around people close by. The males are harmless, only the females have stingers. Carpenter bees are important pollinators because they often visit many different types of flowers to find enough pollen for their young. They can sometimes cause structural damage to wood if too many nests are present.
There are many native bees that don't form hives. They are some of the most important pollinators for native plants. They don't have stingers and are harmless. Solitary bees can be told apart from wasps because their bodies are covered or have patches of hair.
While bees developed hairs in order to collect pollen, wasps and hornets are mainly carnivorous and have shiny, smooth bodies and legs. They are usually yellow and black as warning coloration because they sting readily when bothered. They form the traditional hanging paper nests or nest in cavities in the ground. While they do pollinate plants, they mainly catch small caterpillars, spiders, and other arthropods to feed their young. They will go after sweet liquids like soda especially in the late summer. The nuisance wasps are social with queens starting nests after overwintering. The hives will start small but can become very large by the end of the summer.
90% of their diet is fruit, tubers, and palm nuts. Occasionally ants, termites, carrion, and frogs.
Savanna or grasslands
Least Concern
Yes
South America east of the Andes Mountains
Their body consists of 6-8 moveable bands made of keratin.
They are good swimmers and stay afloat by swallowing air.
Female
Mostly plant matter, but also insects and fungus.
Forest, Shrubland, and Marine Intertidal.
Endangered
No
Island of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
The oldest recorded lived to be 69 years of age.
The eggs are among the largest of all lizard eggs.
They defend their territory from other iguanas using head bobbing gestures to warn intruding iguanas, and they might even attack the intruder.
Male
Wild –Both fresh and dried grasses and succulents
Rocky areas, Shrub-lands, Grasslands, Savannas
Critically Endangered
Yes
Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia
Generally avoids bodies of water.
Experiences a period of torpor, or dormancy, during the hottest months of the year.
Extant (resident) - Canada (Manitoba); United States (Wisconsin, Michigan), Possibly Extinct - United States (South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa), Extinct - United States (Indiana, Illinois)
Forest, Shrubland, Grassland, Wetlands (inland), Artificial/Terrestrial
Least Concern
Throughout the Americas, from southern Canada, through the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America, to South America, north of the Amazon Basin
Every year, millions of Monarch Butterflies travel from overwintering sites in Central Mexico and coastal California, to summer breeding grounds throughout the United States and Canada
Grasses, aquatic plants, occasionally bark and fruit
Grasslands, marsh edges, and lowland forests. Anywhere water is easily accessible.
Least Concern
Yes
Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Columbia, south into the Argentinian pampas, and west to the Andes
They spend part of each morning re-ingesting the previous day’s food.
Capybaras are have front legs that are shorter than their back legs, partially webbed feet, and eyes, ears, and nostrils located on top of the head. All of these physical features make Capybaras well suited to semi-aquatic life.
Female
Mainly ants, termites, soft-bodied grubs, and have also been known to lick fallen fruit
Tropical moist forest, dry forest, savannah, and open grassland
Vulnerable
Yes
Central and South America from Belize down to northern Argentina
Female
Aquatic plants, seeds, and leaves
Rivers, mountains, or grasslands
Least Concern
Yes
Peru through northern Argentina and Uruguay
Male
Female
Fish, insects, marine worms, crustaceans, and algae.
Freshwater, brackish, or marine waters of temperate zones.
No
Pacific Coast of North America, extending from Alaska down to the border between California and Mexico.
They came to Michigan when eggs were imported from California in 1876. Large specimens that inhabit the Great Lakes, but travel inland to spawn in streams have come to be called Steelhead Trout.
Fish, insects, mollusks, marine worms, crustaceans, and algae.
Lakes and Rivers
No
Throughout United States and Canada
Group of freshwater fish in the Sunfish family.
Fish, eggs, insects, marine worms, crustaceans, algae, and zooplankton.
Deep streams and lakes
No
Europe, northern Africa, western Asia, Iceland, Scandinavia, and Russia. Today, the brown trout has been successfully introduced into waterways on every continent with the exception of Antarctica.
The first brown trout in the western hemisphere arrived in New York in 1883, and are now found throughout most of the United States.
Wild: Anchovies, Squid, Sprats, & Hagfish
Zoo: Trout, Smelt, Herring, & Capelin
Coastline, except during breeding season where they may be found nesting in grassland, amongst bushes, and in cliff faces.
Nearly Threatened
Yes
Temperate regions of South America. Found in Argentina, Brazil, Malvinas, Peru, and Uruguay. May venture to a tropical setting for breeding.
Unmated males have a distinct call similar to a donkey’s braying.
Thick heavy bones allowing them to dive more than 250 feet.
Torpedo shape allows for rapid swimming, reaching speeds up to 15.5 miles per hour.
Insect larvae, worms, crayfish, snails, and other small fishes.
Temperate waters. Found only in the Northern Hemisphere in North America.
Least Concern
NA
Freshwaters of North America from the Hudson Bay through the Mississippi River drainages to Alabama. It is found along the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River drainage, and in large lakes in New York and Vermont, including Cayuga Lake and Lake Champlain.
Males can live up to 100 years, and females can live up to 150 years.
The females lay a vast number of eggs, anywhere from 2-3 million in one season, depending on their size and age.
Try to find them all!
Hard-shelled animals like crabs, sand dollars, clams, snails, and sea urchins.
Rock and stone crevices, dens, and caves in shallow water as deep as 740 feet.
Not Evaluated
No
Northern Baja California north to the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, and east and south to the Seas of Okhotsk and Japan.
Length: 8.2 feet
Oviparous – Lays up to 10,000 eggs at a time, then coils around them and uses her body to shape the eggs into a neat sphere roughly the size of a grapefruit. When she's settled, the male coils around her as an added layer of protection. The female continues massaging the eggs periodically as they develop, helping to circulate water around the eggs to keep them supplied with oxygen.
Dead animals, algae, and various invertebrates such as urchin and mussel
Rocky reef habitats where they can den in crevices or seek cover in kelp or surf grass. Occasionally found in tide pools, but more often found in deeper waters up to 65 m.
Least Concern
No
Western coast of southern California and Mexico.
They have been known to be regulators of several key invertebrates, such as purple urchins.
Located in the Living Shores Aquarium next to the Octopus Habitat. The Tide Pool draws in water and releases back into the habitat, creating a tide. The cycle takes an average 2 minutes to complete.
A Tide Pool is an isolated pocket of seawater found in the ocean’s intertidal zone. They are home to a variety of life, such as snails, barnacles, mussels, anemones, urchins, sea stars, crustaceans, seaweed, and small fish that can sustain the drastic changes that occur
between low and high tides. During low tide there is increased sun exposure and lower levels of oxygen, and during high tide the crashing waves and foraging fish that comes at high tide.
Mainly fish, but also, leeches, earthworms, insects, crayfish, mussels, squid, amphibians, lizards, snakes, rodents, birds, eggs, carrion, and plant materials.
Terrestrial and Aquatic. Wetlands.
Least Concern
No
North America from Washington through Quebec, south through coastal Mexico, as well as locally in Central America and the Caribbean.
Some winter as far north as Oregon and the New England states.
Mollusks, echinoderms, sponges, arthropods, fish, worms, snakes, frogs, mammals, birds, and berries.
Beaches, estuaries, lakes, and rivers.
Least Concern
No
Widespread in the Southern Hemisphere.
Picks up shellfish and repeatedly flies them up several yards and drops them onto the rocks below in order to break them open.
Mainly fruit
Forests, rivers, shrubland, and grasslands
Least Concern
Yes
Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Tend to form flocks. Flocks can include members of other bird species.
Herring, topsmelt, croakers, surfperches, fish eggs, mollusks, aquatic worms, and the young of other sharks.
The temperate shallow bays and estuaries of coastal California.
Least Concern
No
Near-coastal regions in the Pacific Ocean from Oregon down the California coast to Mazatlan, México.
Leopard sharks have rows of teeth, but the first row is the only row that stands upright.
Bony fishes, crustaceans, and mollusks.
Temperate, tropical, and saltwater.
Least Concern
No
Eastern Pacific Ocean, ranging from Central California, in the Monterey Bay, to southern Mexico and central Chile.
Can take in water and swell as it hides in rocky crevices. This jams the shark in place making predation difficult.
A marine sea snail found in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Adults reach up to about an inch in diameter and have a life expectancy of 7 to 30 years. They inhabit rocky intertidal zones between low and high tide lines. Their diet is composed of mainly algae.
A marine snail found in coastal regions from Alaska, to Baja California. Their strong foot allows them to thrive in some intertidal areas where turbulent wave action is prevalent. Oxygen rich water is drawn up under the shell, it then passes through the gills and is then expelled out of an opening on the top of their shell. They are most active during high tide.
Small crustaceans less than an inch in diameter.
Rocky areas near reefs.
No
Eastern Pacific and North Atlantic oceans in temperate waters.
Referred to as the carpet of the sea. Not a true sea anemone.
Mollusks and sea squirts.
Both rocky and soft shorelines.
No
The coastline from Alaska to California and Northern Japan.
Zooplankton, mollusks, fish eggs, and worms.
Bays and estuaries.
No
Alaska, to Baja California, Mexico.
Tube-feet line there arms and are used for both locomotion and to pry open clams and oysters.
Tropical habitats to the cold seafloor.
No
Can be found worldwide.
Tube-feet line there arms and are used for both locomotion and to pry open clams and oysters.
Tropical habitats to the cold seafloor.
No
Can be found worldwide.
