Animal Biographies

  

For a larger picture and more information on habitats, ranges, food and other information about what each species is like in the wild, click on the species name.

     

Raptors
 
 
 
 Amazon arrived October 2002 from the Raptor Center at Auburn University. She was born around 1982 and has been in captivity since 1987 with a wing injury.
Karla, injured in the wild as an adult in 1995, was taken to the Chatahoochee Nature Center. She was then used for educational programs until arriving at the Zoo in 2005. The male, Ohoopee, arrived in 2003 from a veterinarian in Lithonia as an injured juvenile.

Wizard the barn owl came to us from the Carolina Raptor Center in North Carolina. She was found in a box on the porch of a vet hospital with several injuries and was taken to the CRC for rehabilitation in June of 1998. She recovered but is non-releasable due to an off-center beak. Atari is an imprinted male which is used in educational programs. He came from a rehabilitation center in New Mexico.
Clack II and Boo Too were injured in the wild and cannot fly. Their ages are unknown. Both birds came from the Carolina Raptor Center in 2000. Boo Too is used in educational programs.
Pocahontas was injured in the wild in 1988 in Utah. She was an adult at the time so her age is unknown. She has been a Zoo resident since 1988.
Our horned owl in the aviary, came from the Carolina Raptor Center in 2000.  Karlos will be used in programs came from the Chatahoochee Nature Center.  He too suffered a wing injury in 1995.
 Grey is a grey phase screech owl.  She came from the Carolina Raptor Center.  Gimli is a red phase  owl. He arrived in 2002 from the UGA Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Both birds had wing injuries.            
The gobbler (or tom) hatched in 1993. He was donated by the Norfolk-Southern Railroads Brosnan Forest Hunting Reserve in 1997.
   

Mammals

    
 Josie was born in captivity in 1988 and was donated by the Humane Society of Cleveland, Ohio in 1990. She weighs about 250 pounds and stands about 5 feet tall. Josie is unafraid of people and would get into trouble if released into the wild. DJ was probably orphaned when about 2 months old in 2003. He arrived at the zoo in September 2006. He is still growing but currently is about 6 ft. tall and weighs nearly 400 lbs.

One female, Danielle, was born in captivity in 1992. It arrived at Bear Hollow in 1996 from Heritage Zoo in Grand Island, Nebraska. The other female, Katie, came from the Ellijay Wildlife Rehabilitation Sanctuary in 2006. She was born in 2002.

One otter is named Penny and he came from an otter farm in Louisiana. Penny is not shy and will climb the fence for you. The other otter, Corky, came from The Animal Forest at Charlestowne Landing State Park.  Born in 2002, she cam to the Zoo in summer of 2005.  She had been injured in the wild as a pup and could not walk for awhile. 

Redbuck was born in late July of 1991. He was caught by dogs as a fawn and was badly mauled. Ginger was born in the spring of 2005 and was soon orphaned.  She was raised on a bottle for awhile in someone's living room before going to a rehabilitator and then coming to the Zoo.
Gus a male woodchuck arrived in June 2007. He was born in captivity on April 12, 2007. He initially was kept in the window of the Exhibit Hall. When large enough, he was moved to the outdoor exhibit.
 

Reptiles

    
Dill Pickle was hatched around 1991 and suffered from some problems during his first years of life which stunted his growth. He was donated to the zoo in 2004 by the Memorial Park Program Specialist.
The zoo currently has three rat snakes.  The black rat snake hatched in 1993.  As a hatchling he bit a child and the parents thought they had killed the snake.  It took months for him to heal from the injuries.  The yellow rat snake came from a reptile rescue organization. Its age is unknown but is probably over 14 years old. The gray rat snake was hatched in captivity in about 2006.

His mother was hit by a bush hog mower and had 15 eggs.  He was one of 13 to hatch but 5 had birth defects. The veterinarian says the deformities were caused by some kind of chemical pollution that the mother received.  His siblings have all since died.
This king snake was hatched in captivity in 2003 by a snake breeder. As he grows older his color will change to more brown and yellow/cream.
Niblet was captive bred and hatched in May of 1996. She has been at Bear Hollow since she was eight weeks old.
Faith was found at the Faith Evangelized Methodist Church on Barnett Shoals Rd., and was brought here in September of 1997. Baxter was donated to the zoo by the Memorial Park Program Specialist. He has a deformity on his shell from an injury.

Tut has been in captivity for over 20 years. He was donated by the UGA Veterinarian School after being treated for wounds he received from a cat.
 
    
Painted Turtle
 Vincent was found in the Memorial Park swimming pool during cleaning in 1997.  He survived being subjected to the cleaning chemicals..
Red-eared Slider
Yurtle arrived at Bear Hollow November of 1999 from a local pet owner. The turtle had outgrown its cage.
One barred tiger salamander arrived at the zoo in February of 2003. The age and sex is unknown. The other salamander came from a reptile dealer.
 
Adopt An Animal Program
  

Though the Adopt-An-Animal program, you can sponsor many of these critters! There is a sponsorship level for every budget!  Click here for more information.