TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - The Toledo Zoo will soon be home to the largest crocodile in North America, zoo officials said Tuesday.
A 17-foot long, more than 1,500 pound crocodile will be transported to the zoo from Australia sometime in early April. The croc's new home will be in the zoo's new Wild Walkabout Exhibit, which opens May 24 and will run through Sept. 2.
It will be a seasonable exhibit where people can walk around the zoo and find different animals from that region of the world. There will also be a new show in the zoo's Nature's Neighborhood that will feature Australian wild life, with the star being the 17-foot salt water crocodile.
The exhibit will feature a wide variety of animals from Down Under, including a kiwi chick, dingoes, death adders, lionfish, laughing kookaburras, wallabies and more. The Wild Walkabout will also include a Great Barrier Reef exhibit at the zoo's Museum of Science.
"It's a big deal for the zoo to have this animal, mainly because it really supports our mission of really getting people to care about wild life and inspiring them about nature," explained executive director Jeff Salier.
For more on the exhibit visit http://toledozoo.org/walkabout.
