The Lehigh Valley Zoo is one of the most impressive in the Northeastern United States, featuring hundreds of species of all types of wildlife. This zoo also stresses conservation and strives to provide leadership in the cultural and scientific communities as well. If you’re looking for an ethical zoo where you can view a wide range of wildlife with your family, our Allentown adoption agents highly recommend a trip to the Lehigh Valley Zoo.

Amphibians

Amphibians are animals that split their time between the water and land. The Lehigh Valley Zoo has eight types of amphibians on exhibit for the viewing public, including:

  • Eastern hellbenders – The eastern hellbender is a type of aquatic giant salamander which is native to eastern North America. These salamanders are much larger than any others in the region. Eastern hellbenders are classified as “near threatened”, which means that although they are not endangered now, they could be in the near future.
  • Amazon milk frogs – These frogs are native to South America – specifically Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. They are classified as “least concern.” They have a light gray color with brown or black patterns.
  • Dart frogs – Dart frogs are native to tropical Central and South America, and are known for their bright colors and high toxicity.
  • Lesser sirens – These creatures are aquatic salamanders which are native to the eastern United States and Northern Mexico.
  • Solomon Islands leaf frogs – These frogs live on the floors of tropical rainforests, secondary forests, rural gardens, and other habitats in the Solomon Islands of Oceania, near Papua New Guinea.
  • Tiger salamanders – These are a species of mole salamander, native to North America. It’s rare to spot tiger salamanders in the wild, as they usually live in burrows beneath the surface of the land.
  • White’s tree frogs – These large frogs are around 3-5 inches long and are native to the north and east parts of Australia, along with the southern part of New Guinea.
  • Axolotls – These critically endangered salamanders are found in lakes throughout Mexico – most notably Mexico City’s Xochimilco.

Birds

The Lehigh Valley Zoo’s bird collection is one of the most extensive of all of their wildlife, featuring a whopping 28 different species of birds, including:

  • Domestic chicken
  • Bald eagle
  • Domestic turkey
  • Black swan
  • White cockatoo
  • Egyptian goose
  • Emu
  • Golden eagle
  • Helmeted guinea fowl
  • Laughing kookaburra
  • Lorikeet
  • Mute swan
  • Ostrich
  • Peregrine falcon
  • Raven
  • Snowy owl
  • Turkey vulture
  • Red-tailed hawk
  • Eastern screech owl
  • Black vulture
  • Barred owl
  • African penguins
  • West African crowned crane
  • Sun Conure
  • Great horned owl
  • Barn owl
  • American kestrel
  • African gray parrot

Invertebrates

If you’re not too squeamish around creepy crawlers, then you can view a couple of fascinating (yet in some peoples’ opinions, disgusting) bugs here:

  • Madagascar hissing cockroach – Native to Madagascar, these gigantic hissing cockroaches are one of few species of cockroach which never grow wings. They can measure up to 10 cm long. They’re found in the lowland rainforests on the forest floor and are classified as “least concern.”
  • Chilean rose hair tarantula – These large tarantulas are found in northern Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina, mainly in deserts and Scrublands.

Mammals

There are 35 different species of mammals in the Lehigh Valley Zoo:

  • Masai giraffe
  • Toggenburg goat
  • Hampshire sheep
  • Dorset sheep
  • Nubian goat
  • Alpaca
  • Llama
  • Vietnamese pot-bellied pig
  • Palomino horse
  • Ringtail
  • Fisher
  • North American porcupine
  • Kordofan aoudad
  • Plains bison
  • Dromedary camel
  • Grey fox
  • Red kangaroo
  • Mongoose lemur
  • Mexican gray wolf
  • North America river otter
  • Scimitar-horned oryx
  • Black-tailed prairie dog
  • Raccoon
  • Rocky Mountain elk
  • Tammar wallaby
  • Grant’s zebra
  • Bobcat
  • Four-toed hedgehog
  • Three-banded armadillo
  • Striped skunk
  • Prehensile-tailed porcupine
  • Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth
  • Groundhog
  • Domestic ferret
  • Fennec fox

Reptiles

The reptile collection is the largest collection of animals in the zoo, with 37 different species:

  • Desert iguana
  • West African dward crocodile
  • Northern copperhead
  • Eyelash viper
  • Amazon tree boa
  • Matamata turtle
  • Leopard tortoise
  • African spurred tortoise
  • Florida red-bellied turtle
  • Spotted turtle
  • Western Pacific pond turtle
  • Emerald tree boa
  • Chuckwalla
  • Dusky pygmy rattlesnake
  • Gila monster
  • Solomon islands skink
  • Sonoran Mountain king snake
  • Timber rattlesnake
  • Ornate box turtle
  • Eastern rat snake
  • Woma python
  • Egpytian uromastyx
  • Red-tailed boa
  • Pancake tortoise
  • Leopard gecko
  • Kenyan sand boa
  • Western hognose snake
  • Crocodile skink
  • Corn snake
  • Western box turtle
  • Three-toed box turtle
  • Eastern box turtle
  • Blue-tongued skink
  • Blood python
  • Central bearded dragon
  • Ball python
  • Argentine black and white tegu