Hamilton’s main zoological garden, the Hamilton Zoo, spreads on a land area of 62 acres and is situated on the Brymer Road in the Hamilton Suburb. The zoo provides shelter to more than 600 native and exotic animals and also features the largest free-flight aviary in New Zealand.
Visitors can get to know more about the animals, feed them and play with them by indulging in a special program known as “Meet The Keeper”. Nonetheless, animal lovers can even go behind the scenes to have encounters with the southern white rhinos or lemurs.
Visitors here will get to see a diverse range of animal species like a giraffe, red pandas, Sumatran tigers, fishing cats, Kune pigs, alpacas etc. The Hamilton Zoo also runs several breeding programs, for conserving endangered species like the Southern White Rhinos; at once, there were just 100 left, but now, following the conservation program,there are more than 20,000 Southern White Rhinos.