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visiting a zoo or animal park, most people would recognize a leopard, an
elephant or a cheetah. But how many of us would recognize the serval,
the spot-nosed guenon or the caracal?
These are just three of the more than 300
animals that live and thrive in the Central Florida Zoological Park,
located in nearby Sanford along Route 17-92.
The park features all types of programs that
are geared toward educating the public about our wildlife neighbors. One
of the best features about the park is that it is not just a zoo filled
with dozens of cages that restrict animals' movements; it is quite
unique in that most of the park's inhabitants have large areas that are
filled with many trees and lush vegetation. As you walk along the wide
wooden trails, it seems as though you are hiking through a dense
tropical rain forest, observing all of the animals and the large variety
of plant life.
 Most
of the boards that make up the six- to eight-foot wide walkway are
engraved with the names of donors who have contributed to the successful
operation of the park. This provides an opportunity for visitors to
"leave a legacy carved in wood" showing their support for the park's
conservation efforts.
At the entrance to the park, visitors will
see Champ the Train, a ride that takes children and accompanying adults
for a ride through the "jungles." The park has an excellent collection
of birds, large mammals, lizards, and a separate air-conditioned
building housing a large collection of snakes. For nature lovers, there
is an area called the Florida Trek Nature Walk, where many species of
plants can be observed among the tall shade trees. The Animal Adventure
Children's Zoo is a small area in which groups of children can obtain
food for feeding the goats and llamas.
There are many educational programs offered
at the park for both children and adults alike, according to Richard
Frohlich, Director of Marketing and Public Relations. The park's various
patch programs help the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts to complete
activities for the Animal badge, the Eco-Explorer badge or other merit
badges. Zoo Wild Nights allow children to observe nocturnal animals, and
then camp out overnight and awake in the morning to the sounds of the
park animals. Zooper Birthday Parties allow children who are celebrating
a birthday to plan their party at the park, and an individual child can
"adopt" their favorite animal for one year, as well as receive an
adoption certificate and gifts. Special events are in the works, such as
the Celebraci—n Latina and the Fall Harvest Concert in November.
 Docents
fill an important need in the park's activities. A docent is a trained
volunteer who conducts tours, visits schools with animals to educate
children, conducts animal behavior studies, and other such functions.
Through this program, children become more familiar with the need to
care for nature and wildlife, and learn how all species on earth are
interdependent.
Changes are still taking place at the park!
Construction of a 28,000 sq. ft. facility is going on, which will
include indoor and outdoor classrooms, auditorium space, an Outdoor
Discovery Courtyard, and an Interactive Exhibit Gallery and ZooLab. The
courtyard will be home to a paleontology dig and a pond, and the ZooLab
will include tools that offer hands-on experience for students.
By the way, for those who don't know, a
serval is a type of African cat; a guenon, which is French for "fright",
is a small monkey, and a caracal is a cat similar to a lynx.
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