Celebrating 150 Years
The new red panda exhibit was unveiled in summer 2026 as part of The Maryland Zoo’ s 150th anniversary celebration. Native to the Eastern Himalayas, red pandas are slightly larger than house cats, typically weighing 8 to 17 pounds and measuring at under two feet tall, and they are excellent climbers. Red pandas also like the cold winter weather— a practical consideration, since the majority of the zoo’ s animals prefer spring, summer and fall temperatures.“ Red pandas are so popular right now. They’ re fun to watch and engage with,” says Fowler.“ They’ re also one step in our journey to make the zoo experience a year-round experience.”
The red panda habitat is revitalizing Main Valley, an area of the zoo that was closed to the public for 19 years until 2021.“ We have been slowly bringing back Main Valley with some beautiful birds and hornbills and other animals,” Fowler says.“ But we needed a brand-new habitat, one that shows we’ re not just about small cages.”
The red panda habitat contains fabricated trees to encourage the pandas to use their natural climbing abilities. Features like logs will also be used to pump air conditioning to keep the pandas cool during the summer months.
Also in Main Valley, the zoo team will start work in 2028 on a new habitat for gibbons, small apes who are from Southeast Asia, whose mating call can be heard up to two miles away. Their habitat, which is expected to be completed in 2029, will be designed to look like an island, with a 25-foot-wide moat surrounded by plant species that are native to Maryland. The moat will act as a natural barrier for the gibbons, who don’ t
like the water, so caging and mesh around the exhibit will not be required.“ You’ ll feel this immersive experience [ because of ] not being separated from the animal by mesh,” Fowler says.
Further into the zoo, the Maryland Wilderness section, which houses the otters, caves, petting zoo and barnyard, and the giant tree slide, will be getting a new eagle and snowy owl habitat. In the African Journey area, the zoo has refreshed its outdoor chimpanzee yard for the enrichment of the animals. The terrain for the chimps has been raised up to the level of the viewing windows, meaning that visitors now look up at the species— a shift in power dynamic the chimps have enjoyed, Fowler says.
38 BALTIMORE. ORG