The Brevard Zoo, Melbourne Florida


Baird's Tapir (Tapirus bairdii) - Southern Mexico, Panama, Central American, South America and Asia. The Baird Tapir has a very thick hide covered with bristly hair. Their ears are roundish and small. The nose and upper lip are combined into a flexible snout that works like an elephant's trunk. The front feet have four toes while the back feet have only three toes. That makes them both grazers and browsers, since the snout helps them pull leaves from branches of trees plus eating grasses, aquatic vegetation and fruit. They are good swimmers and spend much time in and around water. They communicate with a high-pitched whistle. A snort and then a stamping of a foot means they are ready to defend themselves. In Belize in Southern Mexico they are known as a "mountain cow". Very agile, they can climb rocky areas with ease.

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) - Alaska, Canada to Southern and Western United States. The Bald Eagle is the National Bird of the United States of America (1782). The adult Bald Eagle have their full plumage around four years old, getting the white head, neck and tail that are so easily identifiable. So actually they are not really bald. They have a massive yellow bill with yellow feet (talons).

Gray Duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia) - Africa south of the Sahara. Also called the Common Duiker, this animal has a thick, grizzled coat. The male has small, sharp horns. They adapt to scrub country or open grasslands.

Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus) - Australia. The muscles and tendons of their tail and back legs are even more efficient than four legged mammals. The Kangaroo live in groups called "mobs". They can jump six to eight feet high. Each leap cover about twelve feet. Marsupial babies leave the womb after just a few weeks and crawl up the mothers belly to finish their development attached to a nipple in an external pouch.

Red-Billed Hornbill (Tockus erythrorhynchus) - South Sahara through East Africa to South Africa. This is a small, slender hornbill with unique nesting habits. The female inside the nest, helped by the male outside, plasters the entrance with mud and droppings, leaving only a narrow slit. The male brings food which is passed through the slit., and droppings are squirted out. The Female leaves when the young are half-grown, and they reseal the nest until ready to leave.

Two Jaguar (panthera onca) - Southern United States to South America. They are most abundant around rivers or other bodies of water. They are good swimmers.

Red Crested Turaco (Tauraco erythrolophus) - Africa: Angola, Zaire. Their diet consists of fruit, seeds, insects, leaves, and snails. It is agile in trees and can hop and run, but not a good flier.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) - United States, Southern Canada, Mexico, South America. This patient, blue-gray heron will spend hours watching for a fish or frog to come by. With a swift spearing, they have their dinner. The white head has a black stripe going across the eye extending to black plumes off the back of the head. They have a sharp, yellow spear-like bill and long legs. Herons fly with an S shape. (They are not cranes).

Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) - Canada, Florida, California, Southeast and Mexico. This hawk is a forest bird, building a nest high in a tree near moving water. They have a long tail and long legs with a rusty colored red patch on the shoulders. The under parts are a rusty red with lighter streaks. The Hawk measures about 17 to 24 inches with a broad wingspan of 40 inches. There are heavy dark bands across both sides of the tail.

Short-Tailed Hawk (Buteo brachyurus) - South Texas and mountains of Southeast Arizona. This is a small hawk with a dark brown head and back. The under parts are creamy-white with some scattered streaks. All adult hawks have wide tail bands.

Crested Caracara (Polyborus plancus) - Southern Texas, Arizona and Florida. The caracara is a member of the falcon family. The legs are long and suited to walking and running in grassland. The flight is direct. They have a shaggy crest.


Golden Eagles has a golden, tawny-brown wash over the back of its head and neck, probably where it gets its name "Golden Eagle". They are mostly brown with beige highlights. The tail has faded banding. Watching the eagle soar is a beautiful sight. They have a 7 foot wingspan, slightly uplifted in flight.

Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) - North America, Eurasia, North Africa and the Middle East, North and South China and the Himalayas. They are silent most of the time, but will come out with a yelping call. The Golden Eagle hunts at high altitudes, strong and majestic, diving to find their prey.

Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) - Alaska, Canada, United States to Panama. This large Hawk measures 19 - 25 inches in length. They have large broad wings with a wide rust-red tail on the topside. The plumage on the hawk is variable. The bill is heavier than some hawks. A belly band of dark brown to black streaks are on white under parts. This open country bird of prey rises on air currents (thermals), circling and soaring while looking for prey.

African Spurred Tortoise - (Geochelone Sulcata) Africa - Southern edge of the Sahara desert in Northern Africa. It is the third largest tortoise in the world. First is the Galapagos tortoise and second is the Aldabra Tortoise. The Spurred Tortoise is one of the most active and curious of the tortoises. They grow about 2-inches to 4-inches a year. In arid areas the tortoise will burrow into the ground during the hottest part of the day.

Land Tortoise

Bobcat (Felis rufus) - Southern Canada, the United States and part of Mexico. The Bobcat has a short, bobbed tail with white on the tip, giving the cat it's name. The Bobcat is smaller than a Lynx and has less dark ear tufts sticking up. They have dense, reddish brown fur with spots and lines. There is a white and black patch on the back of their ears. Bobcats are solitary animals that usually come together only to breed. Their area of roaming is about ten miles, marking the area with scent from the anal glands. The female Bobcat will give birth to 2 to 6 babies in a litter after a gestation period of about fifty days. The babies are born with blue eyes, which will change to brown as the cat matures. (Felis rufus means "red cat" in Latin).

Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) - New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Islands, East Indonesia, South Australia.

Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber) - Coasts of North and South America. No other or shorebird has scarlet plumage like that of the Scarlet Ibis. They have a curved bill for probing in shallow water.

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