The largest zoo in Texas is about to get significantly bigger, wilder, and more ambitious, and the Dallas City Council has already given it the green light.
The Dallas Zoo, which has called its 106-acre campus in Oak Cliff home since 1912, is embarking on the most transformative expansion in its 138-year history. The project, known as Wild Horizons, is a multi-phase capital campaign that will reshape the zoo’s southern edge, bring back animals that have been absent for years, and build new facilities that zoo officials say will make Dallas one of the premier zoological destinations in the country.
What Is Being Built
The centerpiece of the expansion is a half-mile Safari Trail that will wind through approximately 15 acres of underused City of Dallas parkland adjacent to the zoo’s current campus. The trail is designed to feel like an immersive, open-air safari experience, and will be home to two of the most anticipated returns in Dallas Zoo history: rhinoceroses and cheetahs.
The plan calls for what zoo officials describe as the only combined cheetah-and-rhino habitat in the country, positioning both species alongside each other in a single connected environment. Rhinos have not been part of the Dallas Zoo’s collection in years, and their return has been one of the most requested additions by members and visitors. FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth
The Safari Trail is only one piece of the broader plan. The Elephant Great Room will add a new temperature-controlled, enclosed indoor space for the zoo’s growing African elephant herd, one of the largest in any American zoo. A new Wild Earth Discovery Center will quadruple the capacity of Wild Earth Preschool, already the only full-time, nature-based preschool in Southern Dallas, and will add a dedicated school group entrance, a flexible auditorium, and outdoor classroom space for young learners. New homes for penguins and flamingos are also part of the scope. A new café and event space will anchor the Safari Trail, and a 580-space parking garage near the Dallas Zoo DART station will serve both zoo visitors and users of the adjacent Southern Gateway Park.
The Money
The Dallas City Council approved the roughly $90 million development agreement in December 2025, clearing the legal path for the project and signaling the city’s formal support for the zoo’s capital campaign. Dallas voters had already set aside approximately $30 million specifically for a safari habitat in the 2024 bond package. The remainder is being raised through the zoo’s private fundraising campaign. FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth
What the Dallas Zoo Is Today
For visitors who have not been recently, the Dallas Zoo is already an impressive institution. Established in 1888, it is the oldest and largest zoological park in Texas, home to more than 2,000 animals representing over 400 species across 106 acres. The zoo is divided into two major regions: ZooNorth, the original section, and the Wilds of Africa, which includes the Giants of the Savanna exhibit that opened in 2010 and features African elephants, giraffes, lions, African wild dogs and more. The zoo is accessible by DART Rail on the Red Line, making it one of the few major zoos in the country reachable by public transit. WFAA
What to Do There Right Now
While the expansion takes shape, the zoo has a packed calendar of experiences for 2026. The Backstage Safari, a 90-minute guided tour running through October 25, gives visitors exclusive behind-the-scenes access to animal care, including the chance to feed African elephants, get up close with lions or African painted dogs, spend time with lemurs, get close to hippos, feed capybaras, and visit with otters. The zoo also offers Dallas Zoo After Dark, an adults-only 21-plus evening experience, as well as Dollar Days presented by NexPoint Philanthropies, where admission drops to just one dollar on select dates as a community thank-you. FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth
The zoo is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 650 South R.L. Thornton Freeway in Dallas. It is accessible via DART Rail at the Dallas Zoo station on the Red Line.