A Photo Tour of Tulsa Zoo’s New Elephant Preserve Barn

If you’ve been to Tulsa Zoo over the past couple of years, you’ve probably noticed construction on the new Elephant Preserve Barn. It’s pretty hard to miss! This week, I was so excited to get to tour the new 36,650 square-foot barn. It’s truly impressive, with every detail thoroughly thought through. Plus, the viewing areas are a lot nicer, so it’s a win-win for both the elephant herd and Zoo visitors! Below, I’ll share some photos and go over different aspects of the barn.

Staff Area

The first area we toured was the staff area. Here, you’ll find a large, walk-in refrigerator, food prep area, storage, meeting room and more. There’s a medical facility as well as a place for overnight stays in case a staff member ever needs to be on-hand for a medical issue – or something exciting like an imminent birth!

Food prep area

Meeting area. It’s set up to have video calls with other zoos, etc.

The meeting room has large windows overlooking the main part of the barn

The overnight stay area, a work in progress. Note the elephant shower curtain!

The Elephant Area

I’m going to start by showing a map of the elephant barn. Apologies for the glare!

As you can see, there are two larger, sandy areas and then a series of smaller stalls. At least two of the stalls are set up to be water areas. They can fill up with some water, so the elephants can enjoy some spa-like enrichment. The tour guides mentioned that the elephants can even play with bubbles there. Tulsa Zoo’s three elephants are considered geriatric elephants, as they’re all over 50. So having these spa areas will be very nice for them!

One of the water stalls, note the large drain in the middle.

There is also space for baby elephant training! The babies will be able to go through a smaller chute, leading to an area next to the larger stalls. This way, the mother can still keep an eye on her baby while it is in training with Zoo staff. It’s just fun to think about the future for the Tulsa Zoo’s elephant herd, now that they will have a lot more space and updated facilities.

Elephant calf training area

The large, sandy areas inside the barn will have enrichment. As the elephant keeper explained, they will be building more small hills in the sand. These hills are helpful to the geriatric elephants, as they can lean against them, and it’s easier to get back up again.

The metal part sticking off that pole can hold a brush that the elephants will enjoy

The observation deck looks over the larger of the two sandy areas. Visitors will love this! There is no glass between the observation area and the elephant area, so you’ll have an unobstructed view.

View from the indoor observation deck. You can see the many doors that lead outdoors to the main yard.

Outdoor Yard and Viewing Area

Outside, the elephants will have a nice pond, enrichment and treat opportunities, plenty of mud and a view of the giraffes! The giraffe herd came over while we were outside in the yard. I asked if the elephants and giraffes would really even notice each other, and the zookeeper said they would definitely be curious about each other.

They haven’t filled the pond up completely. This is the natural pond, and they’ll add water.

View of the visitor viewing area from the elephant yard

View of the elephant yard from the visitor viewing area

There is educational signage throughout the visitor area

What’s Next?

The Tulsa Zoo Elephant Preserve Barn is not open to the public yet. The elephants are currently getting used to the chute that they will need to travel to get from their current area to the new barn. You can see it in the picture below.

So there’s not a specific opening date yet. I asked how the elephants were acclimating to the chute, and was told that you can really see the different personalities come through. Two elephants seem pretty confident about the move, while one is more cautious.

As far as the current elephant facility, it will receive “extensive renovations.” These include restrooms, which will be very nice for visitors. But the elephants will be able to utilize both their current space and the new barn/yards. You can learn more about the project at buildingbeyond.org/projects/lost-kingdom-elephants/

The Zoo train will run right next to the new barn