The Cox Nature Exchange at Tulsa Zoo

This past weekend, we went to Tulsa Zoo to take advantage of their January “Snow Leopard Days” special – 50% off general admission. We’d been for HallowZOOeen, but sadly didn’t have a chance to see the five Malayan tiger cubs (born August 2024), so I’d wanted to go back and see them! And the 50% off ticket discount was a great incentive. Definitely make plans to go soon because the tiger cub babies are getting big. But mostly, I want to focus on the Cox Nature Exchange in this blog because I’d heard about this for years but never actually saw it until now. So I’ll share a few baby photos and get into that!

We were able to see this sweet baby siamang learning to climb! Located in the same Lost Kingdom building where you can observe the tigers.

Cox Nature Exchange

Tulsa Zoo’s Cox Nature Exchange is located inside the Wildlife TREK: Life in the Cold building. Somehow, we’ve always been there at the wrong time because I’d never seen the doors open until now. But it is open from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., so maybe we were just getting there after 3. The Life in the Cold building is the first Wildlife TREK building if you’re coming from the entrance – the one behind the grizzly bear habitat in sight of the carousel.

The idea behind the Nature Exchange is that you can bring natural treasures and trade them for other interesting natural artifacts using a points system. These items can be bones, shells, rocks, bugs, etc. (Bring up to five items at a time, but not more.) On your first visit, you can create an account, which will keep track of all the trade-in points you accrue.

Although we haven’t walked through the official process, the Zoo’s website says that staff members in the Nature Exchange will talk with you about your artifacts. You earn points not only for the item itself, but for how much you know about it. So do some research ahead of time (or even make a report) for maximum points! The points never expire, so even if you don’t visit the Nature Exchange often, you won’t lose points.

We saw items ranging from 25 points, for more common specimens, to 6,000+ points.

Here’s a quick overview:

It really was a cool place to explore. I saw some bugs I’d never seen before, and there’s even an Asian elephant skull you can (gently) touch.

In addition to tradeable items, there are other items on display that are just there for educational purposes. Nothing is for sale, so trading in your own items is the only way to acquire the treasures here. If you want to purchase similar types of things, visit Black Moth on Harvard, “Tulsa’s Only Natural History Store.”

Hopefully we remember to go on a walk and find a natural artifact before our next Zoo visit because this would be a great project to be part of.

Learn more at tulsazoo.org/learn

Have you been to the Cox Nature Exchange? What’s a cool item you’ve traded in/traded for?