Little Rock Zoo

What Little Rock Zoo does

Little Rock Zoo is a municipal zoological park founded in 1924 and operated by the City of Little Rock, Arkansas. It functions as a fixed physical attraction providing animal exhibits, education programs, memberships, community events, and conservation initiatives to local residents, families, tourists, and organized school groups. The institution is publicly funded through city appropriations, supplemented by visitor admissions, membership sales, and event revenue, with no private equity or venture capital ownership indicated.

The zoo participates in the National Reptilian Immunology Database, a research initiative led by Arkansas State University in partnership with nine zoos across the United States and funded by a three-year $605,140 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (announced 2025-12-17). This project aims to collect immunological data from over 100 reptile species, positioning the zoo as a contributor to scientific research in reptile health with potential implications for captive animal, wildlife, and human immunological challenges. No proprietary technology platforms, digital distribution channels, or third-party resellers are documented; commercial activity is conducted via direct on-site ticket sales at the Little Rock facility.

The go-to-market model is event-driven and location-bound: the zoo generates revenue through physical visitation, school group tours, and community programming. Customer segmentation is horizontal, targeting general public and school groups as the primary personas. Core technology is not explicitly disclosed, and there is no evidence of AI/ML capability, mobile applications, or API integrations in the available data.

Name

Little Rock Zoo

Legal name

Little Rock Zoo

Website

https://littlerockzoo.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1924

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Little Rock Zoo is a municipal zoological park in Little Rock, Arkansas, founded in 1924, offering animal exhibits, education programs, memberships, events, and conservation initiatives to local families, tourists, and school groups.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Zoological Park and Wildlife Conservation Services

NAICS

Zoos and Botanical Gardens (71213), Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (712190)

akta.pro primary industry

Zoo & Aquarium Parks (Ticketed Wildlife Attractions) (THAJAEAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation Parks & Reserves (Visitor Operations) (THAAAAAG)

Keywords

• Zoological park operations
• Wildlife conservation services
• Animal exhibits
• Environmental education programs
• Zoo memberships

Headquarters

HQ city

Little Rock

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Visitor Admissions: As a municipal zoo, revenue is generated primarily through ticket sales to visitors, with admission fees serving as the core revenue stream.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

Little Rock Zoo operates a zoological park in Little Rock, Arkansas, offering animal exhibits, education programs, memberships, community events, and conservation initiatives to the general public. It also participates in a multi-zoo reptile immunology research project with Arkansas State University funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• General Admission Tickets

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 100 reptile species will be studied across nine partnering zoos

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Arkansas State UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerArkansas State University is leading the National Reptilian Immunology Database research project in partnership with nine zoos including Little Rock Zoo. The university received a $605,140 IMLS grant to fund this initiative over three years, aiming to build leadership capacity in zoological institutions.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Como Park Zoo and Conservatory: Como Park Zoo is a municipally operated zoo in Saint Paul, Minnesota, comparable to Little Rock Zoo in size, governance structure, and visitor-driven revenue model. Both are free-or-low-cost city-run institutions serving regional audiences.
• Beardsley Zoo: Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, Connecticut is a small accredited zoo with a comparable living collection size and educational programming focus, serving a similar function as a regional family attraction.
• Zoo Knoxville: Zoo Knoxville (formerly Knoxville Zoological Gardens) is an AZA-accredited zoo with comparable size and visitor-driven revenue model. It is a direct comparable for ticket, membership, and education programming economics.
• Salisbury Zoo: Salisbury Zoo in Salisbury, Maryland is a small municipal zoo with a comparable species count and educational mission, providing a useful peer benchmark for a single-site city-run operation of similar size.
• Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden: Mesker Park Zoo is a municipal zoo in Evansville, Indiana with similar scale, species diversity, and dependence on regional visitors. Comparable as a mid-size Midwestern/Southern zoo with educational programming emphasis.
• Dickerson Park Zoo: Dickerson Park Zoo is a municipal zoo in Springfield, Missouri with a similar species count and regional draw. It is a closely comparable mid-sized accredited zoo operating on the same admissions-and-membership model.

Broad incumbents

• Audubon Zoo: Audubon Zoo in New Orleans is a larger AZA-accredited regional zoo with comparable family-visit and education programming, useful as an upper-tier comparable for membership and event revenue benchmarks.
• Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden: Oklahoma City Zoo is a larger regional zoo operating in a similar central-US geographic corridor. It is comparable in mission and business model but at meaningfully greater scale and brand recognition.
• Sedgwick County Zoo: Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas is a county-owned zoo of comparable tier, with overlapping species collections, conservation programming, and admissions-driven revenue. Useful for benchmarking operating economics.
• Memphis Zoo: Memphis Zoo is a larger AZA-accredited regional zoo serving the Mid-South. It overlaps with Little Rock Zoo's catchment area and competes for the same regional family and school audiences, though with substantially larger resources and species inventory.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/littlerockzoo

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Little Rock Zoo