Valley cost $11 million to build. Encounter Africa opened at a cost of $13.5 million. The Encounter Africa exhibit is home to African cape porcupines, African elephants, black rhinoceros, and meerkats. The exhibit received special recognition at the 2014 AZA Honors and Awards event. Australia Walkabout: This exhibit contains a walk-through red-necked wallaby yard, a budgie aviary, emus, American alligators, shelducks, White's tree frogs, Matschie's tree kangaroo, and other species. Scutes Family Gallery was originally built in the early 1940s and formally known as the Bird and Reptile House. It contains over 40 species of reptiles including Burmese pythons, lizards, snakes, tortoises and turtles. The name refers to the scutes, or scales that are on most reptiles. Funding for the renovation came from the $13.5 million campaign for the Encounter Africa exhibit. Bear Grottos: Asiatic black and Spectacled bears. The Loft: An educational exhibit building that houses American beavers, black-footed ferrets, chinchillas, eclectus parrots, lizards, prairie dogs, ravens, skunks, snakes, three-banded armadillos, tortoises, and Wyoming toads. Monkey Pavilion: Originally opened in 1942 to house big cats, the building now exhibits smaller primate species including lar gibbons, white-cheeked gibbons, ring-tailed lemurs, Geoffroy's marmosets, Hoffman's two-toed sloths, black howler monkeys, black mangabeys, black and white ruffed lemurs, brown-nosed coatis, white-nosed coatis, Goeldi's monkeys, and Wolf's guenons. On 20 September 2020, the Zoo announced plans to demolish the pavilion. Tapir Exhibit: A new tapir exhibit opened in 2015 after the zoo's mountain tapirs were living in an off-exhibit area since 2012 due to the construction of Encounter Africa. Cheyenne Mountain and the Los Angeles Zoo are the only two zoos in the United States to exhibit mountain tapirs. My Big Backyard: Chickens, rabbits, koi, amphibians, tortoises, and invertebrates are exhibited here. Asian Highlands exhibits Amur tigers, Amur leopards, snow leopards, and Pallas' cats in naturalistic habitats on the zoo's mountain side. Rocky Mountain Wild: Costing the zoo $8.2 million, Rocky Mountain Wild houses bald eagles, Canadian lynx, Greenback cutthroat trout, Grizzly bears, Merganser ducks, Mexican wolves, moose, cougars, porcupines, river otters, rainbow trout, and Rio Grande turkeys. Primate World: Primate World contains apes and other animals. Sumatran and Bornean orangutans, Western lowland gorillas, siamangs, and naked mole rats are exhibited. Rocky Cliffs: Rocky Mountain goats. Water's Edge: Africa: This new exhibit houses Nile hippopotamuses, African penguins, and other species. The exhibit opened in 2020. Conservation The zoo breeds endangered animals such as the.