Inside the Biggest Zoo in America

Understand and use common words for zoo animals such as lion, giraffe, elephant, and penguin, along with other vocabulary like zoo train and gift shop to describe a visit to a zoo.

---

Last summer, I visited the biggest zoo in America with my family. The zoo was enormous, and we spent the entire day exploring it. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by the sound of birds chirping. The first place we went to was the lion exhibit. The lions were huge and very lazy, just lying in the sun. We also saw a tall giraffe eating leaves from the top of a tree.

As we walked further, we came across a big elephant playing in the water. It sprayed water everywhere with its trunk! We walked to the monkey area, where the monkeys were jumping from branch to branch. One of the monkeys was so playful that it threw a banana at us!

In the reptile house, we saw a big snake curled up in the corner. It was a little scary, but also fascinating. Nearby, a crocodile was resting by the water. We took a ride on the zoo train, which took us around the entire park. We even saw some rare pandas and kangaroos. I was so excited when we entered the penguin exhibit because the penguins were swimming and diving around.

At the end of the day, we visited the gift shop to buy some souvenirs. I got a toy tiger and a cute elephant t-shirt. It was a fantastic day, and I can’t wait to go back to the zoo next summer!

---

Term	Meaning	Example Sentence
Zoo	A place where animals are kept for people to see	We visited the zoo to see many different animals.
Zoo train	A small train that takes visitors around the zoo	We took the zoo train to see more of the park.
Gift shop	A store where you can buy souvenirs	I bought a toy tiger at the gift shop.
Reptile	A cold-blooded animal like snakes and lizards	The reptile house had a lot of interesting creatures.
Souvenir	Something bought to remind you of a place or event	I bought a small souvenir at the gift shop.
Exhibit	A place where animals or items are displayed	The lion exhibit was one of the first places we visited.
Trunk	The long nose of an elephant	The elephant used its trunk to spray water.
Enclosure	A fenced area where animals are kept	The kangaroos were hopping around in their enclosure.
Chirping	The sound birds make	We heard birds chirping as soon as we entered the zoo.
Lazy	Not wanting to move or work	The lion was feeling lazy and stayed in the shade.
Enormous	Very large	The enormous elephant amazed the visitors with its size.
Greeted	Said hello to someone	The zookeeper greeted us with a smile as we entered the exhibit.
Exploring	Traveling around to discover something	We spent the whole afternoon exploring the zoo.
Huge	Very big	The huge giraffe was the tallest animal we saw.
Sprayed	Sent liquid out in tiny drops	The elephant sprayed water with its trunk to cool down.
Branch	Part of a tree that grows out from the trunk	The monkey swung from branch to branch in its enclosure.
Curled up	To lie with your body round like a circle	The snake was curled up in the corner of its cage.
Fascinating	Very interesting	The zookeeper told us some fascinating facts about the animals.
Resting	Relaxing or taking a break	The lion was resting under the tree after its meal.
Rare	Not common, hard to find	The zoo has some rare animals that you don’t often see.