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TYLER, Texas (KETK) – In this edition of ‘East

Texas In Focus‘, KETK’s Tyler Henderson took a tour of the Caldwell Zoo’s newest expansion, Amazon River’s Edge, and spoke with zookeepers about the animals who now call the Rose City home.

The Amazon River’s Edge sits on the original site of the oldest portions of the zoo from 1953. Caldwell Zoo director of marketing Paul Swen told KETK the idea for the expansion started many years ago.

The Caldwell Zoo was looking to expand and evolve, much like they did with the African overlook, and thus the concept of ‘Amazon’ was born. Several years of design and a few more years of construction leads us to today with the Amazon River’s Edge now being officially open to the public.

The Caldwell Zoo wanted to feature the most charismatic animals as a part of their expansion, finding characters like giant river otters – also known as river wolves – who are as long as some men are tall. It also features 13 different kinds of macaws, of all colors and sizes.

With the Amazon Immersion, the idea was to put you on the banks of the river and experience the wildlife and birds as they would be in nature. From the scarlet ibis to capybaras, giant anteaters, toucans and even the Tinne’s two-toed sloth, you’ll be walking alongside the animals in a one-of-a-kind experience.

Lastly, conservation is at the heart of everything the Caldwell Zoo does, aiming to shed light on the deforestation of the Amazon jungle where all of these animals would call home.

From the endangered cotton-top and golden lion tamarins to Parker, the zoo’s jaguar, they aim to be ambassadors for conservation in order to educate visitors on the importance of keeping nature, natural.

Behind the scenes, what visitors won’t see is the hundreds of gallons of water flowing through and underneath the exhibits to create one seamless river that emulates what these animals would see, smell and taste in the wilds of the Amazon.