Updated for September 2026
The Best Zoos in Missouri
How this list is ordered: by how complete our listing is — how much we hold on opening hours, ticket prices, accreditation, photographs, animals and facilities. It is a measure of our own coverage, not a judgement of the venue. We hold no visitor scores or conservation assessments, so “best” here means every zoo in Missouri that qualifies for the list, fullest entry first.
Listed alphabetically
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Animal feeding experiencePlaygroundPetting zoo
Dickerson Park Zoo
Zoo in Springfield
Dickerson Park Zoo, opened in 1922, is a zoo in Springfield, United States. Animals on show include Maned Wolf, Flamingo, Macaw, Red Kangaroo and Emu.
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Behind-the-scenes tourNight and evening openingGuided tour
Endangered Wolf Center
Zoo in Eureka
The centre works on breeding critically endangered wolves and returning them to the wild, and holds AZA accreditation. It was set up in 1971 by the naturalist Marlin Perkins with his wife Carol, prompted by worldwide threats to wolves. Visits are by advance booking only.
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Keeper talk or showBehind-the-scenes tourOn-site dining
Johnny Morris' Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium
Zoo & Aquarium in Springfield
Adjoining the flagship Bass Pro Shops store, to which it is joined, the complex carries the name of that company's founder, Johnny Morris. It now runs to 350,000 square feet in two principal halves, one of them a museum where taxidermy gathered from many countries is set into detailed habitat dioramas alongside artefacts, artworks and films. Big game mounts making up the North American Heads and Horns Collection, owned by the Boone and Crockett Club, are held here.
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Parking
Kansas City Zoo
Zoo in Kansas City
Close to 1,700 animals are kept at the zoo, with roughly 8,000 more in the aquarium. A Friends of the Zoo scheme is run, and attendance passes a million visitors a year.
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Saint Louis Zoo
Zoo in Saint Louis
Entry costs nothing, being paid for by the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District tax, though certain attractions carry a charge. Among them is the Emerson Zooline Railroad, which runs on 2 ft gauge track behind Chance Rides locomotives.
Our ranking methodology
This is not a ranking. The 5 venues above are listed alphabetically by name, the same order used throughout this site. We do not collect visitor reviews, star ratings, ticket-sales figures or a conservation-impact score, so none of those exist here to rank by — “best” in this page’s title means every venue that qualifies for this list, not first-to-last by quality. If we ever add a data source robust enough to support an honest ranking, this note and the order above will change together.