from “le détroit” · the strait
The Detroit Zoo has opened the Fred and Barbara Erb Discovery Trails, a seven acre stretch of animal encounters, climbing structures, and a stingray touch pool that the zoo calls the largest project in its history.
The Detroit Zoo has opened the Fred and Barbara Erb Discovery Trails, a seven acre addition that the zoo describes as the largest project in its history. The trails are open now, free with admission and free for members, with a few add on encounters that carry their own charge.
The centerpiece is the Aaron and Carolynn Frankel Stingray Cove, a touch pool that pairs southern stingrays with brownbanded bamboo sharks under the watch of animal care staff. Around it sit a cluster of named areas built for younger visitors: Little Sprouts, the Senses Trail, the Canopy Trail and Treetop Crossing for climbing, a Farmers Market play space, Garden Grove, Mosaic Plaza, and a Wild Explorer virtual reality experience. The design leans closer to a walkable park than a traditional exhibit hall.
The animal lineup runs to bush dogs, giant anteaters, prairie dogs, burrowing owls, alpacas, miniature donkeys, domestic goats, and chickens, with a Goat Encounter Yard where visitors can get close to the herd.
A $6 million grant from the Fred and Barbara Erb Family Foundation helped fund the project, per the Detroit Zoo. The foundation has backed the zoo for decades, including an earlier naming contribution to the Polar Passage in the Arctic Ring of Life.
"We are deeply grateful to the Erb Family Foundation for this extraordinary contribution and for the decades of unwavering support of the Detroit Zoo," Dr. Hayley Murphy, executive director and CEO of the Detroit Zoological Society, said in the zoo's announcement of the grant.
Leslie Erb Liedtke, a foundation trustee and daughter of Fred and Barbara Erb, tied the gift to her parents. "Continuing our parents' support for the Detroit Zoo is a meaningful way to carry forward that legacy," she said in the same announcement.
Accessibility was built into the footprint rather than added at the edges. The zoo lists paved, ADA accessible pathways across most of the area, ADA accessible restrooms, sensory friendly quiet spaces, and wheelchair loans.
The trails open at 9 a.m. daily, with late hours until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays and Sundays in June. The Detroit Zoo sits at 8450 W. 10 Mile Road in Royal Oak, a straight shot up Woodward from downtown Detroit.
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