Asheboro, NC -The North Carolina Zoo will begin its 9 a.m.-5 p.m. summer hours Saturday, March 31, when the park's ride and entertainment locations officially open to the public. These include: the zoo's 36-foot Endangered Species Carousel; the Acacia Station Giraffe Deck, where visitors can get eye-to-eye with giraffes; and Dino 4-D theater, an exciting 4-D adventure that takes visitors to Dino Island to save the T-Rex.

Saturday will also mark the opening of the park's new Dinosaurs exhibit, fifteen, life-like, animatronic creatures representing more than a dozen dinosaur species in a deep-forest exhibit created just for this first-time, temporary attraction at the zoo.

The park's Africa entrance and the Africa parking lot will also reopen Saturday, with shuttle bus service between the parking lots from 11 a.m. until 30 minutes after closing.

For general zoo information, go to http://www.nczoo.org/. For a full list of the zoo's upcoming events, go to their web page at http://www.nczoo.org/events/calendar.html.
The zoo is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment & Natural Resources, Dee Freeman, Secretary; Beverly Eaves Perdue, Governor.

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