BATON ROUGE - BREC'S Baton Rouge Zoo introduced new features and amenities after the $35 million renovation took more than 3 years to complete.

A grand opening was held Saturday morning to unveil a new entrance, 11 renovated exhibits, 11 new buildings, and 7 new exhibits. The Thomas Rd. entrance will be closed going forward, and guests will now have to enter through the Greenwood Community Park located off of LA-19.

These renovations are meant to give guest a more immersive experience. Previously, each area was separated by species, but now they are separated by geographical location.

"So when families come in, they won't necessarily go to birds, or they won't necessarily tigers for example. They will say 'oh, I might want to do North America today'," said senior communications manager of BREC'S Baton Rouge Zoo, Brittany Tully.

Some of the new animals they have include Yellowstone Bison, pygmy hippos and various specious of birds. One of there new exhibits inhabits animals based in West Africa named Sappo Springs. 

"So one of our new exhibits is actually pygmy hippo in Sappo Springs. We have our colobus monkeys, pygmy hippos and a collection of birds in Sappo Springs so that is very brand new," Tully said.

BREC also updated the Kid's Zoo and playground by adding new equipment. 

Zoo officials have planned two more phases of development which include adding more animals and updating exhibits.