It's Pizzooria!

Feel like a Komodo Dragon's Delight pizza? How about a Safari Supreme? Would a Rumble in the Jungle Jalapeño pizza interest you?

Then come on over to the Gladys Porter Zoo where the new "Pizzooria" is opening for business today.

"Pizzooria will serve fresh baked pizzas to visitors including pizza by-the-slice and 12-inch specialty pizzas along with other tasty treats," said Ciri Haugh, marketing coordinator for the zoo.

"The Pizzooria is located in Tropical America, between the spider monkeys and macaw canyon," Haugh said.

Haugh said while the three other concession stands in the zoo serve hamburgers, hot dogs, and other refreshments, this stand will be the only one selling pizza.

"And we'll have other things, like Dippin' Dots there and small garden salads, candy, and slush puppy-like frozen beverages," she said. "But you're not gonna be able to get hamburgers at this concession stand."

Haugh said this particular concession had been closed for several years. New improvements, including piping, were made before re-opening the location for business.

Why pizzas?

"Our concessions manager, Debbie Kerr-Musso, has made pizzas from time to time for special events, and everybody's just kind of raved about them," Haugh said. "So they got a pizza oven and decided that when they got this new concession stand up and going, that they would devote one area to having pizzas. So it just kind of all came together. Debbie, I think is putting together the recipes for the pizzas, and then our staff will make them."

The Komodo Dragon's Delight has pepperoni, sausage, beef and ham. However, the pizza won't have any actual Komodo dragon meat.

"We're not gonna serve our endangered Komodo dragon on a pizza," Haugh said with a laugh.

While the Komodo Dragon's Delight will be the meat lover's pizza, vegetarians can order Koko's Veggie Feast, with mushrooms, black olives, bell peppers and onions. That pizza is named after Koko, a blue and yellow macaw featured on the zoo's Welcome to the Jungle ads.

"She's an animal in the education department," Haugh said.

The Safari Supreme is made of pepperoni, beef, bell peppers, onions and mushrooms, and the Rumble in the Jungle Jalapeño comes with pepperoni, sausage and jalapeño.

After eating some of these colorful new creations, pay a visit to the "Butterflies, Bugs and Blooms" exhibit. For only an extra dollar, visitors can see the exhibit's greenhouse filled with zebra longwings, eratos, monarchs and other butterflies. They can also see other insects, such as praying mantises, scorpions, tarantulas, giant water bugs and other curious critters.

The exhibit opened May 1 and is scheduled to run through July 31.

"Depending on how things turn out, they might keep that actual greenhouse open longer," Haugh said. "People are enjoying it; they kind of like going in and having that experience. We've had a lot more butterflies hatch. So it's getting a little bit more full."