Greensboro Science Center in North Carolina has announced plans for a US$10m (€9.4m, £8.2m) capital campaign to double the size of its zoo, creating new exhibits and making room for its endangered species habitats.

The centre, which houses a museum, planetarium, zoo and aquarium, welcomes more than 500,000 visitors each year.

Scheduled to open in 2019, Revolution Ridge will feature both live and virtual exhibits, and breeding programmes for the zoo’s rare animals, with new exhibits to include cassowaries, okapi and pygmy hippos among others. The museum will also gain a small cat complex, a red panda exhibit, a veterinary complex, and a new conservation classroom.

The expansion will increase the zoo’s size from 523,000sq ft (48,500sq m) to 1,045,000sq ft (97,000sq m).

US$8.3m (€7.8m, £6.7m) of the US$10m target has already been raised, with the institution looking to raise the rest through community fundraising. In addition, an anonymous donor has offered a $0.50 match on every dollar donated towards the zoo development, agreeing to give up to US$500,000 (€469,000, £407,000).

"Life is a never-ending series of revolutions,” said Glenn Dobrogosz, Greensboro Science Center CEO. “Sometimes they are quiet and go completely unnoticed. Other times they are vast and life-changing. Today, there is a revolution taking place at the Greensboro Science Center.

"It's a revolution of unprecedented change and innovation designed to further evolve how aquariums, museums and zoos both intellectually and emotionally connect all citizens to the magic, mystery and wonder of life and science."

The work follows on from the centre’s US$25m (€23.4m, £20.3m) expansion plan announced in 2014, which includes the zoo plans.

Renovations on the museum started in 2015, modernising parts of the museum last worked on in the 1970s. Overall construction has been funded by a combination of private donors and a US$20m (€18.7m, £16.3m) bond passed by a vote in 2009.

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