Lesley Young - The Commercial Appeal -

On Father's Day weekend, 6-year-old Emillie Dwyer carted her sleeping bag, her pajamas and her father into the back entrance of the Memphis Zoo. The prospect of waking up to the sound of a lioness roaring in the morning was all she needed to make sure she and her father were in line at 7 p.m.

"She saw it and said, 'We're going.' I said, 'OK, I guess we're going,'" said Emillie's father, Charles, 46, of Senatobia.

The Dwyers were one of about a dozen father-child duos who took the zoo up on its offer to sleep with the animals for the annual Father's Day Zoo Snooze.

Following a national trend of sleepovers at venues such as zoos, aquariums and museums across the United States, the Memphis Zoo offers slumber parties to school groups, Sunday school classes and scouting groups, among others.

"The zoo is a whole different environment at night," said zoo educator and snooze coordinator Leslie Dobbs. "It's an incredible, beautiful, wonderful experience to walk around the zoo at night."

"This is a growing trend in zoos and aquariums to fully utilize their resources by offering innovative after-hours activities," said Steve Feldman, spokesman for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. "Accredited zoos and aquariums, like the zoo in Memphis, are all about conservation and education. When teaching people about wildlife and science, you want them to be engaged and entertained so they don't realize they're learning something. A sleepover is a more intimate experience."

The Father's Day Snooze was one of three public sleepovers the zoo offers annually, including the Winter Wildlife Snooze in November and the New Year's Eve Snooze on Dec. 31.

"The New Year's Eve Snooze is special, because normally the parents are required to stay, but on New Year's, if Mom and Dad have an event they want to go to, they can drop the kids off and pick them up in the morning," said zoo communications specialist Tiffany Langston.

The zoo offers private-party snoozes as well, and usually hosts about a dozen a month, averaging 30 to 50 children and adults in attendance.

During each snooze, kids have the chance to meet some of the animals up close, take a moonlight safari -- flashlights and a tour of the nutrition center included -- eat a nighttime snack and breakfast, and see the zoo in sunlight the following day.

Each of the three public snoozes is themed, and private parties can opt for a theme as well.

"If it's a church group, we can do a theme specifically designed around animals from the Bible," Dobbs said.

The Father's Day Snooze focused on the paternal side of the animal kingdom, including an animal demonstration that discussed how some of the fathers look after their young.

"Seahorses are different. The father carries the babies. He holds them in his pouch until they are ready to hatch, and then he curls his tail around grass and pushes them out one by one," snooze instructor Brittany Landry told the classroom.

Spencer Gallagher, 7, of Memphis raised his hand.

"I already knew that," he told her.

Spencer and his father, Kevin, 39, decided to participate in the snooze after hearing about the fun the female side of the family had last year when Spencer's mother and sister stayed the night.

"We're members and pretty regular goers, so this is a good opportunity to see it after hours and go behind the scenes," Kevin said.

"It's a chance to see animals move around that are calm during the day, and active at night, like this one," he said, pointing to Spencer.

"It's an opportunity to see the zoo in a way you wouldn't normally see during the day," Langston said. "Any time you get to go behind the scenes at the zoo is a cool thing."

Groups sleep in the classrooms, the Rendezvous Room or the China Theater, and the zoo provides 24-hour security.

"We're trying to stay on top of the standards in education," Dobbs said. "We're hoping to develop some nanotechnology curriculum into one of our snoozes, designed for mid- to high-school-age students. They can learn about where nanotechnology came from, which is nature."

After a night at the zoo, kids can walk away knowing that piranha dads stand guard outside their houses to keep other piranhas from eating their kids, and also understanding their human parents a little better.

Emillie got to know her father a little better, learned a little more about the animal kingdom, and left having met someone new.

"I made a new friend," she said, arm-in-arm with fellow zoo lover Madeline Smith, 9, of Memphis.

"They met outside in the parking lot," said Madeline's father, Brian, 46.

Maybe the event even influenced a future zookeeper.

"That's the intangible part of what zoos and aquariums do. They inspire the next generation of conservationists," Feldman said. "Who knows where the next Jane Goodall or Jacques Cousteau will come from?"

Public snoozes start at $55 per participant for members, depending on the event. Group snoozes: $200 deposit and per-child fee. For more information about the Zoo Snoozes, go to memphiszoo.org/snoozes, or call (901) 333-6500.

© 2011 Memphis Commercial Appeal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.