White Hills is one of the few regional Botanic Gardens in Victoria still to contain animals. There are currently wallabies, grey kangaroos and aviaries containing a number of native and exotic birds. The public can enter one of the aviaries from 8am to 4pm on weekdays.

The Gardens have included animals throughout their long history. As early as 1862 there was a "small but varied collection of native animals" and a stockade had been prepared for deer; in 1865 there were monkeys and a peacock and by 1872 the Gardens also contained monkeys, cockatoos and kookaburras . The animals were a source of great interest to the visiting public and were an important factor in the Gardens' continuing attractiveness to visitors despite the major shift in focus to Rosalind Park from the late 1860s. The attraction was further supplemented by the flocks of wild birds - swans and ducks - which were attracted by the lagoon.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s the Gardens held a collection of birds, the mammals having been gradually dispersed. However, in 1944 monkeys were once again sought and obtained from Melbourne Zoo and the building now known as the 'cockatoo cage' was built to house them. At this time, the native mammals were housed in two pens enclosed by a 2 metre high wire netting fence on the Napoleon Crescent boundary. The monkeys remained in the Gardens until around 1974. At that time, many of the mammals and birds, including free-roaming peacocks, were removed from the grounds, and the cockatoos were housed in the disused monkey cage.