Things to do / Travel Guide
This little snippet of Texas delivers big time on the promise of zoos. From north to south, east to west, in the southeastern Texas region there are zoos and aquariums for every taste.
San Antonio
Inland, in San Antonio, there are a couple of aquariums. Not surprisingly, SeaWorld San Antonio is Texas-style BIG, especially then it comes to Shamu, the killer whale who has a spacious pool in which to perform his show. You expect a lot from the largest aquarium/theme park in the world, and this place delivers. The 250-acre marine park was first opened in 1988, and it contains plenty of great, family-friendly shows, as well as some heart-pounding thrill rides and rides for younger children to boot!
The San Antonio Zoological Gardens & Aquarium offers a stunning variety of animals for your enjoyment. One exhibit immerses visitors in a lush butterfly habitat surrounded by hundreds of butterflies moving freely all around. Other exhibits include Amazonia, Gibbon Forest, Prairie Chickens, and Cranes of the World.
Austin
The Austin Zoo is unique in that it has given a home to animals that were mistreated, abandoned, or illegally imported. It isn't fancy or large, but what it lacks in these qualities, it makes up for in intimacy and meaning.
Houston and the Surrounding Area
The Houston Zoo houses an astounding 4,500 different animals in its confines. Among the mammals you'll see are an Asian elephant, a red-fronted lemur, and an owl monkey. There's also a children's zoo, where you and your kids can watch river otters playing in their pool, and alligators or turtles sunning on a pier.
If you're just interested in sea life, there's always the Houston Downtown Aquarium, where you can take a train down a glass tunnel built through a shark tank where the inhabitants watch you with dinner on their minds. You can also play with creatures in touch tanks, or explore the lush environment of the world's tropical rainforests, where you'll see red-bellied piranhas and venomous freshwater stingrays. The aquarium also has thousands of fish swimming in about half-a-million gallons of water for you to observe and admire.
The Aquarium and Rainforest at Moody Gardens, in Galveston, has it all, a zoo, an aquarium, and entertainment galore! One exhibit takes you beneath the seas where you'll observe more than 8,000 specimens of marine life including fish, invertebrates, mammals, reptiles, and plants (think: penguins, seals and coral reefs). There's also an IMAX theater, a Ridefilm, a pool, beaches, hotels, and even a spa.
The Coastal Bend: Corpus Christi and the Mexican Border
The Texas Zoo, in Victoria, offers everything you'd expect to find at a 76-acre zoo, plus a few things that you wouldn't – like the option of having a sleepover on the premises to learn what the animals do late at night. You can even have a catered party. Indeed, this ain't your typical zoo.
Among other things, the Texas State Aquarium, in Corpus Christi, has an exhibit, where Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphins that are unable to survive in the wild are able to find a place to call home. The kids will find the Kids' Port Playground particularly enjoyable.
Finally, at the Gladys Porter Zoo, in Brownsville, you'll be able to see 377 species of animals and 225 species of plants. Among the exhibits you'll enjoy is Tropical America, where visitors can gawk at Galapagos Tortoises, spider monkeys, and Cuban crocodiles.
Zoos and Aquariums in Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Padre Island and Southeastern Texas
Zoos-Aquariums
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