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Includes the city's aquarium, botanical garden, zoo, and Tingley Beach (see below under Do). Combo tickets for the Biological Park can be purchased and include the price of train rides on a small narrow-gauge train running between the Aquarium/Botanic Garden and the Zoo. The train runs Tu–Su from around 10AM–4PM at 30-min intervals.
The ABQ BioPark is an environmental museum located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The park contains four separate facilities:ABQ BioPark Aquarium - An aquarium with a 285,000-US-gallon (1,080,000 L) ocean tank containing Gulf of Mexico saltwater species from estuaries, surf zone, shallow waters, coral reefs, and ocean, as well as many other exhibits. ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden - A 36-acre (15 ha) botanic garden that includes a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) glass conservatory housing plants from desert and Mediterranean climate zones. ABQ BioPark Zoo - A 64-acre (26 ha) zoo, with 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of paths and more than 250 species of exotic and native animals. Asian elephants, reticulated giraffes, Malayan tigers, snow leopards, polar bears, hippos, gorillas, chimpanzees, Hartmann's mountain zebras, along with more unusual animals such as spotted hyenas, southern white rhinos, Tasmanian devils, wombats and African wild dogs. There is a variety of birds, from storks and eagles to roadrunners. Tingley Beach - fishing lake, model boating lake, picnic areas, shuttle bus, and paths.
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It may not be as big as your average big city zoo, but this zoo is surprisingly comprehensive for its size, with most of the popular species you can expect to find at any good zoo: polar bears, lions, zebras, tigers, giraffes, elephants, gorillas, etc. And like any good zoo, the animals are in nice, naturalistic exhibits. The highlight exhibit areas are the seals, the polar bears, a large Africa area, and a large elephant enclosure. Every day there are scheduled feedings of the seals and the polar bears; during the warmer months more feeding times, activities, and outdoor concerts are scheduled. A small narrow-gauge train runs through the zoo (Tu–Su 10AM–3:30PM at 20-min intervals), with a conductor pointing out some of the animals and explaining what goes on behind-the-scenes. A separate train line runs to the Aquarium/Botanic Garden.
A facility of the Albuquerque Biological Park, this park along the Rio Grande has fishing ponds for adults and children, a model boating pond, a cafe, and a gift shop where you can buy fishing licenses, fishing gear, or rent a pedal boat for a ride on the central pond. Trails lead into the bosque to the edge of the river and to a pair of restored wetland ponds. A narrow-gauge train links Tingley Beach to the Albuquerque Aquarium/Botanical Gardens and the Rio Grande Zoo (listed above under See).
This historic and beautiful downtown building is a vibrant setting for the local performing arts community, and a venue for some traveling shows. The theater is gorgeous and filled with Pueblo-esque art deco ornamentation, such as beautiful murals, plaster cow skulls and wooden beams.
A large complex of buildings dedicated to Hispanic culture, with a small but very interesting art museum with changing exhibitions of Hispanic art. There is also a library and genealogy center, restaurant, gift shop, and a regular schedule of special events and performances.