The Zoo Review

Our Zoo Experience

Ok I know what you are thinking…..Jamie this is not a zoo. Yes you are correct, however, this aquarium has more than just fish.

First, let me tell you how the aquarium is laid out. There are two floors with species from North and South America. The name is Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, after all. The aquarium is super easy to navigate and took us about three quarters of the day to get through looking at all the exhibits, education, and attending keeper talks.

The first exhibit I want to tell you about is the Louisiana Swamps and Mississippi River exhibits. The exhibit showcases animals and plants native to the Louisiana Swamps.

The exhibit has an old bayou fishing shack above where you walk through to look at the different species of the Mississippi River. Where you are walking, it is like you are in the swamp, the habitats of the fish and plants area laid out in a serpentine manner. They also have a couple of free flying hawks in the swamp exhibit.

They have a touch pool where you can feed and pet Stingrays. Some of the Stingrays are ornery and will splash you for attention and food.

On the 1^st floor you can find the exhibits for the Gulf of Mexico, which holds 400,000 gallons of water and houses a giant Sea Turtle named King Midas.

The keepers say King Midas will steal food from some of the sharks he lives with in the exhibit. It probably helps he weighs somewhere around 400 pounds.

Also on the 1^st floor is the Great Maya Reef exhibit. The aquarium really went above and beyond to make you feel like you were in the Mayan Reef and can see some of the Mayan culture. In the Mayan Reef exhibit has a walkthrough tunnel, it is an aquarium you can walk through.

On the 2^nd floor we found exhibits for the Amazon Rainforest, Penguins, Living in the Water, Seahorses, Sea Otters, Louisiana, and the Mississippi River. The Stingray touch pool is also on the 2^nd floor.

The 2^nd floor is also where you can find great food at either the Aqua Grill (sandwiches and salads) or Papa John’s. Oh, and they have Haagen Dazs, which made me super happy.

The Amazon Rainforest area is super neat. You get immersed in the amazon and learn about the animals that live there. They have a massive Anaconda in the Amazon exhibit. It always amazed me how big they can grow.

The Penguin area is great because the keepers will have keeper chats at scheduled times, so you can learn all about the Penguins at the aquarium. When we went to the keeper chat for the Penguins, they were also getting fed their lunch.

There was one ornery penguin that kept getting in line after he had already had his lunch. A couple times the keeper had to pick him up and put him away from the other penguins so they could get their lunch.

The keepers told us they record how much fish each individual penguin gets to ensure the penguins stay healthy. Eventually the ornery penguin would make his way back; and the process of moving him away would start all over again. It was super cute to watch him; Steve and I both got a good chuckle out of it.

The Living in the Water and Seahorse exhibits showcased different species which live in the ocean (saltwater) and in the rivers (freshwater). The Seahorses were pregnant when we visited the aquarium. Did you know the male Seahorse carries and gives birth to the offspring?

Ok, in my opinion the cutest animal at the aquarium is the Sea Otter, and her name is Clara. During the keeper chat for Clara we learned like humans she uses tools to get to her food.

Sea Otters eat the different types of bivalves (clams) in the ocean among various other foods. Clara will float on her back with a clam on her tummy, and with a rock she will pound on the clam until she breaks it open. The keepers said she occasionally will pound the clam shell against the Plexiglas of her exhibit to open the clam.

So even though it is technically an aquarium, they definitely have more to offer than just fish. I highly recommend a visit if you are ever in New Orleans. Awesome visit!