Animal Attractions
Miami Metrozoo
One of the top ten zoos in the USA, Miami Metrozoo has over 2000 animals – including 40 endangered species – living in 740 acres of recreated ‘natural’ habitats. As well as featured animals such as the Komodo Dragon, meerkats, koalas, crocodiles, squirrel monkeys, giraffes, ostriches, gazelles, snakes, giant otters and jaguars, there are over 70 species of birds and 1000 species of trees, plants and orchids. The zoo’s open-air exhibits can be viewed by the 3 miles of walkways, tram rides, family cycles and monorail. The children’s zoo offers camel rides and interactive exhibits, and kids will also enjoy the giraffe feeding station, pelican feeding encounters, animal meet & greets and Amazon and Beyond’s interactive show.
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Jungle Island
Originally Parrot Jungle, this renamed attraction now features many more birds and animals – including a ‘liger’, a cross between a lion and a tiger that, at 12 feet tall, is the largest cat in the world. Younger children will love the petting zoo, parrot and kangaroo feedings and playground, while other family-friendly activities include the Everglades habitat and walk, bird shows, penguin and giant tortoise exhibits, as well as kangaroos, monkeys, crocodiles and a serpentarium housing spiders, snakes and iguanas. Entry also gives you admission to La Playa, a private beach with three ‘fun stations’ to keep children entertained: The Big Kahuna waterslide, The Splish and Splash 180 rock climb and waterslide for younger children, and SpongeBob’s Obstacle Course.
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Miami Seaquarium
This marine-life entertainment park features a variety of daily marine animal shows and presentations with dolphins, sharks, killer whales, sea lions, sea turtles and manatees. Other watery exhibits include alligators and crocodiles, tropical reef inhabitants and Atlantic fish. Adults and children from 5 years old can also experience a ‘hands-on’ encounter with a dolphin – an educational classroom presentation is followed by deep water interaction where participants get up-close to the dolphin and share a ride with it across the pool. Rainforest birds and reptiles, a pirates’ playground and remote-controlled planes and cars add to the attractions at the Seaquarium.
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Miami Museums
Gold Coast Railroad Museum
Located close to the Miami Metrozoo, The Gold Coast Railroad Museum preserves, exhibits and operates historic US railroad equipment. It features a variety of historical train locomotives and rolling stock, passenger and freight cars, a model train exhibit, a toy train set for children to play with and locomotive, coach and cab rides. Its exhibits include a private railroad car built for President Franklin Roosevelt, the engine that pulled the rescue train after the 1935 Florida hurricane, and a 1913 locomotive used regularly over the entire Florida East Coast Railroad.
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Miami Science Museum
For an action-packed interactive day out the Miami Science Museum is hard to beat – something is seemingly going on somewhere inside it at every hour of the day. Hands-on exhibits make learning about science fun, with regular special events such as SSI: Soil Science Investigators and Decomposition Demo: a maggot feeding frenzy. The Museum’s outdoor wildlife centre has snakes, reptiles, turtles and birds of prey, and the Planetarium features daily star presentations and laser light shows.
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Miami Children's Museum
Ideal for younger children, this collection of 14 galleries of interactive exhibits aims to stimulate play, learning, self-expression, imagination and creativity. Display settings include a bank, supermarket, hospital, fire station, veterinary clinic and television studio, as well as a teddy bear workshop, two-storey sandcastle and sea and ocean encounters. Children can also make art and music, drive a fire engine or police motorbike, or do some rock climbing.
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Miami Museums
Miami Everglades National Park
The Miami Everglades National Park is simply a must-see. Made up of 1.5 million acres of swamps, saw-grass prairies and sub-tropical jungles, this UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve is home to a number of rare and endangered animal and bird species, including the American Crocodile, the Florida Panther and the West Indian Manatee, and hundreds of plant species including 25 varieties of orchids. Air boat tours are available to view the numerous alligators up close, or visitors can choose to walk, camp and canoe in the park.
Miami Everglades National Park »
