BioPark BackStage
Your Ticket to Tour the Inner Workings at the Zoo
Please Call Shannon @ 764-6212 to schedule tours!
Meet & Greet Opportunities
Come Face to Face with some of the BioPark’s most curious and endearing animals on these keeper-guided adventures, sharing insights and fun stories about the residents at the Zoo, and discussing how Your Actions Matter in conserving our natural world. Ask your most pressing questions of the experts, and enjoy a special up-close animal meet-and-greet encounter. (Touching meet-and-greet animals is at the keeper's discretion and should not be expected.)
- Tours are limited to 4 to 10 guests to provide an ideal learning environment. Should a tour not reach the minimum number, you will be contacted 24 hours in advance for rescheduling.
- Please note age requirements by tour. Children 2 and under may attend at no cost (for tours specifying "all ages"). There is no discount for children 2 and older. Strollers are generally discouraged.
- Please inform when booking the tour if you require handicap accessibility; some variations may need to be made to the promoted tour.
- Situations may arise when a listed animal is not available to be seen or greeted. Keepers will do their best to ensure a quality tour, and the opportunity to meet another animal should this happen.
- Bring your camera, and sturdy shoes (no sandals).
Rhinos & Giraffes
60 minutes, $75/person (all ages).
Tour offered 9am, New Date coming soon!
Explore in and around the Giraffe barn where you will see how the giraffes spend their off-hours time, learn about their specialized care, and have the opportunity to feed browse and pose for a photo with the world’s tallest animal (remember your camera!). Keepers will share special stories about these wonderful animals, and teach about their natural history in the wild. Then journey into Africa to meet the Rhinos up close, one of the most endangered animals in the world. Inside the rhino barn, enjoy the unique opportunity to feel the rhino’s skin, and give her a special treat as you partake in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give a good brush to a 4000-pound beauty. Keepers will also teach about the natural history of the rhinos and the importance of “operant conditioning” where the rhinos are trained to cooperate with their care.
Cats & Carnivores
75 minutes, $95/person (ages 10+)
Tour offered 2pm, New Date coming soon!
Go behind-the-scenes to see the quarters of the cats and other carnivores on the catwalk. This purrrr-fect tour begins at the tigers where you may be able to meet Scout the tiger face-to-face, learn about the specialized carnivorous diets, and how the keeper manages large cats. The tour will walk the entire length of the catwalk, where you may chance to see the snow leopards, bobcats, lions, panthers…and even a meerkat up close! A special African Crested porcupine and fennec fox are also frequently met along the way. The tour ends at the kangaroo exhibit where you will be able to go in and meet the large-footed mob of marsupials up close.
Australian Outback - Koalas & Wombats
45 minutes, $65/person (all ages),
Tour offered 2pm, TBD
Learn why the koala is so sleepy as you go behind-the-scenes to meet Zaki, the only Victorian koala in the United States. Keepers will share inside stories about the marsupials at the Zoo and what makes these species so special, and introduce you to other amazing animals such as an armadillo. Then head towards the newest residents from Tasmania—the wombats! Enter their dens where you will catch up with Otto, the teddy-bear-loving wombat for a special meet and greet. And as an extra bonus, the tour will take a side-trip to visit the naked mole rat--an African species. Learn about the fascinating hierarchical colonies and how they maneuver with very poor eyesight!
Striking Beauties – Reptile & Crocodile House Tour
60 minutes, $75/person (all ages)
Dates TBD
Enjoy a backstage experience to view deadly—and not so deadly—reptiles up close. Begin in the Reptile House where you will go behind-the-scenes to see how keepers care for this scaly collection. Learn how staff creates specialized diets for some very complex animals, and the tools and techniques needed to handle the large and highly venomous reptiles. Procedures for emergency snakebite situations will also be covered, as well as the role of venom in medical treatments and research. You will also have the opportunity to handle or touch some of the reptiles in the collection—be sure to bring your camera! Next comes the Crocodile House, where you will walk out on a gangway to see the huge crocodiles up close (but not too close!), along with American Alligators housed backstage. Learn about the diets and care of these large reptiles, and how operant conditioning is used to facilitate their eventual movement to a new facility.
Discovery Tours
Journey into the heart of the Zoo, behind-the-scenes where the keepers care for the animals. Learn how the animals’ needs are cared for, including diets, enrichment, healthcare, and more. Tours also include front-of-the exhibit viewing of Animals where keepers’ insights and stories will be shared. (Animals remain in the front of the exhibit while participants are behind-the-scenes. No meet and greet is included.)
All Discovery Tours limited to 4 to 12 participants. No age requirement.
Great Ape Awareness
60 minutes, $50/person (all ages)
Dates TBD
While the apes remain on exhibit, take a rare visit into the night quarters of the gorillas and orangutans. Meet the keepers who take care of the apes, and learn about the primates' natural history in the wild, how we care for them in the zoo, their diets, how we provide enrichment for these extremely intelligent creatures, and how operant conditioning teaches the apes to cooperate with their care. The tour will also include the opportunity to make some enrichment items for the apes, to be given to the apes at a later date. Go to the front of the exhibit and the staff will talk about the animals' behaviors and their individual personalities, and share stories about some of the memorable ape moments at the BioPark.
Elephant Discovery & Bull Barn
60 minutes, $50/person
Tour offered 2:15pm New Date coming soon!
See just what it takes to house a 12,000 pound elephant during this backstage tour of the Bull Barn. The tour will begin at Colores, the Education Building, with a short keeper-led presentation and video about the BioPark’s herd of 6 Asian Elephants, as well as discussing elephants in the wild, and how your actions matter when it comes to elephants. Then venture outside to the front of the exhibit where you will have a front-row view of the keepers and elephants as you observe a training session with one of the magnificent elephants, as keepers demonstrate the unique behavioral enrichment program our elephants enjoy.
Veterinary Clinic & Crocodile House
45 minutes, $45/person
Tour date TBD (call 764-6291 to inquire)
Learn all about the highly specialized care of the many different species of Zoo animals when you visit the Veterinary Clinic. See the exam/surgery rooms, pharmacy area, quarantine area, and learn about emergency planning in the event of an escaped animal. Visitors may also have the opportunity to see animals currently housed in this area, as well as a collection of “odds and ends” of strange things that have been removed from animals’ digestive systems (those “don’t feed the animals” signs aren’t just for show!). Then journey on to the behind-the-scenes floor of the Crocodile House where you will have the chance to walk out on a gangway to see the huge crocodiles up close (but not too close!), along with American Alligators housed backstage. Learn about the diets and care of these large reptiles, and how operant conditioning is used to facilitate their eventual movement to a new facility.
Behind The Scenes With The Birds
60 minutes, $50/person
Dates TBD
Spend an hour behind the scenes with the birds and the keepers who care for them. Get up close with Socorro doves--some of the rarest doves on the planet, and receive the inside scoop on Flamingos, Kingfishers, Macaws, and more. Learn about the efforts being made here at your own ABQ BioPark Zoo to repopulate several endangered species, plus, take a look at the our incubator room and learn how keepers can see inside of an intact egg!
Aquarium: Above the Shark Tank & Backstage Areas
60 minutes, $65/person (maximum 15 participants)
Dates TBD
Aquarists will escort you behind-the-scenes to tour the quarantine room and the life support area, then take the elevator to the top of the 285,000 gallon ocean tank. Get a gull’s eye view of our sharks (sandtiger, blacktip, zebra and nurse), along with brilliantly colored reef fish, eels, sea turtles and other open ocean species. Learn about the care and feeding of the numerous aquatic and marine residents in the food preparation room, how water quality is ensured, and the nuances of the ABQ Aquarium’s program. And those “biting” questions you might have? This will be the perfect time to ask!
Botanic Garden Discovery Tours
60 minutes, $50/person (maximum 15 participants)
Please call (505) 764-6291 to schedule your horticulture tour. Gardens/areas covered vary based on dates and areas of interest. Available areas include Bugarium & Arthropod Rearing Lab Sneak Peek, Cactus and Succulents (led by our internationally known cactus and succulent botanist), Japanese and Curandera Gardens, Heritage Farm area (led by a former zookeeper who applies her rhino experience to the Navajo Churro sheep), Trees (led by an ISA-certified arborist who has a passion for bamboo), Greenhouse areas, and more.
© 2013 New Mexico BioPark Society • 903 10th Street SW • Albuquerque, NM 87102 • 505.764.6280 Home