Jubilee Los Lunas
Things to Do:  Nature

Albuquerque Biological Park

The Albuquerque Biological Park is proud to announce that the Rio Grande Botanic Garden was the recipient of the 2006 American Public Garden Association's Award for Program Excellence at the recent APGA Conference in San Francisco, California. The APGA represents over 500 institutional members and 1,000 individual members in the garden industry. The award recognized the innovative program at The Heritage Farm which connects visitors to agriculture by demonstrating the relationships between the food we eat and the land, plants and animals it comes from. Award nomination (2.5 MB).

Located across the plaza from the Albuquerque Aquarium and bordered on the west by the famed Rio Grande and the largest cottonwood gallery forest in the world, the lush and peaceful Rio Grande Botanic Garden is an oasis in the desert. The Garden currently encompasses 20 developed acres, including a 10,000 square foot glass conservatory housing native and exotic plants from desert and Mediterranean climate zones and the seasonal PNM Butterfly Pavilion featuring hundreds of free-flying North American butterflies and moths. Walking distance through the aquarium and garden is about 1.6 miles. The Rio Grande Botanic Garden is a facility of the Albuquerque Biological Park.

Albuquerque Aquarium

The Albuquerque Aquarium takes visitors on a journey down the Rio Grande from Albuquerque to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. Fresh water riverine, estuarine, surf zone, shallow waters, coral reefs, open ocean and deep ocean species are represented along the way. Other highlights include an eel tunnel, seahorses, luminous jellies and a 285,000 gallon ocean tank where brown, sandtiger, blacktip and nurse sharks swim alongside brilliantly colored reef fish, eels, sea turtles and open ocean species. The Albuquerque Aquarium is a facility of the Albuquerque Biological Park.

For more information, visit www.cabq.gov/biopark/aquarium or call (505) 764-6200.

Rio Grande Zoo

Founded in 1927, the 64-acre Rio Grande Zoo offers visitors close encounters with more than 250 species of exotic and native animals. Popular species include seals and sea lions, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, elephants, polar bears, giraffes, hippos, camels, tamarins, koalas, Mexican wolves, mountain lions, monkeys, jaguars, zebras and rhinoceros. State-of-the-art exhibit design and eye-pleasing landscaping enhance zoo animal husbandry by creating naturalistic habitats with trees, grasses, water features and rockwork. Walking distance through the zoo is about 2.25 miles. The Rio Grande Zoo is a facility of the Albuquerque Biological Park .

The newly renovated Tingley Beach features three fishing ponds stocked with rainbow trout, catfish (Central and Children's ponds), a cafe, gift shop and a train station for the Rio Line that makes a loop to the Albuquerque Zoo and Albuquerque Aquarium/Rio Grande Botanic Garden. A model boat pond will be completed soon. Fishing clinics are held regularly, and fishing guide volunteers circulate at Tingley and answer your fishing questions. Contructed wetlands to the west in the cottonwood bosque are the site for many education programs, including Twilight Bosque Tours in the summer.

For more information, visit www.cabq.gov/biopark/zoo or call (505) 764-6200.