Address: 1 Canal Street
Pricing: Adults $18, kids $11, seniors $14. IMAX $9-$6-$8
Phone: (800) 774-7394 or (504) 581-4629
Hours: Open Tuesday-Sunday 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Closed Mardi Gras, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Day
How To Get There:
From Interstate 10 East, exit at Poydras Street, 234B. Continue on Poydras approximately 1 mile. Turn left on S. Peters Street. Turn right on Canal Street. The Aquarium/IMAX® is located at the foot of Canal Street at the Mississippi River. Parking is $5 off at the Jax Parking Lot, Sugar Parking Lot, Badine Parking Lot, Canal Place Parking Garage, World Trade Center garage and Hilton Whale Wall.
Parking:Parking $5 off at selected lots with validation
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Audubon Aquarium of the Americas
Sep 2, 2009
In a city surrounded by water, New Orleans’ Audubon Aquarium of the Americas offers a broad and often whimsical display of more than 10,000 creatures that live in or near bodies of water.
More than 17 million people have visited the aquarium, which overlooks the Mississippi River and is located at the foot of Canal Street, adjacent to the historic French Quarter. Ranked among the nation’s top five aquariums, a visitor can glimpse more 400 species creatures from the waters of the Caribbean, the branches of Amazon Rainforest, the mighty Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.
A visitor enters a clear 30-foot-long tunnel with 5-inch thick acrylic walls to glimpse the Caribbean Reef exhibit and its aquatic creatures swimming through 132,000 gallons of water. A replica of an off-shore oilrig is featured in the 400,000-gallon Gulf of Mexico exhibit, displaying various shark species, sea turtles, stingrays and the largest tarpon in captivity.
The Mississippi River gallery displays creatures of the “Big Muddy” including catfish, paddlefish, and alligator. The rare white alligator in the exhibit is leucistic; a gene mutation has resulted in his white skin and blue eyes. Leucistic alligators are even rarer than albinos. He is one of only 18 known to exist in the world.
Penguins and otters are crowd favorites. Otters frolic in the specially designed 23,000-gallon Sea Otter Gallery. The penguin collection includes two species of warm climate penguins: African penguins and Rockhoppers. The Seahorse Gallery features a variety of seahorses plus two species of rare seadragons. Colorful and unusual jellyfish from around the world live in the “Jellies” exhibit, including many caught in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The aquarium features regular animal presentations and feedings to help visitors understand the creatures of the deep. Visitors can touch baby sharks and stingrays at the touch pools located throughout the facility. The Changing Exhibits Gallery features new and interactive exhibits, such as “Adventure Island,” an interactive play zone with a stingray touch pool.
See the wonders of nature in larger-than-life size the Entergy IMAX® Theatre, featuring the world's most advanced motion picture technology. The theater is located next door to Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, and features a special six-channel, multi-speaker sound system and a silver screen reaching five-and-a-half stories tall. Tickets may be purchased in the Aquarium lobby.
- by Diane Loupe, New Orleans Reporter for HelloMetro
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Diane LoupeA resident of Decatur, Ga., and a native of New Orleans, Diane has a M.A. in Journalism from the University of Missouri. She has worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Associated Press, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Yale Medical School. A freelance writer and editor, her work has appeared in The Sunday Paper, Women's eNews, the Agnes Scott College alumni magazine, eSchool News, and PTO Today.
