I highly recommend you go to the World Aquarium and experience it. I always thought zoos would be more fun and interesting if we could see each of the animals eat and/or interact with them in some manner. It's great that the World Aquarium, here in St. Louis, gives us that opportunity.
When you go, manage your expectations. Don't go expecting the Shedd Aquarium. This is a smaller facility with lots of exhibits and a unique opportunity to interact with a great variety of little animals - mostly fish and reptiles.
Once we found it using 810 N. 3rd St., 63102, for the GPS (but the street is marked Lumiere Place Blvd. and Memorial Dr. on the map), we headed east on on Laclede's Landing Blvd to a very nearby parking lot.
At the doorway, with a view of the arch to one side, we were greeted in a friendly manner right when we walked in, and there were already several exhibits in view right there. The man who handled our admission suggested we would probably want to to buy some feeding-tickets, which we did, and he was right!
They had lots of different types of food available depending on the specific animal -- lettuce, pieces of fish, worms, whole fish. It was cool seeing the turtles come excitedly to our offerings of lettuce and feel them tug and tear the lettuce and chew it up. They had a special implement used to feed snapping turtles and others when we didn't want our fingers too close. Watching the huge eel aggressively go after his food was cool. Same with the sharks in the largest central tank. The most fun to watch eat, however, were the river stingrays, with their little human faces on their alien-like bodies. Curious about how they feel? Some of the animals are available for touching, too.
The facility also had the cutest little (just 3-months old) coati, also known as a South American raccoon. The lady downstairs who helped us with all the feedings was so clearly excited and passionate about each of the animals; it really added to the overall positive feel of our visit.
All USA
I highly recommend you go to the World Aquarium and experience it. I always thought zoos would be more fun and interesting if we could see each of the animals eat and/or interact with them in some manner. It's great that the World Aquarium, here in St. Louis, gives us that opportunity. When you go, manage your expectations. Don't go expecting the Shedd Aquarium. This is a smaller facility with lots of exhibits and a unique opportunity to interact with a great variety of little animals - mostly fish and reptiles. Once we found it using 810 N. 3rd St., 63102, for the GPS (but the street is marked Lumiere Place Blvd. and Memorial Dr. on the map), we headed east on on Laclede's Landing Blvd to a very nearby parking lot. At the doorway, with a view of the arch to one side, we were greeted in a friendly manner right when we walked in, and there were already several exhibits in view right there. The man who handled our admission suggested we would probably want to to buy some feeding-tickets, which we did, and he was right! They had lots of different types of food available depending on the specific animal -- lettuce, pieces of fish, worms, whole fish. It was cool seeing the turtles come excitedly to our offerings of lettuce and feel them tug and tear the lettuce and chew it up. They had a special implement used to feed snapping turtles and others when we didn't want our fingers too close. Watching the huge eel aggressively go after his food was cool. Same with the sharks in the largest central tank. The most fun to watch eat, however, were the river stingrays, with their little human faces on their alien-like bodies. Curious about how they feel? Some of the animals are available for touching, too. The facility also had the cutest little (just 3-months old) coati, also known as a South American raccoon. The lady downstairs who helped us with all the feedings was so clearly excited and passionate about each of the animals; it really added to the overall positive feel of our visit.