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Central Park Zoo and Tisch Children’s Zoo

Great Places to Meet Other Creatures Great and Small!

The Wildlife Center at the Central Park Zoo (64th St. & Fifth Ave. in the park; (212) 861-6030) introduces visitors to fascinating animals—from tiny leafcutter ants to tremendous polar bears. Explore the Tropic Zone, a steamy tree-filled rain forest where parrots and other birds fly freely; the Temperate Territory, where sea lions and monkeys frolic; or the Polar Circle, where you can watch polar bears swim underwater, thanks to a plexi-glass wall. The zoo’s “Wildlife Theater” encourages all ages to learn more about our natural world, and become involved in its protection.

The wonderful Tisch Children’s Zoo (just across 65th St. from the Central Park Zoo) was designed especially for kids under six. It is known also by its informal title, the “Petting Zoo.” For fifty cents, dispensing machines here give you a handful of feed for the animals—pigs, cows, sheep and goats and well as rabbits, turtles and an occasional llama—who will come up and eat it right out of your hand.

One admission price of $3.50 for adults; $1.25 for seniors; and $.50 for children (3-12) covers both zoos.