The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is located west of downtown Tucson, Arizona in Tucson Mountain Park. Part zoo, part natural history museum, part garden, the Desert Museum is said to be the most visited attraction in Tucson. And after our visit we can see why.
Many varieties of desert plants can be seen including Saguaro, Prickly Pear, Organ Pipe and Barrel cactus, Agave plants from which Tequila is made, tall Ocotillo plants with their bright red flowers, Jumping Cholla plants with their sharp spines and Yuccas. What was really neat about the museum is that they feature plants from the many different eco systems found in Tucson. For every 1000' in elevation the plants life found is the same you'd see if you traveled 600-miles north. So in addition to the desert plants there were gardens with tall Ponderosa Pines, prairie grasses and more.
The animal exhibits featured coyotes, mountain lions, wolves, mountain goats, javelinas (a sort of wild pig), bobcats, ocelots, snakes and other reptiles, amphibians, fish, parrots and an enclosed hummingbird exhibit. It was a lot of fun standing in the hummingbird enclosure with the birds zipping all around you. Animal handlers, mostly volunteers, were on hand to show animals such as owls, falcons, turtles and snakes up close and personal.
We were fortunate to have been able to snag a special tour called 'Walk With A Keeper' that took us to places in the museum where the public normally does not have access. We got to feed the river otters and mountain goats. After lunch we took another guided tour this time with a botanist who introduced us to many of the plants in the museum.
