A Look at the New Audubon Aquarium
This June, the Audubon Aquarium reopened its doors to its patrons. The aquarium has been closed for its eight-month renovation which included a new butterfly garden. The major rehaul cost around $41 million dollars but included big changes and additions. These included a redesigned insectarium, a butterfly garden, a walk-through exhibit of wading birds (including two sloths and a tortoise) and a new designed Gulf of Mexico tank.
“We’re teaching young people to love the environment,” Ron Forman, president and CEO of the Audubon Nature Institute. “Bugs and fish and reptiles and mammals are all an important part of the Earth that we need to protect for the next generation.”
“We’re always rated in the top five aquariums in the country because we work very hard at having a world-class facility right here on the banks of the Mississippi River,” Forman said. “This has been the No. 1 family attraction in Louisiana for more than 30 years, and it just received a major upgrade.”
Patrons will walk through a glass atrium that will welcome them to the aquarium. The atrium has walls entirely lined with live plants that are fed by a hidden hydroponics system. Visitors can purchase their tickets at the ticket counter which is located in the atrium. If you are a planner, you can also purchase tickets online.
There will be a new cafe that serves crispy Cajun crickets called the Bug Cafe. Don’t worry they will also serve up regular favorites. The aquarium will also now have a bigger tank to hold its Jellyfish! The Amazon rainforest area will also get new landscaping and free-flying birds!
“We hope that we generate positive enthusiasm and wonder for the natural world that people take with them,” Lemann said. “If we do our job, people think about and care about and act on behalf of the natural world in a way they wouldn’t have before they visited us.”
“Our mission is to protect the environment. Everything we do starts with education and helping families be part of the solution,” Forman said. “Breeding endangered animals, wetland restoration, maintaining biodiversity in the marsh, they are all part of our programs and the zoo and aquarium give us revenue to do world-class conservation.”
