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Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Review
The name "museum" is a bit misleading, since this delightful site is actually a zoo and botanical garden featuring the animals and plants of the Sonoran Desert. Hummingbirds, cactus wrens, rattlesnakes, scorpions, bighorn sheep, bobcats, and prairie dogs all busy themselves in ingeniously designed habitats.
An Earth Sciences Center has an artificial limestone cave to climb through and a hands-on meteor and mineral display. The coyote and javelina (wild, piglike mammals with oddly oversize heads) exhibits have "invisible" fencing that separates humans from animals, and the Riparian Corridor section has great underwater views of otters and beavers.
The restaurants are above average, and the gift shop, which carries books, jewelry and crafts, is outstanding. June through August, the museum stays open until 10 pm every Saturday, which provides a great opportunity to see nocturnal critters.
- Address: 2021 N. Kinney Rd., Westside, Tucson, AZ, 85743 | Map It
- Phone: 520/883-2702
- Cost: $14.50
- Hours: Mar.--May, daily 7:30--5; June--Sept., daily 7--4:30; Oct.--Feb., daily 8:30--5
- Website: www.desertmuseum.org
- Location: Northwest Tucson and Westside
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