You will know it as the The Museo de Vida Silvestre or Wildlife Museum or even that building with the enormous elephant in front. For locals this is a great place to bring your children to learn about animals and habitats from around the world. For visitors to Puerto Rico, this makes for a great ‘rainy day’ activity.
The Museo de Vida Silvestre brings together under one roof animals from around the world and the displays have been designed to show these animals in their natural habitat and makes for a great learning experience.
Once inside you will find the main ground floor display depicting a huge Baobab Tree also known as ‘The Tree of Life’. Here you will find a number of animals who depend on the tree in real life for food, water and a place to eat. Highlights of this display are the elephant, Giraffe, lions and leopard with its kill high up on the branches of the tree.
The second floor which can be accessed by stairs or elevators is home to the 12 biomes that are present throughout the planet. The displays are extremely well presented giving you the chance to walk around to see how the animals and plant life change with each ecological environment.
All the animals are well presented in life like poses and each area comes with bilingual signs in both Spanish and English explaining in detail about what you are looking at.
You can wander around the exhibits on your own or take a guided tour with one of the tour guides who will take you around explaining in detail about the animals and the various environments.
Along with all of the exhibits, there are a few hands on displays for children and adults for that matter as well as a short film. Currently they are showing a movie about the marine life of Puerto Rico.
The Museo de Vida Silvestre (Wildlife Museum) of San Juan is a fun and educational spot where you can spend a couple of hours learning about some of the animals that we share our planet with.
What: Museo de Vida Silvestre, San Juan (Wildlife Museum)
Where: Marginal road just off Route 2 (John F Kennedy Avenue) – just look for the extremely large elephant statue
When: Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm.
Cost: $10 for adults, $7 for kids and $5 for seniors (plus tax)
