Amazon in America

Coming Up In…December

South America invades South Beach this month, bringing with it transplants like a 6-foot-long otter, an eagle with talons as big as grizzly bear claws, and a snake so fearsome that it garnered its own action movie. The giant river otter, harpy eagle, and anaconda are just a few of the 600 new animal residents at the Miami Metro Zoo, which opens a new permanent exhibit, Amazon and Beyond, on Dec. 6.

Head to the center of the 27-acre, $50-million exhibit to find the Fiesta Plaza, a tribute to Central and South American history. The area contains artifacts like old canoes used by the ancient Mesoamericans, as well as children’s play spaces filled with water fountains, climbable sculptures, and stages for live theater performances. From there, you can choose which of three forest-themed environments you want to explore—or which creepy-crawlies to see first.

The Amazon Forest contains a variety of intimidating creatures—from freshwater stingrays to giant snakes to 1,000-pound crocodiles—while the Atlantic Forest offers gentler fare like tiny, fruit-eating golden lion tamarins. Our favorite, the Cloud Forest, houses flora and fauna from higher, cooler climates, such as hummingbirds, tree frogs, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, and Mexican red-legged tarantulas. Admission costs $16 for adults and $12 for kids. The tarantula-induced goose bumps come free of charge.

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At the exhibit, you can learn more about the Amazon, the largest rainforest on Earth. (How large? The Amazon River Basin could just about cover the continental United States.) Click here to brush up on your rainforest facts, including your Amazon history.

Stingrays and tarantulas weren’t the only creatures uprooted for the exhibit: A pair of jaguars that had been living at the Miami Metro Zoo’s quarantine facility since their arrival in 2007 were moved to the Amazon and Beyond exhibit in November. Read more about the transfer here.

Do you know the difference between a tapir and a capybara? Can you identify the animal that can rotate its head 180 degrees? Get a crash course on the animals of the Amazon by taking a quick quiz.