The Dallas World Aquarium is an aquarium

Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

 and zoo

Zoo

A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....

 located in West End Historic District of downtown

Downtown Dallas

Downtown Dallas is the Central Business District in Dallas, Texas USA, located in the geographic center of the city. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally been defined as bounded by the downtown freeway loop: bounded on the east by I-345 Downtown Dallas is the Central Business District...

 Dallas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The zoo aids conservation and education by housing many animals that are threatened or endangered as part of a cooperative breeding program with other zoos around the world.

The Dallas World Aquarium has been an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Association of Zoos and Aquariums

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums was founded in 1924 and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation.The AZA headquarters is located in Silver...

 (AZA) since 1997, and is a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums

World Association of Zoos and Aquariums

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums is the "umbrella" organisation for the world zoo and aquarium community. Its mission is to provide leadership and support for zoos, aquariums, and partner organizations of the world in animal care and welfare, conservation of biodiversity, environmental...

 (WAZA).

History

The Dallas World Aquarium was opened in October 1992 in an old 1924 warehouse that had been gutted and rebuilt on the inside. In 1997, the The Orinoco - Secrets of the River opened in an adjacent warehouse that had been similarly gutted and transformed, and the alley between the two buildings became the divide between freshwater and saltwater exhibits. In May 2000 the aquarium purchased a vacant lot behind the original warehouse for its first new construction, the Mundo Maya exhibit, which opened in August 2004.

Exhibits

The upper level of the aquarium is an artificial reproduction of the Orinoco

Orinoco

The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes called the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3% of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia...

 Rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

. The rainforest is an aviary

Aviary

An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds. Unlike cages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages...

, with birds such as scarlet ibis

Scarlet Ibis

The Scarlet Ibis is a species of ibis that inhabits tropical South America and also Trinidad and Tobago. It is the national bird of Trinidad and is featured on the Trinidad and Tobago coat of arms along with Tobago's national bird, the Rufous-vented Chachalaca.-Taxonomy:This species is very...

 and toucans flying freely. As you wind your way through the rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

, you see the only public display of three-toed sloths in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, plus animals such as electric eels, caecilians, tamarins, poison dart frogs, orinoco crocodiles

Orinoco Crocodile

The Orinoco crocodile, Crocodylus intermedius, is a critically endangered crocodile found in freshwater in northern South America, in particular the Orinoco River. Typical measurements for adults range from 3 to 4.8 m . Typical weight for mature females is 200 kg and 380 kg for males...

, and vampire bats.

The lower level houses aquariums featuring fish, sea anemones, coral

Coral

Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...

, jellyfish

Jellyfish

Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers to any free-swimming jellyfish stages in the phylum Cnidaria...

, and other sea animals from around the world. The 10 main tanks feature the aquatic life of Japan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, British Columbia, the Bahamas, Fiji, Palau, Southern Australia, Lord Howe Island, and the Solomon Islands. Other tanks on display include a large tank with a 40 feet (12.2 m) tunnel where visitors can observe fish of the continental shelf

Continental shelf

The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain. Much of the shelf was exposed during glacial periods, but is now submerged under relatively shallow seas and gulfs, and was similarly submerged during other interglacial periods. The continental margin,...

swimming around them.

Education

The aquarium is also part of a joint initiative between local companies and corporations and the Dallas Public School district. Many of the Aquarium's employees are also full-time students at the School of Business & Management at the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet High School. This joint venture as part of a work-study program by the school, emphasizes real world business techniques and practices in order to teach the upcoming generation on maintaining and running the day to day operations of one of the city's largest and most well-known attractions.