The Amazing Wildlife of Las Vegas

Wildlife Habitat at The Flamingo Las Vegas

Bugsy Siegel’s landmark casino has changed dramatically over the years, but in 1995 the owners brought back the namesake birds, the pink Chilean flamingos. They frolic along with endangered African penguins and various fowl around freshwater pools where colorful koi swim with 25-pound green-gray grass carp and yellow albino channel catfish. It’s free and open to the public at all hours.

Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay

Nevada’s only facility accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association boasts a 95,000-square-foot, two-million-gallon saltwater tank that houses more than 2,500 colorful fish and reptiles including nearly a dozen different shark species.

Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand

As many as five African lions at a time loll about inside a 35-foot-tall glass enclosure that contains elaborate mountainous desert scenery. Visitors walk through a glass tunnel that leads you to a gift shop.

Caesars Aquarium

A 50,000-gallon horseshoe-shaped saltwater tank at the north end of the Forum Shops mall houses more than 500 colorful fish of more than 100 species including zebra sharks and cow-nose rays. Behind-the-scenes tours of the fish facilities are conducted at 1:15 and 5:15 p.m. weekdays. Also, fish handlers dive into the main aquarium to feed the sea creatures at 3:15 and 7:15 p.m.

Royal White Tiger Habitat

At the south entrance to the Mirage Hotel-Casino, there’s a free display that usually contains a few of illusionist duo Siegfried & Roy’s white tigers. A decade-old informational video narrated by the performers shows them wrestling and playing with tigers on their Vegas estate.

Tournament of Kings

This rousing, twice-nightly 90-minute dinner-theater production show at the Excalibur Hotel Casino features a half-dozen equestrian breeds as key players in a drama that has something to do with avenging the death of King Arthur.

Secret Garden of Siegfried & Roy (at the Mirage)

The illusionist duo, off the stage since a 2003 tiger mauling that left Roy permanently disabled, are well-respected conservationists, and here visitors get a glimpse of their signature royal white tigers they used to use in their show as well as white lions of Timbavati, Bengal tigers, panthers, an Asian elephant and snow leopards. Most are endangered or threatened in the wild.

The Tank

A purely entertainment attraction, the Golden Nugget’s new $35 million pool has at its center a 200,000-gallon saltwater tank containing 16 species of sharks and 250 types of fish—all with a waterslide running through it.

Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage

Four saltwater pools that combine for three million gallons are home to, at present, six Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. The newest is a calf born in June 2007 and named Sgt. Pepper.

• Login or register to post comments