What if you are entering mexico via Cancun and you are wondering is there any animal collection worth checking out ? The answer is Xcaret theme park, which is a unique varied place. It was only created in 1990 and developed a planned theme park with different elements. There are some interesting mayan ruins to see, also subterranean river tours, scuba diving tours, a nice sunny beach,various shows with mariachis and the like, a recreated agave hacienda ( the source of tequila and mezcal) but also a very interesting native animal collection with good conservation programs. It should be mentioned that xcaret is an hour away from cancun and that the admission price is very expensive by mexican standards. But the food is quite good and you will be supporting various good conservation programs.
I went with my family to celebrate the mayan batun renewal ( yes the so called end of the world), the park was full, but very manageable.
Ok, now back to the animal collection. When you enter, first you can pass into the regional fauna area which is mostly somewhat traditional bird aviaries with some small islands. There are various flamingo breeding groups in the park and here is the first. Also keel billed toucans, collared aracaris, ocellated turkeys, king vultures. great currasows, tree ducks and brown pelicans. An interesting group of mexican parrots in breeding groups are here amazona finschi, amazona farinosa, amazona xantholora, amazona oratrix.
There also various military macaws. But the jewel of xcaret is there breeding program for scarlet macaws which has breed over 100 birds in a year. They even have a guiness world record plaque to prove it. This year 27 scarelet macaws from xcaret were released in the Palenque archeological and ecological area in chiapas, where the macaws were eliminated due to the illegal pet trade. The WCS provided techinical assitance.
In this area there are various reptiles. american crocodile, wood turtles, slider turtle. There is only 1 mammal species here but it is a special one.
There are 3 mexican brocket deer of the grey yucatan subspecies and i have never seen them anywhere else.
You return back to the main path. The native vegatation is well preserved and carefull observation will reveal many regional fauna that are free ranging. Spiny tailed iguanas are abundant, also turtle doves, yucatan jay, chacalacas and an occasional aguti maybe seen. There are variuos nice moated islands for mammals. Primates here are the yucatan subspecies of the mexican spider monkey and mexican black howler monkeys. An active grison is rotated with a pair of raccoon, hope you see the grison. There is a small herd of white tail deer. A very nice large space for a pair of baird´s tapir. Next, two very large moated areas, one for 2 pumas and the other for a pair of jaguars, spotted amd melanistic.
Next is manatee lagoon, a very nice space for 3 manatees, a male and female with a juvenile born here. Manatees are endangered in Mexico and only two animal collections hold and breed them, Xcaret and the veracruz aquarium. Outside pools hold cow stingrays and nurse sharks. Unfortunately there are ugly swim with the dolphins pools so typical of Mexican resorts. No animal collection is perfect, but it is sad to find that at xcaret the dolphins get the worst part.
There is a small but interesting salt water aquarium with 3 jellyfish species, atlantic spadefish, french grunt, green moray, parrotfish, trunkfish. queen angelfish, tarpon, porcupinefish, porkfish, grey angelfish, triggerfish, cardinalfish and diverse crusteacens, among other marine specimens. After this there is a spendid area for sea turtles of two species, green sea turtles and hawksbill turtles. Both species nest at xcaret and also the surronding area of Quintana Roo. Variuos pools hold the hatchlings which are held here until they can be released into the ocean as older animals with better possiblities of survival. Various large nice pools with sea turtles of diffrenet sizes with a helpfull Xcaret biologist on hand to give information. After a lovely sea turtle lagoon with very large turtles that cannot be released into the sea for different reasons. A very nice conservation program here.
There was also a butterfly house but i ran out of time to see it.
I went with my family to celebrate the mayan batun renewal ( yes the so called end of the world), the park was full, but very manageable.
Ok, now back to the animal collection. When you enter, first you can pass into the regional fauna area which is mostly somewhat traditional bird aviaries with some small islands. There are various flamingo breeding groups in the park and here is the first. Also keel billed toucans, collared aracaris, ocellated turkeys, king vultures. great currasows, tree ducks and brown pelicans. An interesting group of mexican parrots in breeding groups are here amazona finschi, amazona farinosa, amazona xantholora, amazona oratrix.
There also various military macaws. But the jewel of xcaret is there breeding program for scarlet macaws which has breed over 100 birds in a year. They even have a guiness world record plaque to prove it. This year 27 scarelet macaws from xcaret were released in the Palenque archeological and ecological area in chiapas, where the macaws were eliminated due to the illegal pet trade. The WCS provided techinical assitance.
In this area there are various reptiles. american crocodile, wood turtles, slider turtle. There is only 1 mammal species here but it is a special one.
There are 3 mexican brocket deer of the grey yucatan subspecies and i have never seen them anywhere else.
You return back to the main path. The native vegatation is well preserved and carefull observation will reveal many regional fauna that are free ranging. Spiny tailed iguanas are abundant, also turtle doves, yucatan jay, chacalacas and an occasional aguti maybe seen. There are variuos nice moated islands for mammals. Primates here are the yucatan subspecies of the mexican spider monkey and mexican black howler monkeys. An active grison is rotated with a pair of raccoon, hope you see the grison. There is a small herd of white tail deer. A very nice large space for a pair of baird´s tapir. Next, two very large moated areas, one for 2 pumas and the other for a pair of jaguars, spotted amd melanistic.
Next is manatee lagoon, a very nice space for 3 manatees, a male and female with a juvenile born here. Manatees are endangered in Mexico and only two animal collections hold and breed them, Xcaret and the veracruz aquarium. Outside pools hold cow stingrays and nurse sharks. Unfortunately there are ugly swim with the dolphins pools so typical of Mexican resorts. No animal collection is perfect, but it is sad to find that at xcaret the dolphins get the worst part.
There is a small but interesting salt water aquarium with 3 jellyfish species, atlantic spadefish, french grunt, green moray, parrotfish, trunkfish. queen angelfish, tarpon, porcupinefish, porkfish, grey angelfish, triggerfish, cardinalfish and diverse crusteacens, among other marine specimens. After this there is a spendid area for sea turtles of two species, green sea turtles and hawksbill turtles. Both species nest at xcaret and also the surronding area of Quintana Roo. Variuos pools hold the hatchlings which are held here until they can be released into the ocean as older animals with better possiblities of survival. Various large nice pools with sea turtles of diffrenet sizes with a helpfull Xcaret biologist on hand to give information. After a lovely sea turtle lagoon with very large turtles that cannot be released into the sea for different reasons. A very nice conservation program here.
There was also a butterfly house but i ran out of time to see it.
Last edited:
