The Animals
Every animal here arrived the same way: through a rescue carried out with the environmental authorities, or as a donation from someone who could no longer care for it. None of them was collected for display.
What you will see
These are on the tour every day:
- Crocodiles of many sizes, both species
- Wild cats: ocelot and tigrillo
- White-tailed deer
- Parrots and macaws
- Xoloitzcuintles
- Iguanas
- Turtles
- The herpetarium, with a variety of snakes
Beyond that, animal welfare comes before exhibition, so a particular animal may not be out on the day you visit.
The visit does not depend on it. The guided tour is built around how these animals live and the habitat they belong to, not around ticking species off a list.
What lives here
Crocodiles
- River crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)
- Swamp crocodile
- Young crocodiles hatched here at Croco Cun
Lizards
- Iguanas
- Monitor lizards (Varanus)
- Beaded lizard (Heloderma)
Snakes
- Boa constrictors
- Pythons
- Rattlesnakes
- Nauyaca (fer-de-lance)
- Vine snake
Turtles
- Alligator snapping turtle
- Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
- Yellow-bellied slider (Trachemys scripta scripta)
- Mud turtles (Kinosternon)
Mammals
- Ocelot
- Tigrillo, a small spotted wildcat
- White-tailed deer
- Coatis
Birds
- Parrots and macaws of several species (Psittacidae)
- A peacock, which roams the grounds freely
Where they come from
Most of the list above is Mexican wildlife. The boa, the rattlesnake, the nauyaca, the vine snake, the iguanas, the deer, the coatis, the ocelot, the tigrillo and both crocodiles live wild in this country, and several of them in this very jungle.
The python, the monitor lizard and the peacock do not. They are not American animals at all: they come from Africa and Asia. One of those does not walk out of the jungle at Puerto Morelos, which makes them the clearest example of how an animal ends up here: a home that could no longer keep it, or a seizure by the authorities.
The Xoloitzcuintle
The Mexican hairless dog keeps us company too. In the old traditions it walks beside the souls of the dead on their way to Xibalba, the underworld.
Most visitors now recognise it from the animated film Coco.
The spider monkeys are not ours
A wild troop of spider monkeys still lives around the zoo. They are not an exhibit, nothing encloses them, and no visit can promise you will see them.
We monitor the troop and supplement what they find to eat. Urban growth has squeezed the forest they depend on, and the pressure on them is heavy.