Big things come in small packages: open year-round, this wonderful 6.5 acre zoo in the midst of verdant Big Apple refuge Central Park, just a few steps from Fifth Avenue, is no exception to this rule! What had its humble origins as a menagerie of gifted and donated exotic animals and pets in the mid-1800s soon evolved into a full-fledged, properly housed zoo. As its population grew and times changed, old-fashioned accommodations saw much-needed upgrades, and at present, the resident creatures happily thrive, play and court visitors to their wonderful naturalistic habitats with amusing daily feeding and enrichment routines and antics. Would you have believed – if you hadn’t read it here – there exists a Sea Lion Pool in full view of Midtown Manhattan, or that the Central Park Zoo is home to one of the most important collections of rare snow leopards in North America? Walk through a rainforest habitat, listen to a lemur’s territorial declarations and marvel at the Red Bird of Paradise’s elegant “Butterfly Dance”; observe an adorable Red Panda foraging for food, tally red-bellied turtles poking about in the wetlands and explore a tiny, rocky island populated by Snow Monkeys! Take in a 4D flick, grab your place at the table at a Penguin fish feed, catch silly sea lions doing what they do best, or giggle and gawk at goofy tufted puffins. Pop by the delightful Dancing Crane Café for a little lunch; when the mercury rises, the Central Garden offers visitors a fabulous respite from that infamous NYC heat – be sure to stop and smell the gorgeous heirloom roses!