Visitors can spot giraffes, rhinos, zebras, ostrich and many more. Apart from this, there is a petting area for kids, a sweet shop, a souvenir shop, and a restaurant. The best part about this place is that visitors get to feed animals while on the African safari. Visiting Austin wildlife park is one of the best things to do to see some wildlife but to have a closer experience you must visit Austin Zoo. Among many other destinations, Austin zoo is one of the most visited places in the city by tourists from around the world.
You, of course, get to see and spot some of the most magnificent and exotic animals here but other than that you also get to learn a lot about them. The zoo is home to more than animals of different species like Bengal tiger, African Lions, porcupines, 3 different species of monkeys, all add to the Austin wildlife. You can visit the zoo and make a day out of it by picnicking here. To have an even closer experience with the animals, there is a feeding room.
You may also shop from the gift shop from where things like apparel, souvenirs, etc can be bought. Though famous for hiking and trailing, Colorado River Park Wildlife Sanctuary is another famous place in Austin which is often visited by tourists. Since this is a preserve, there is equivalent to no infrastructure in this area including public toilets.
The place is home to several endangered species that can be spotted here if you are lucky. Hence stay shush and keep your eyes wide and open.
Spread over acres of land, Zilker Nature Preserve is a serene and blissful place to spend some time outdoors with mother nature. There is a hiking trail that you can go to that not many people are aware of. This preserve is where you can spot some bobcats and get some knowledge from the educational exhibits here.
You can also come across dinosaur pits here. Read More. During these uncertain times, please keep safety in mind and consider adding destinations to your bucket list to visit at a later date.
Yes, you read that correctly. Antelopes were spotted in Lakeway in June Locals were shocked to see this exotic animal strolling through yards and neighborhoods. It is speculated that the antelopes escaped from a nearby exotic animal center. You're more likely to encounter a bobcat than an antelope in Central Texas, so you'll want to keep your eyes peeled when venturing through the hill country. These big cats are most active in January and February, and they occasionally make their way into people's yards.
Beware of these prickly animals. North American Porcupines have a history of attacking dogs and cats. Since many of the mammals on the Preserve are nocturnal, it is difficult to find species while hiking along the trail.
Depending on the time of day, keep an eye out for fox squirrels in the trees as well as other diurnal and crepuscular species. Given the difficulty of actually seeing mammals on the Preserve, one of the best ways to identify and learn about the behavior and habitat of mammals is by looking for signs such as tracks and scats droppings.
The signs left by mammals can often tell an interesting story. Was the animal fleeing from a predator? Does the scat contain seeds and berries, or perhaps fur and feathers? Conservation Status: The conservation status of Texas cave scorpions has not yet been assessed. Population Threats: Caves and karst were formed and are continually being changed by a combination of geologic processes. Interference with these processes changes the fundamental characteristics of the cave environment, often resulting in species endangerment and destruction of cave resources.
Diet: Feeds on cave crickets. Range: The eyed click beetle is widespread in eastern North America, ranging from the Atlantic seaboard as far north as Quebec to Florida and west to Texas and South Dakota. Conservation Status: No particular conservation status is assigned to this species. Population Threats: No specific threats are noted, but the species is vulnerable to widespread pesticide application.
Diet: Adults may take plant juices and nectar. Larvae are ferocious eaters that dine on many other noxious larvae, including those of wood-boring beetles, flies, and other undesirable pests. Range: Central and southwestern Texas and adjacent northeastern Mexico, south to San Luis Potosi and Hidalgo with additional isolated populations in Mexico.
Other species of alligator lizards, formerly regarded as being part of this species, occur farther west and south in Mexico. Conservation Status: Listed as a species of little conservation concern, the Texas alligator lizard occurs within several protected areas. No direct conservation measures are currently considered necessary for this species as a whole.
Population Threats: Aside from localized habitat degradation, no major threats to this species have been identified. Alligator lizards are sometimes persecuted because people mistakenly think they are venomous. Diet: The Texas alligator lizard feeds on insects, spiders, and small vertebrates including snakes, other lizards, and newborn rodents and birds.
Conservation Status: Firefly numbers are believed to be declining, at least in Texas. While concern about the conservation status of these species has not yet been noted, a number of climatic and human-mediated causes are attributed to the reduction in their numbers. Population Threats: Most firefly species thrive as larvae in rotting wood and forest litter along the edges of ponds and streams.
They tend to live out their lives where they were born. Habitat development, wherein landscapes are converted into environments deemed more suitable for human occupation, reduces the amount of moist microhabitat available to fireflies.
Drought accelerates this decline, as even undeveloped areas dry up and become less suited for these fascinating insects. Human light pollution is also believed to interrupt firefly flash patterns. Light from homes, cars, stores, and streetlights may all make it difficult for fireflies to signal each other during mating—meaning fewer firefly larvae are born next season.
Some other theories are that fire ants are at least partly to blame because they can destroy them lightning bugs in the early development stages. Pesticides may also be to blame, but research would be needed for definitive proof. Diet: Larvae prey on small animals, including snails; adults do not feed. Range: The giant walkingstick is primarily found in the south-central U. Population Threats: None identified.
Pesticides are always a concern. Diet: Both nymphs and adult of this species feed on leaves. Young nymphs feed mainly on understory shrubs. Older nymphs and adults feed throughout the crown of host plants, which include apple, basswood, birch, dogwood, hackberry, hickory, locust, oak, pecan and wild cherry.
Walkingsticks occasionally defoliate some trees and shrubs. Outbreaks are cyclic. Range: Ground crab spiders are widely distributed in North America. Members of the genus are found nearly worldwide, but are absent in South America. Conservation Status: No conservation status has been assigned to these species.
Their numbers are considered stable. Population Threats: No specific threats have been identified for these species but, as animals that are wholly dependent upon insect prey, they are vulnerable to both the direct and indirect effects of indiscriminate pesticide use.
Diet: Crab spiders feed on flies, mosquitoes, moths, and other arthropod pests. Although they eat a few bees and other spiders, they are considered beneficial to humans. Range: Only breeds in the US and northern Mexico. On the east coast, the species occurs from southern New Jersey to Florida, in the central states it ranges from northern Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, in the west it occurs in southern California, southern Nevada, most of Arizona and parts of New Mexico.
The wintering range is surprisingly extensive, from southern Mexico to Bolivia and Brazil. Migrates north and south on a broad front, with some crossing Gulf of Mexico while others of the species travel overland. Conservation Status: Numbers have declined sharply along the lower Colorado River and in a few other localities. Still remains common and widespread in other areas. Population Threats: In areas where populations have declined it has been due to the rapid conversion of riverside forest to agriculture and other uses.
Diet: Feeds mostly on insects, but will rely on some berries and small fruits at times. Diet in summer is mainly insects. It is often noted feeding on bees and wasps, but also eats many beetles, cicadas, caterpillars, and grasshoppers. Eats some spiders. It is also reported in central Mexico and the Caribbean. Conservation Status: Populations of this butterfly are considered to be secure globally, although it may be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery.
This species is especially common in Ohio, Kentucky and eastern Indiana. Population Threats: No specific threats have been identified for this species. Diet: Adult question marks take fluids from soil, rotting fruit, feces, and carrion. They seldom, if ever, take nectar. Caterpillars feed on the leaves of host plants, which include nettle, false nettle, elms, hackberry, and Japanese hops.
Populations of bobwhite subspecies also exist on islands in the Caribbean. Conservation Status: Considered near-threatened, the northern bobwhite has disappeared from much of the northern part of its range, and has declined seriously even in more southern areas—especially the southeastern US. Population Threats: The causes for the decline in bobwhites are not easily understood.
At the core of the threats to this species is the loss of quail habitat which, in Texas, is significant. The conversion of prairies, savanna, shrubland and woodlands to commercial and residential uses, cropland cultivation, and overgrazing have all greatly decreased the amount of lands viewed as sustainable for bobwhites. Diet: The northern bobwhite is a seed-eater, and prefers to consume seeds found on forbs and grasses during the fall and winter months.
Range: The brown recluse spider is found throughout the south central and midwestern United States, from eastern Texas to western Georgia and north to southern Illinois. Conservation Status: Not yet evaluated. Conservation Status: Not assessed at this time. This can be attributed to competition for food with the invasive red imported fire ant and the Argentine ant. Their decline of the red harvester ant has affected many native species, especially those for which it is a chief source of food, such as the Texas horned lizard.
Harvester ants may also scavenge dead insects. Population Threats: The abundance of this snake in Texas has reportedly declined as a result of the invasion of fire ants. Larvae, nymphs and eggs of soft-bodied insects are also consumed.
Range: The southern black widow spider ranges as far north as southern New York, as far south as Florida, and as far west as Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. It has also been found in California and parts of southern Canada.
Population Threats: Nothing specific. Widespread pesticide use affects both this species and its prey. Diet: Black widows typically prey on a variety of insects, but occasionally they do feed upon other spiders and soft-bodied invertebrates. Range: The giant leopard moth is found from southern Ontario south to Florida and west to Minnesota and Texas.
Population Threats: No specific threats have been identified for giant leopard moths but, as insects whose larvae depend upon weed-like plants for food, this species is at risk from both pesticide and herbicide application. Diet: Like many tiger moths, giant leopard moths do not eat as adults. The larvae are general feeders that consume a variety of broad-leaved plants that are mostly considered to be weeds. Range: There are nine species in the Pediodectes genus of shield-backed katydids, such as the ones that inhabit the Austin area.
Conservation Status: There is no designated conservation status for these shield-backed katydids. Population Threats: No specific threats to shield-backed katydids are noted. However, as insects that depend upon other insects for food, they are very vulnerable to the widespread use of pesticides.
Diet: Some species are active predators of other insects. Many also eat plant material and scavenge dead insects. Conservation Status: The eastern tiger swallowtails are not yet threatened by human impact on their ecosystem.
Population Threats: While adults can be found in any habitat, this species is dependent upon deciduous forests, woodlands, and swamps in order for the caterpillars to survive. Thickets, old fields with wild cherries, parks, or suburban areas with adequate food plants are sometimes suitable as breeding grounds but conversion of wooded habitat to manicured lawns limits the number of suitable breeding sites, and therefore reduces swallowtail butterfly population sizes.
Diet: Caterpillars feed on various plants including wild cherry, magnolia, basswood, tulip tree, birch, ash, cottonwood, mountain ash, and willow. Adults consume the nectar of flowers from a variety of plants including wild cherry and lilac. Milkweed and Joe-Pye Weed are favorites in summer. Range: This species is native only to the United States. Its range extends from New Jersey and Pennsylvania as far south as northern Florida in the east, and as far west as southern Iowa, northeastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, and central Texas.
An isolated population occurs in peninsular Florida. Locally, this species is perhaps threatened in some areas by deforestation, and some populations appear to have been eliminated by residential, industrial, and agricultural development. As an obligate consumer of invertebrates, it is put at risk by widespread pesticide applications.
Diet: Eats only invertebrates, mainly earthworms, slugs and snails. It also consumes small arthropods. Range: Carolina wrens are year-round residents of the southeastern United States. The distribution of this species stretches from the Atlantic coast as far west as Texas, Nebraska, Kansas and eastern Oklahoma.
The species has trickled as far southward as the northeast corner of Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula, as well as parts of Central America. As the global climate has warmed, this species has expanded northward substantially since the late nineteenth century. Conservation Status: There is little concern about the conservation status of the Carolina wren. Population threats: Cold winters with ice and snow can have devastating effects on local Carolina wren populations, but their numbers often recover within a few years.
Diet: Mostly insects, of many kinds. Especially likes to feed on caterpillars, beetles, true bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, and many others.
Also consumes many spiders, some millipedes and snails. Sometimes catches and eats small lizards or tree frogs. Will also eat berries and small fruits especially in winter , and some seeds. Range: There are species of glowworm beetles that inhabit the Western Hemisphere. Of these, 23 species occur in the U. In this particular genus there are ten species— of which seven occur in the southwestern Arizona , central, and eastern United States, and three others occur in Mexico.
Two live in Texas. Conservation Status: No conservation status has been assigned to this poorly studied group of beetles.
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