Zoo Aquarium de Madrid

The Madrid Zoo Aquarium is a 20-hectare (49-acre) zoo and aquarium located in the Casa de Campo in Madrid, Spain. The zoo is owned by the city, but is managed by the international entertainment operator Parques Reunidos. Opened in 1770, it is one of the largest zoos in Spain and one of the few zoos in the world that houses giant pandas.

The zoo is a member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).

History

The first zoo in Madrid was opened in 1770 as the "Casa de Fieras" in Retiro Park, to exhibit animals from the American and Asian provinces, on grounds which still are part of the Parque del Buen Retiro. The new facilities of the Madrid Zoo Aquarium were constructed in 1972 and located in the Casa de Campo.

Facilities

Its exhibits include the zoo, a petting zoo, an aquarium with 2,000,000 l (530,000 US gal) of salt water, a dolphin exhibit, and an aviary. Facilities include several restaurants, a boat tour, and train tour.

Madrid

Madrid (/məˈdrɪd/, Spanish: [maˈðɾid], locally: [maˈðɾiθ, -ˈðɾi]) is a south-western European city, the capital of Spain, and the largest municipality of the Community of Madrid. The population of the city is almost 3.2 million with a metropolitan area population of around 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-largest in the European Union after London and Paris. The city spans a total of 604.3 km² (233.3 sq mi).

The city is located on the Manzanares River in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid (which comprises the city of Madrid, its conurbation and extended suburbs and villages); this community is bordered by the autonomous communities of Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic and cultural centre of Spain. The current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid.

Aquarium

An aquarium (plural: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquatic reptiles such as turtles, and aquatic plants. The term, coined by English naturalist Philip Henry Gosse, combines the Latin root aqua, meaning water, with the suffix -arium, meaning "a place for relating to". The aquarium principle was fully developed in 1850 by the chemist Robert Warington, who explained that plants added to water in a container would give off enough oxygen to support animals, so long as their numbers do not grow too large. The aquarium craze was launched in early Victorian England by Gosse, who created and stocked the first public aquarium at the London Zoo in 1853, and published the first manual, The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea in 1854.

An aquarist owns fish or maintains an aquarium, typically constructed of glass or high-strength acrylic. Cuboid aquaria are also known as fish tanks or simply tanks, while bowl-shaped aquaria are also known as fish bowls. Size can range from a small glass bowl to immense public aquaria. Specialized equipment maintains appropriate water quality and other characteristics suitable for the aquarium's residents.

Casa de Campo

The Casa de Campo (for Spanish: Country House) is the largest urban park situated west of central Madrid, (Spain). It gets its name 'Country House' because it was once a royal hunting estate. Its area is more than 1,750 hectares (6.8 sq mi).

Overview

An amusement park, the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid, and the Madrid Zoo are located inside the park. It is common for families from Madrid to spend days in the park, enjoying the nice weather and looking at the wildlife that may be seen occasionally seen around park with deer, rabbits, and different kinds of birds being the most common.

In 1936–39, during the Spanish Civil War, the front lines of the Siege of Madrid ran through the Casa de Campo, where the Republicans had halted a nationalist offensive in November 1936.

The park can be accessed via the Teleferico, a gondola with pick up point inside the Parque del Oeste on the west end of Madrid. The drop-off point houses a restaurant with an overlook of Madrid, playgrounds (both inside and outside), and access to Casa de Campo's many trails. The trails crisscrossing the park that are great for running, walking, and mountain biking. A lot of the less frequented parts of the park showcase Madrid's natural semi-arid beauty with red soil and scruffy pine trees. The altitude is elevated just like the rest of Madrid with quite a few hills inside the park.

Un día

Un día (pronounced: [un ´dia]; Spanish for "One day") is the fifth studio album of Argentine singer-songwriter Juana Molina. It was first released on October 6, 2008 by Domino Records. Sonically, the album is abstract and consists of layered loops. It received generally positive reviews from music critics.

Track listing

References