Beijing Aquarium

Beijing Aquarium (Beijing Haiyangguan - Beijing Haiyangguan - Beijing Aquarium) is located in the northern part of the zoo near the northern gate. It was opened to the public in 1999. When you enter the Beijing Zoo through this gate, you see a huge building in the form of a blue and white shell in an ocean of trees and flowers. This is Beijing Aquarium. It covers an area of 12 hectares and is the largest ground aquarium in the world. It presents more than 1000 species of marine and river inhabitants.

The aquarium is divided into seven parts:

Adventure in the Jungle (Rainforest Adventure)

The Jungle Adventure is about winding trails, falling waterfalls, gurgling streams and architectural details that make visitors feel like they’ve fallen into the Amazon jungle. There are 22 aquariums in this area, which contain about 100 different species of river fish collected along the rivers of the rainforest. Among them are the parrotfish, elephant seal, giant salamander and seaworms.

Colorful Beach (Colorful Beach)

After the jungle, you will arrive at Colored Beach. This is an imitation of a 48-meter coastline. Here you can touch sea urchins, anemones, starfish, hermit crabs and horseshoe crabs.

Shark Harbour (Shark Wharf)

Shark Harbor is a unique hall among its kind. Here sharks can be seen in open water. Also here you can watch how scuba divers swim among sharks, feed them and perform dances with sharks. There is an opportunity to do all this yourself under the guidance of a scuba coach.

Ancient Chinese Sturgeon Hall (Rare Chinese Sturgeon Hall)

As the name suggests, the Hall of Ancient Chinese Sturgeons is home to unique Chinese sturgeons. This hall recreates the habitat of a Chinese sturgeon on the Yangtze River. These fish lived in the time of the dinosaurs in the Cretaceous period. Dinosaurs disappeared, and sturgeons, thanks to their extraordinary survivability, still exist today. They are called the water giant panda. In this room, you can watch scuba divers feed these huge freshwaters.

Wonders of Coral Reefs (Wonders of Coral Reefs)

The next area is the Wonders of Coral Reefs. It is a tunnel complex of 33 aquariums featuring bright fish from the seas around the world. You start in the South China Sea, pass the western Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and end in the Atlantic. Among this variety, you can see cichlids from California, shellfish and other charming fish that calmly swim overhead as you walk through the tunnel.

Whales and Dolphins Hall (Whales and Dolphin Hall)

In the Hall of Whales and Dolphins, killer whales, sea lions and dolphins swim with each other. Visitors can watch them through two windows in the wall.

Marine Theater - Marine Mammal Pavilion

This theater seats 3,000 spectators and is a place for performances with the participation of marine animals. Here, trained sea lions parody clumsy seals and dance with trainers, and smart dolphins perform ballet, jump out of the water to get a ball suspended in the air and paint abstract pictures. Most impressive is when two dolphins lift a trainer to a high altitude on their noses, as if launching a rocket.