Atlanta Botanical Garden: Plan Your Visit

Plan Your Visit

Day Planner

Planning a visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden? Choose an itinerary for recommendations of what to see and do.


Visit with Kids

Visit with Family

Visit at Night

Power Hour at the Garden

Take Your Date

Birdwatching

Critter Tour

Carnivorous Plant Tour

Scavenger Hunt

The Garden for Gardeners

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A Critter Tour at the Atlanta Botanical Garden

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On your next visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, keep an eye out for the many "critters" that make their home throughout the grounds.

Honey Bees: Children's Garden

These bees collect nectar from all over the Atlanta Botanical Garden to make their honey. Look inside the observation hive to see the worker bees waggle dancing to communicate where the best flowers are.

Butterflies: Everywhere

The Atlanta Botanical Garden is an oasis for many butterflies. During the warm months, look for caterpillars munching on leaves and for monarch, swallowtail and cabbage butterflies in the air. The Garden creates a wonderful habitat for butterflies by planting good nectar flowers, like butterfly bush, and host plants, like milkweed and fennel, for hungry caterpillars.

Poison Frogs: Conservatory Lobby Terrariums

Poison dart frogs get their name because in the wild they secrete a poisonous residue from glands just beneath the skin. Tribal hunters rub their arrow tips on the backs of certain species of frogs to coat them with the poison, which in turn becomes a valuable tool for hunting game.

Tokay Geckos: Conservatory Rotunda

Native to Southeast Asia, these relatively large (12") geckos are pale gray with bluish spots. Like many lizards, Tokays can darken or lighten their ground and spot colors to blend better with their background. The Atlanta Botanical Garden's Tokay geckos are usually high on the walls of the Conservatory.

Wood Turtles: Conservatory Rotunda

Wood Turtles are equally comfortable in and out of water. They eat just about anything, from leaves and veggies to meat. They are native to Central America, where they live near streams.

Quail: Conservatory Rotunda

There are five species of quail living in the Conservatory. They eat insects, quail chow and some of the plants. Male quails make loud calls to mark their territories.

Saffron Finches: Conservatory Rotunda

Male Saffron finches have a brilliant yellow color. The females are much paler in color than the males. Saffron finches are found in nature from Colombia south to Venezuela.

Snapping Turtles: Conservatory Waterfall Pond

Snapping turtles prefer quiet, muddy water. They spend most of their time submerged, surfacing periodically to breathe. They feed on fish and other aquatic animals as well as on vegetation and decaying matter; they are valuable scavengers.

Red-Eared Slider Turtles: Fuqua Orchid Center

These turtles live in the Orchid Center ponds. They stay in the water almost all the time, except when moving from one pond to another or basking in the sunlight.