Inside a gutted 1924 warehouse in the West End Historic District, the Dallas World Aquarium has been open since October 1992. This for-profit aquarium and zoo opened in October 1992 inside an old 1924 warehouse that was gutted and rebuilt on the inside. From the start it has tied conservation and education to display, housing many animals that are threatened or endangered as part of a cooperative breeding program with other zoos around the world.
The aquarium has been an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums since 1997 and is also a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In 1997 The Orinoco—Secrets of the River—opened in an adjacent warehouse, similarly gutted and transformed, and the alley between the two buildings became the divide between freshwater and saltwater exhibits. Behind the original warehouse a vacant lot purchased in May 2000 led to the Mundo Maya exhibit, which opened in August 2004.
The upper level reproduces a rainforest canopy with several aviaries and primate enclosures in the Orinoco section. The complex has also drawn scrutiny: in 2015 Ben Crair of the New Republic wrote an exposé exposing the darker side of the zoo. Your path from here crosses the alley dividing freshwater from saltwater, toward the rainforest canopy of the Orinoco.