The city has grown around the gardens, which opened in 1864, and though they're watched over by skyscrapers on most sides, a visit to them is still a delightful escape. Paths lined with semitropical trees, shrubs, and flowers wind through cramped zoo enclosures. Sloths, orangutans, pink flamingoes, and a depressed-looking black jaguar are among the 30 represented species. Albany Road slices the park in half: jaguars, birds, and the greenhouse are on the eastern side, the other animals are to the west. A pedestrian underpass connects the two sides. In the very early morning the elderly people practicing tai chi chuan here are inspiring.
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