Can I experience a bit of the amazon from Rio?

I want to experience a bit of Brazil's wildlife, can I from just being at Rio? Are there any Zoos or aviaries? Please be mature in your answers.

Yes, you can visit our Zoo we call it 'Quinta da Boa Vista'. It is a museum and a Zoo and a good place for a picnic with lake and grass lol. Tijuca florest is a beautiful place but animals are free and you don't see when you want, you know. You should visit both :) You are welcome if you decide visit us.

Rio has two completely different sides - one is affluent with all the tourists; the other is a level of poverty you really don't want to see.

Of course there are zoos but I doubt it will give you the experience you are looking for. remember, to them, an exotic foreign bird is a blue jay, robin, or cardinal.

So Cool!

I have attached a link to a review of the Rio Zoo. The reviewer indicates that:

"Most interesting, as in all the other Brazilian zoos, are the rarely-seen native species, and of these Rio Zoo shows at least two for which a search in any European collection would be absolutely fruitless: a single female red-backed saki (Chiropotes satanas chiropotes), which belongs to the genus of the bearded sakis, members of which (but of different species/subspecies) are housed only at Cologne and Mulhouse Zoos, as well as a pair of dusky titis (Callicebus moloch ssp.), a species related to the red titi (Callicebus cupreus) of which a trio lives at Berlin Zoo. Rio's primate collection also includes a group of the yellow-throated capuchin (Cebus apella xanthosternos), a very rare subspecies of the ordinary brown capuchin, for which a captive-breeding project was initiated by the Rio de Janeiro Primate Centre. From there animals have already been sent to Mulhouse, Z眉rich and Chester Zoos. Among the Callitrichidae, noteworthy species are pied tamarins (Saguinus b. bicolor), black red-handed tamarins (Saguinus midas niger) and moustached tamarins of the subspecies S. m. pileatus. All these animals are kept in suitable, but rather unappealing, enclosures of the cage type, except for the capuchins, which live on a rock descending below the visitors' level into a dry moat. The homes for the two ape species, though, look quite different. Orang-utans and chimpanzees are housed in a row of dry-moated, meadow-like enclosures, and, judging by the crowds of visitors gathering in front of them, are the greatest attraction for the people of Rio."

You can experience the Amazon to an extent. You don't have to travel far out of the Zona Sul or Centro Rio to get a real view of the Amazon, but from the Cristo Redentor, you can see a bit and it's definitely a WONDERFUL experience.

You can go to Tijuca Forest, I've been there for a walk, it's amazing!

Yes, definitely! Brasil is like no other country. Simply AMAZING

Right in the heart of the Zona Sul (south zone which is where most tourists stay) there is Tijuca forest which borders the Lagoa de Freitas. (lagoon that borders Ipanema and Leblon) You can hike up to the peaks (where people hand glide) and will probably see monkeys and the like. On the other side of the lagoon is the Parque da Catacumba which has waterfalls and little monkeys everywhere. That said, in Rio the vegetation is called Mata Atlantica and is not the same type that you would see in the Amazon. You'll still feel like you're seeing a different type of vegetation than you would at home though.