For centuries, the only way to see a polar bear and a giraffe on the same day was to ride a saddled giraffe all the way to the Arctic Circle. Witness how these climatological opposites can coexist and hopefully team up to raise each other's babies with today's Groupon: for $8, you get one adult and one child admission to El Paso Zoo (up to a $16 value). Children age 2 and younger are admitted free.

A member of the conservation-oriented Association of Zoos and Aquariums, El Paso Zoo fashions a multispecies haven to educate and entertain visitors about the earth's amazing array of wildlife. Throughout a 35-acre sanctuary, the 220 species form a cross-section of four continents' animal life, illustrating a breadth of environmental adaptations as varied as the culinary inspirations found in a single packet of Combos. Parent-and-child duos can peruse animalia offerings via the African Star Express train, a red locomotion engine cruising through the lion, giraffe, and meerkat-lined lanes of the African exhibit. The special animal encounters sprinkled throughout the day give patrons a close-up look at the zoo's troupe of mammoth animals, encouraging interspecies friendship as well as opportunities to find out which elephant stole your sunglasses.