CHALLENGE: Create an interesting exhibit with a "boring" animal!

The last Lanceloated Jay I saw was in the Murree Hills of Pakistan in 1978 .

 

Here in Brazil there's a lot of stingless bee species and it's as easy and cheap to set beehives for them as for Apis bees, except a) they're native species (people often forget that Apis are mostly invasive when "educating" about how they're important for the "plant$", although they still important and not as bad as some other invasive species out there) and b) people can actually get close to them (some of the species will at maximum try to enter your orifices and get stuck in your hair if you get too close, which is not the case of the Tetragonisca angustula established in the lower trunk of a tree that kids are climbing all the time from one of my city's local parks). A enclosureless exhibit with natural-looking beehives (this kind of bees establish themselves inside of tree trunks), little windows to show how they stock their honey in small pots rather than in honeycombs and etc could inspire local people to protect the (right) bees and show that meliponiculture actually exists.

 

A walk-through tunnel area for passerine fish (anchovies, sardines, menhaden, etc.)

 

It's the first time that I've seen calling the Clupeiforms as "passerines". But that's would be not a surprise if it's done by modern taxonomists, they're very able to lumpo Passeriformes and Clupeiformes in a single order
Anyway I don't find clupeiforms as boring! They're rarely exhibited at aquaria (most are pelagic + planctivore and thus difficult to keep in captivity), and that alone makes them very interesting. Plus the way of coordinate schools they form is fascinating!

 

Well, I don't think the average aquarium visitor has the same tastes as a Zoochatter.

 

Monterey Bay Aquarium does this really nicely with sardines, mackerel and anchovies. Actually less of a tunnel but still a really cool exhibit for 'boring' species

 

I believe the Aquarium of the Bay has a walk-through tunnel with a school of passerine fish.

 

Why do you keep calling them that?

 

I call them that because they're like the small birds of the fish world. They are in huge groups and have a flight response.

 

In 2013 Discovery Cove had a large school of sardines in their snorkeling pool. I watched them scatter as a massive Southern Stingray swam through the middle which was really cool.

~Thylo

 

A kind of interesting exhibit for a boring species could be an underwater view for tigers for seeing them swimming.

 

Bronx has underwater viewing in their Malayan Tiger enclosure.

~Thylo