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Houston Zoo Going to Houston Zoo's Galapagos Islands

Discussion in 'United States' started by TheImmigrant1, 30 Mar 2023.

  1. TheImmigrant1

    TheImmigrant1 Well-Known Member

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    I am going to the Houston Zoo's Galapagos Islands on opening day next week and plan to take lots of pictures. Is there anything in particular you guys would want me to photograph? I want to document this one-of-a-kind exhibit as best as I can and not miss anything important that might want to be seen.
     
  2. PossumRoach

    PossumRoach Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Can you take pictures of the fish signs?
     
  3. CMP

    CMP Well-Known Member

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    A species list and pictures of signage/enclosures would be greatly appreciated!
     
  4. TheImmigrant1

    TheImmigrant1 Well-Known Member

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    Absolutely, I planned to do this both because fish are very poorly signed most of the time and because identifying species without signage can be a pain in the ass.
     
  5. TheImmigrant1

    TheImmigrant1 Well-Known Member

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    You got it, I'll take as many pictures as possible of the signage and species list the zoo provides.
     
  6. SwampDonkey

    SwampDonkey In the Swamp Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Can you take some overview photos, not just close up pictures of the animals. I like to get an overall feel for how an exhibit complex looks. Thanks!
     
  7. TheImmigrant1

    TheImmigrant1 Well-Known Member

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    Oh absolutely, we've all seen enough pictures of sea lions and tortoises. We need to see these state-of-the-art exhibits in their full glory. It'll have to be until the end though, near closing time. The crowds early in the day will make it impossible to take good exhibit pictures, especially on opening day.
     
  8. pachyderm pro

    pachyderm pro Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Thank you for doing this. It's always great to see a collection of new photos uploaded as soon as a major new exhibit opens, especially for such a highly anticipated development.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 30 Mar 2023
  9. SwampDonkey

    SwampDonkey In the Swamp Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Fantastic, thank you so much!
     
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  10. Blackleopard207

    Blackleopard207 Well-Known Member

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    Also could you maybe get photos of the exhibits from different angles? They don’t need to have the animals in them, but if they are great! Thanks!
     
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  11. TheImmigrant1

    TheImmigrant1 Well-Known Member

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    Oh for sure, too many times I've seen a very interesting exhibit here on ZooChat only to find out the original poster only took a single picture. I'll try my best to get a variety of angles to ensure everyone gets to see every nook and cranny of the Galapagos Islands.
     
  12. Blackleopard207

    Blackleopard207 Well-Known Member

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  13. Corangurilla

    Corangurilla Well-Known Member

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    Pics of the animals, obviously, but especially the Sally Lightfoot Crabs. I think there’s only one picture of a captive one on the entirety of Zoochat. One can never have too many Sally Lightfoot Crab pictures.
     
  14. TheImmigrant1

    TheImmigrant1 Well-Known Member

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    Noted, I'll get as many pics of both the crabs and their exhibit as I can. We cannot let such a rare species go overlooked and unnoticed.
     
  15. Trowaman

    Trowaman Well-Known Member

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    I’m always interested in the future. I’d like to see:
    • Status of old sea lion exhibit over the pond
    • Anything for the birds being developed.
    • flamingo temporary housing in Primates area
    • Never seen wide exterior shots of the existing 2 aviaries at the end of Patanal
    And of course anything else that could be of note: old pigmy hippo exhibit, old Galapagos tortoise area with the ankole cattle.

    thank you so much!!!
     
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  16. elefante

    elefante Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I had no idea there was a Galapagos exhibit anywhere. What's on display? So few of those species are in captivity anywhere.
     
  17. Trowaman

    Trowaman Well-Known Member

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    Don’t get too excited. It’s mainly just a branding name with very similar species on exhibit.
     
  18. King of Komodo Dragons

    King of Komodo Dragons Well-Known Member

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    Don't get excited, it's an exhibit that uses stand ins (California Sea Lions instead of Galapagos Sea Lions, Grand Cayman Blue Iguanas instead of Galapagos Land Iguanas, Humboldt Penguins sinstead of Galapagos Penguins, Common Cownose Rays instead of Golden Cownose Rays etc) the only actual Galapagos species are the tortoises, some fish that aren't exclusive to the islands, and Sally Lightfoot Crabs which are unironically the most exciting thing about the exhibit
     
  19. Swampy

    Swampy Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    The use of a threatened species of iguana, with an incredible conservation success story of its own, as an analogue for morphologically and ecologically actually fairly different iguanids of a different genus really doesn't feel right to me.
     
  20. splendens

    splendens Well-Known Member

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    Sally Lightfoot crabs are not particularly rare in the private trade, they can be found online as they range out of the Galapagos.
     
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