Gomphothere's Zoo Design Thread

It should be finished one day this week. Since this group of exhibits will anchor the main entrance of the zoo, I want it to be really spectacular. The biggest component will be a dolphin complex with six species of dolphins centered around an amphitheater for performances. The main Galapagos building is the most complicated building I've done so far. The islands are a surprisingly complex system of habitats, and each island is different. Depending on the size and height of the islands, each of them can have up to seven habitat zones (see the attachment). The zones have some plants and animals--particularly birds--in common from island to island, plus many islands have plant and animal species or subspecies that are unique (like the Giant Tortoises), so you could end up having literally dozens and dozens of exhibits if you wanted to show all this detail, although I've compromised in a way that I think will show the islands' fauna pretty realistically. If you want some idea of what it will be like, think of a building that will be a cross of two buildings from the Bronx Zoo: Madagascar! and the World of Birds. Also, the complex of exhibits will have about eighty species of birds, and I've needed to research both the nesting habits of each, so I can know whether to house them as pairs or colonies of pairs or something else, and which are or are not compatible with other species. For example, almost all the Darwin's finches are compatible with the others, but the different species of Galapagos mockingbirds won't tolerate each other, and, while most of the mockingbird species live as territorial pairs, one of them nests in groups of pairs. Am getting close to done.

 

Will post my zoo soon. It's going to look a lot like your's!

~ Thaumatibis

 

That sounds fantastic Gompohothere!

 

Here we go with the Galápagos Complex. I am going to post the overall map and description first and then each of the three parts showing their detail. The Galápagos Building and the Dolphin Complex are ready today, but I need to complete the visitor experience description for the Aquarium, so it will follow, with any luck tomorrow.

As I did the research for this exhibit, I was somewhat surprised to find that there does not seem to be any zoo in the world with an exhibit that focuses on the Galápagos (not even in Ecuador itself). That may well be because nowadays Ecuador protects the islands so fiercely that it would as a practical matter be impossible to get specimens for exhibition. I must also tell you that, once you research these islands, you are left with a burning desire to visit and a sick feeling in your stomach about the damage that humans have done in the last century or so. The good news is that most of the species are either in an improving condition or are at least holding their own.

A note about the pictures that I include in the visitor experience descriptions attached as pdfs: My first preference is to use pictures in the public domain. If that isn't available, then I use those subject to the Creative Commons license, almost always from Wikipedia, so this is notice that those provisions might be in effect. Those two categories accounted for all the pictures I used in the Arctic and Antarctic postings. In the case of the Galápagos and the so-called "mini-Galápagos" islands, some of the animals are so rare and/or so rarely photographed that pictures either aren't available at all or I could find only fully copyrighted pictures, in which case I've either noted that there is no picture or provided a link to a copyrighted picture. A fair number of the pictures for Galápagos animals have been borrowed from tourist promotion sites where no copyright to the picture itself was claimed, although there is usually a copyright notice for the page, but I'm presuming that they won't mind their use here for our relatively small community.

Let me know what you think.

 

A. THE GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS: DARWIN’S INSPIRATION. Exhibit will cover the Galápagos the Revillagigedo Islands, sometimes called Mexico’s “min-Galapagos”, along with Clipperton and Cocos Islands, in line with the Tropical Eastern Pacific Aquarium. Concept is volcanic mountains (even to the extent of making building windows look like cave openings), and visitors climb up through the Galapagos building to simulate climbing through the ever higher altitudes of the habitats they are seeing. Exhibits will endeavor to create the feel of the Islands and to demonstrate why the animal wildlife is such strong evidence of evolution. Inspiration for the design includes the Bronx Zoo’s Madagascar! And World of Birds. Signs will also be in Spanish. “Pie in the sky” exhibits would include albatrosses and frigate birds, but these are too pelagic for captivity.

1. Mammals: Hoary Bat (6.6); Galapagos Red Bat (6.6); Galápagos Sea Lion (1.4); Galápagos Fur Seal (1.4); Large Fernandina, Small Fernandina, Santa Fé and Santiago Rice Rats (1.1 ea.).
2. Cetaceans: Common Bottlenose Dolphin (2.8); Pantropical Spotted Dolphin (6.6); Spinner Dolphin (6.6); Short-beaked Common Dolphin (6.6); Long-beaked Common Dolphin (6.6); Risso’s Dolphin (5.5).
3. Birds:
a. Galápagos: White-cheeked Pintail (5.5); American Flamingo (8.8); Galápagos Dove (4.4); Dark-billed Cuckoo (2.2); Galápagos Rail (1.1); Paint-billed Crake (1.1); Common Gallinule (2.2); Lava Gull (1.1); Swallow-tailed Gull (3.4); Galápagos/Dark-rumped Petrel (4.4); Galápagos Blue-footed, Nazca and Red-footed Boobies (4.4 ea.); Brown Noddy (4.4); Galápagos Shearwater (4.4); Wedge-rumped Petrel (4.4); Elliot’s Storm Petrel (4.4); Galápagos Penguin (6.6); Yellow-crowned Night Heron (3.3) ; Lava Heron (2.2); Red-billed Tropicbird (3.3); Flightless Cormorant (6.6); Galápagos Hawk (1.1); Short-eared Owl (1.1); Galápagos Barn Owl (1.1); Galápagos Martin (4.4); Galápagos Flycatcher (3.3); Vermilion Flycatcher (3.3); San Cristóbal/Chatham Mockingbird (1.1); Española/Hood Mockingbird (3.3); Galápagos Mockingbird (2.2); Floreana/Charles Mockingbird (1.1); Yellow Warbler (3.3); Finches: Large Cactus (1.1), Common/Small Cactus (1.1), Mangrove (1.1), Sharp-beaked Ground/Vampire (2.2), Large Ground (1.1), Medium Ground (2.2), Small Ground (2.2), Woodpecker (5.5), Vegetarian (3.3), Large Tree (3.3), Medium Tree (2.2), Small Tree (3.3), Gray Warbler (1.1) and Green Warbler (2.2).
b. Cocos Island: Cocos Cuckoo (1.1); Cocos Flycatcher (1.1); Cocos Finch (1.1).
c. Revillagigedo: Socorro: Socorro Parakeet (6.6); Socorro Yellow-crowned Night Heron (1.1); Socorro Common Ground Dove (2.2); Socorro Dove (1.1); Socorro Mockingbird (1.1); Socorro Tropical Parula (1.1); Socorro Towhee (1.1); and Socorro Wren (1.1).
d. Revillagigedo: Clarión: Clarión Burrowing Owl (1.1); Clarión Mourning Dove (2.2); and Clarión Wren (1.1).
4. Reptiles:
a. Galápagos: Galápagos Green Turtle (1.1); Galápagos Giant Tortoise (three subspecies: saddleback (2.2), intermediate (2.2) and domed (2.2)); Galápagos Leaf-toed Gecko (3.12); Baur’s Leaf-toed Gecko (1.4); Gilbert’s Leaf-toed Gecko (1.4); Santa Fé/Barrington’s Leaf-toed Gecko (1.4); San Cristóbal/Chatham Leaf-toed Gecko (1.4); Marine Iguana (8.16); Santa Fé/Barrington Land Iguana (1.3); Galápagos Land Iguana (1.3); Galápagos Pink Land Iguana (1.2); Española/Hood Lava Lizard (2.2); Galápagos, San Cristóbal, Pinzón, Floreana, Marchena, Santa Cruz, and Santiago Lava Lizards (1.1 ea.); Common Pacific Iguana (1.1); Galápagos Racer (1.1); Galápagos Snake (1.1); Hood Island Snake (1.1); Banded Galápagos/Slevin’s Snake (1.1); Striped Galápagos/Steindachner’s Snake (1.1).
b. Cocos Island: Townsend’s Anole (1.1); Pacific Least Gecko (1.4).
c. Clipperton Island: Clipperton Lizard (1.1).d. Revillagigedo: Socorro: Socorro Island Tree/Socorro Blue Lizard (1.1).
e. Revillagigedo: Clarión: Clarión Island Whipsnake (1.1); Clarión Nightsnake (1.1); Clarión Island Tree Lizard (1.1).
5. Amphibians: No; none native.
6. Fish: See Aquarium
7. Invertebrates: Selection from terrestrial invertebrates, including insects (beetles, butterflies, bees and wasps and grass insects such as grasshoppers), scorpions, spiders, centipedes; see also Aquarium.
8. Aquarium: Tropical Eastern Pacific Coast and Shelf and Eastern Tropical Pelagic and Bathyal Fish and Invertebrates. Coast and Shelf regions: Revillagigedo Islands; Clipperton Island; Mexican Tropical Pacific; Chiapas-Nicaragua; Nicoya; Cocos Island; Panama Bight; Guayaquil; Northern Galápagos Islands; Eastern Galápagos Islands; Western Galápagos Islands. Selection of fish and marine invertebrates, emphasis on the endemics. Seabirds: Northern Blue-footed Booby (4.4); Northeast Pacific Brown Booby (4.4); Red-footed Booby (4.4); Masked Booby (4.4); East Pacific Brown Noddy (4.4); Black Noddy (4.4); Wedge-tailed Shearwater (4.4); Townsend’s Shearwater (4.4); Neotropic Cormorant (4.4); Brown Pelican subspecies murphyi 2.2); American Oystercatcher (1.1); Black Skimmer (4.4); Wilson’s Plover (2.2); White/Fairy Tern (4.4); East Pacific Sooty Tern (4.4); Royal Tern (4.4); Bridled Tern subspecies nelsoni (4.4); Snowy Plover (2.2); Collared Plover (2.2); Black-necked Stilt (2.2).
9. Museum/Multimedia Exhibits:
a. Geology of the Galápagos;
b. Ocean Currents, El Niño, La Nina and the Galápagos;
c. Darwin, Darwin’s Finches and the Galápagos;
d. Dispersal to the Galápagos; and
e. Vulnerable, Threatened, Endangered and Recently Extinct Animals of the Galápagos and Cocos, Clipperton and Revillagigedo Islands.
10. Notes on Animal Exhibits
a. Dolphin pools will be lined w/semi-sound absorbent materials and will be up to 10m. deep.
b. Dolphins will be involved in training or other enrichment activities up to daily but each species will perform just once per week.
c. Dolphin Channel will allow both bringing the dolphins to the performance pool, or isolation pool if needed, and allow inter-species interaction on an occasional basis for enrichment and study purposes.
d. Dolphin pools are warmed/chilled to maintain a temperature on an annual cycle like that of the Galapagos waters, from low 60s to mid-70sF/high teens to mid-20sC.
e. Galápagos building exhibits will use skylights, shades and artificial lights to maintain their natural light cycle (reversed for nocturnal exhibits).
f. Each of the habitat zones will also be maintained on a natural temperature and precipitation cycle using the HVAC system and rain- and mist-making machines.
g. All ramps are ADA compliant.
h. Dolphins, sea lions, seals, penguins and sea birds will be provided with live fish, squid and shrimp as part of their diet.
i. Birds of prey and snake diets will include live rodents during non-visitor hours.
j. Dolphin, sea lion, fur seal, penguin and sea bird pools will have artificial waves.
k. During non-breeding season, Giant Tortoises are kept in single sex groupings, separated by a low barrier that can be crossed by the land iguanas; during breeding season, the tortoises are kept in pairs.
l. During temperate winter, Marine Iguanas and Flightless Cormorants are kept with Galápagos Penguins; during temperate summer, some or all kept outside with Fur Seals and/or Galápagos Sea Lions.

 

GALÁPAGOS COMPLEX EXHIBIT DETAIL KEY
1. Flags of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru
2. Sea Birds of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Coast of the Americas: Northern Blue-footed Booby (4.4); Northeast Pacific Brown Booby (4.4); Red-footed Booby (4.4); Masked Booby (4.4); East Pacific Brown Noddy (4.4); Black Noddy (4.4); White Tern (4.4); East Pacific Sooty Tern (4.4); Royal Tern (4.4); Bridled Tern (subsp. nelsoni) (4.4); Wedge-tailed Shearwater (4.4); Townsend’s Shearwater (4.4); Neotropic Cormorant (4.4); Brown Pelican (subsp. murphyi) (2.2); American Oystercatcher (1.1); Black Skimmer (1.1); Wilson’s Plover (2.2); Collared Plover (2.2); Snowy Plover (2.2); Black-necked Stilt (2.2).
3. Aquarium of the Eastern Tropical Pacific
4. Eastern Tropical Pacific Pelagic and Bathyal Fish and Invertebrates
5. Revillagigedos Islands Coastal and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
6. Clipperton Island Coastal and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
7. Mexican Tropical Pacific Coastal and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
8. Chiapas-Nicaragua Coastal and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
9. Nicoya Coastal and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
10. Cocos Island Coastal and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
11. Panama Bight Coastal and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
12. Guayaquil Coastal and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
13. Eastern Galápagos Islands Coastal and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
14. Northern Galápagos Islands Coastal and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
15. Western Galápagos Islands Coastal and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
16. “Back of the house”: Ground Level: Food storage and preparation; fish and invertebrate holding and isolation; equipment and supplies storage; receiving; life support systems (HVAC, water filtration, lighting) controls and equipment; Upper Level: bird holding and isolation; staff lockers, lounge and rest rooms; library and administrative office; life support systems controls and equipment; Lower Level: equipment and supplies storage; life support systems controls and equipment.
17. Galápagos Dolphin Complex
18. Keeper/Trainer Interaction Platform
19. Dolphin Holding/Training Pools
20. Common Bottlenose Dolphin (2.8)
21. Pantropical Spotted Dolphin (6.6)
22. Long-beaked Common Dolphin (6.6)
23. Short-beaked Common Dolphin (6.6)
24. Spinner Dolphin (6.6)
25. Risso’s Dolphin (5.5)
26. Amphitheater Visitor Seating
27. Performance Pool
28. “Back of the house”: Ground Level: Food storage and preparation; dolphin isolation; equipment and supplies storage; receiving; life support systems (HVAC, water filtration, lighting) controls and equipment; Upper Level: staff lockers, lounge and rest rooms; library and administrative office; life support systems controls and equipment; Lower Level: equipment and supplies storage; life support systems controls and equipment.
29. Dolphin switching channel
30. The Galápagos Islands: Darwin’s Inspiration
31. H.M.S. Beagle replica flying flag of Ecuador
32. Ramps to/from Beagle Viewing Deck
33. Galápagos Sea Lions (1.4)
34. Galápagos Fur Seals (1.4) (w/some Flightless Cormorants and Marine Iguanas in summer)
35. The “Mini-Galápagoses”: Cocos Island; Clipperton Island; and the Revillagigedo Islands.
36. Reptiles:
a. Cocos Island: Townsend’s Anole (1.1); Pacific Least Gecko (1.4).
b. Clipperton Island: Clipperton Lizard (1.1).
c. Revillagigedo: Socorro: Socorro Island Tree/Socorro Blue Lizard (1.1).
d. Revillagigedo: Clarión: Clarión Island Whipsnake (1.1); Clarión Nightsnake (1.1); Clarión Island Tree Lizard (1.1).
37. Socorro Island Aviary: Socorro Parakeet (6.6); Socorro Yellow-crowned Night Heron (1.1); Socorro Common Ground Dove (2.2); Socorro Dove (1.1); Socorro Mockingbird (1.1); Socorro Tropical Parula (1.1); Socorro Towhee (1.1); and Socorro Wren (1.1).
38. Clarión Burrowing Owl
39. Clarión Island Aviary: Clarión Mourning Dove (2.2); and Clarión Wren (1.1).
40. Cocos Island Aviary: Cocos Cuckoo (1.1); Cocos Flycatcher (1.1); Cocos Finch (1.1).
41. The Galápagos Shore Zone: Galapagos Penguins (6.6); Flightless Cormorants (6.6); Lava Heron (1.1); Marine Iguanas (8.16); and Española Lava Lizard (2.2) (41a=upper)
42. Darwin Theater
43. Galápagos by Night
44. Galápagos Barn Owl (1.1) (44a=upper)
45. Geckos and Rice Rats: Large Fernandina, Small Fernandina, Santa Fé and Santiago Rice Rats (1.1 ea.); Galápagos Leaf-toed Gecko (3.12); Baur’s Leaf-toed Gecko (1.4); Gilbert’s Leaf-toed Gecko (1.4); Santa Fé/Barrington’s Leaf-toed Gecko (1.4); and San Cristóbal/Chatham Leaf-toed Gecko (1.4).
46. Galápagos Nocturnal Aviary: Hoary Bat (6.6); Galápagos Red Bat (6.6); Yellow-crowned Night Heron (3.3); and Swallow-tailed Gull (3.4) (46a=upper).
47. Mangrove Lagoon: White-cheeked Pintail (2.2); American Flamingo (8.8); Lava Heron (1.1); Common Gallinule (1.1); Dark-billed Cuckoo (1.1); San Cristóbal Mockingbird (1.1); Yellow Warbler (1.1); Mangrove Finch (1.1); and Green Turtle (1.1).
48. Museum Exhibits: Geology of the Galápagos Islands; Ocean Currents and the Galápagos, El Niño and La Niña; Dispersal to the Galapagos; Vulnerable, Threatened, Endangered and Recently Extinct Animals of the Galápagos and the “mini-Galápagos” Islands.
49. Lava Lizards and Snakes of the Galapagos: Española/Hood Lava Lizard (1.1); Galápagos, San Cristóbal, Pinzón, Floreana, Marchena, Santa Cruz, and Santiago Lava Lizards (1.1 ea.); Common Pacific Iguana (1.1); Galápagos Racer (1.1); Galápagos Snake (1.1); Hood Island Snake (1.1); Banded Galápagos/Slevin’s Snake (1.1); and Striped Galápagos/Steindachner’s Snake (1.1).
50. Terrestrial Invertebrates of the Galápagos
51. Darwin and Wolf Islands: Galápagos Mockingbird (2.2); Large Cactus Finch (1.1); Vampire Finch (1.1); Green Warbler Finch (1.1); and Pink Land Iguana (1.2).
52. The Arid Lowlands: Floreana Mockingbird (2.2); Dark-billed Cuckoo (1.1); Yellow Warbler (1.1); Common/Small Cactus Finch (1.1); Galápagos Dove (2.2); Galápagos Flycatcher (1.1); Vermilion Flycatcher (1.1); Large and Medium Ground Finches (1.1 ea.); Woodpecker Finch (1.1); Gray Warbler Finch (1.1); Vegetarian Finch (1.1); Santa Fé/Barrington Land Iguana (1.3); and saddle-backed subspecies of the Galápagos Giant Tortoise (2.2)(52a=upper).
53. Galapagos Predator Aviary: Galápagos Hawk (1.1); Galápagos Short-eared Owl (1.1).
54. The Transition Zone: Española Mockingbird (3.3); Medium and Small Ground Finches (1.1 ea.); Medium and Small Tree Finches (1.1 ea.); Woodpecker Finch (1.1); Vegetarian Finch (1.1); Galápagos Flycatcher (1.1); Vermilion Flycatcher (1.1); Galápagos Land Iguana (1.3); and intermediate subspecies of the Galápagos Giant Tortoise (2.2)(53a=upper).
55. The Scalezia Zone: Galápagos Dove (2.2); Yellow Warbler (1.1); Galápagos and Vermilion Flycatchers (1.1 ea.); Large, Medium and Small Tree Finches (1.1 ea.); Woodpecker Finch (1.1); Sharp-beaked Ground Finch (1.1); Small Ground Finch (1.1); Vegetarian Finch (1.1); Woodpecker Finch (1.1); Green Warbler Finch (1.1); Galápagos Martin (1.1); White-cheeked Pintail (2.2); and domed subspecies of the Galápagos Giant Tortoise (2.2); (55a=upper).
56. The Brown Zone: Large and Small Tree Finches (1.1 ea.); Woodpecker Finch (1.1); Galápagos Martin (2.2).
57. The Miconia Zone: Paint-billed Crake (1.1); Common Gallinule (1.1); White-cheeked Pintail (1.1); Large Tree Finch (1.1); Woodpecker Finch (1.1).
58. The Pampa Zone: Galápagos Rail (1.1).
59. Ramps down to ground level along side of seabird aviary.
60. Galápagos Seabird Aviary: Blue-footed, Red-footed and Nazca Boobies (4.4 ea.); Brown Noddy (subsp.) (4.4); Galapagos Shearwater (4.4); Red-billed Tropicbird (3.3); Galápagos Petrel (4.4); Wedge-rumped Storm Petrel (4.4); and Elliot’s/White-vented Storm Petrel (4.4) (60a=upper).
61. Lava Gull (1.1)(61a=upper).
62. Receiving; food preparation and storage; life support systems controls; down to equipment and supplies storage and life support systems controls and equipment.
63. Animal holding and isolation; life support systems controls; down to equipment and supplies storage and life support systems controls and equipment.
64. Staff lockers, lounges and restrooms.
65. Administrative office and library.
66. Galapagos Café

D = Den
E = Elevator
KC = Keeper Corridor
PRR = Public Rest Room
R = Ramp (all ramps are ADA compliant)
VW = Visitor Walkways

 

This is a test to see if attaching a JPG instead of a pdf will show up in the post instead of as an attachment.

 

Here is the main Galápagos Building, first level.

 

Here is the Galápagos Building, second level.

 

Here is the Galápagos Building, third level.

 

Here are two cross-sectional views of the Galápagos Building.

 

Galápagos Building Visitor Experience

(Attached are a complete set of the building drawings and the visitor experience version with pictures of the animals and plants.)

You enter the zoo from the Galápagos South entrance. There are the sounds of sea lions and fur seals barking along with the smell of salt water in the air from the dolphin complex in the near distance. But what catches your attention is looming In front of you: a full scale replica of the H.M.S. Beagle, complete with a main mast that rises roughly thirty meters/one hundred feet above the deck. The Beagle, of course, was the ship that brought Charles Darwin to the Galápagos Islands, a trip that played a key role in revealing the facts of evolution. (Here, however, the ship flies the flag of Ecuador, the nation that is home to the Galápagos.)

You climb a set of ramps to the deck, and you look out at a scene much like that Darwin must have seen when he first arrived there: salt water waves lapping on the shores of a set of volcanic mountains, towering above the surrounding water. On the left, the shore is rocky, and a set of Galápagos Fur Seals shares the rocks with Flightless Cormorants and Marine Iguanas. On the right, the shore is sandy, and a family of Galápagos Sea Lions is sun bathing.

You can even descend below the deck to view a replica of the cabin that Darwin shared while on his epic voyage. (A picture of a recreation of the cabin can be seen here: The Beagle Project Blog: The 21st Century Naturalist (Or What the HMS Beagle Project Means to Me).)
You go back down the ramps and stroll along the length of the Beagle, admiring the authenticity. You continue along the fur seals’ pool. It is summer, and the seals are napping in the shade from the rocks, while the cormorants and iguanas move in and out of the cooling water, alternating with sun bathing. You enter the building: The Galápagos: Darwin’s Inspiration. The rocky shore continues to the right on the other side of the doors, but behind the glass are Galápagos Penguins along with more Marine Iguanas, some Flightless Cormorants and Española Lava Lizards (with their very different coloration by sex). (If it were winter, the iguanas and cormorants would all be inside.) The water level is raised about a half meter above the floor so you can watch the penguins and iguanas forage in their cooled salt water pool. A pair of Lava Herons perch high on the rocks, surveying the activity below.

As the exhibit extends, the rocks become sand. If you were to follow the exhibit around, you would exit again and realize that the sand continues on the other side of the wall in the sea lion exhibit. You look up and realize that what looks like oval volcano cones from the outside of the building are actually skylights for the exhibits. (A sign explains that, while the skylights let in natural light, a system of shades and artificial lights are used to keep the exhibits on the same light cycle as the animals would experience if they were still on the islands in nature. In addition, in each of the exhibits, the HVAC system and rain- and mist-making machines maintain a Galápagos climate cycle, calibrated to each habitat zone’s altitude.)
You turn around, and go through an arch opposite the penguin exhibit to learn about the Galápagos’s “little brothers/sisters” and their endemic animals: Cocos Island; Clipperton Island; and the Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico’s “mini-Galápagos”, including Socorro and Clarión Islands. There are one large aviary, three smaller ones, and a set of reptile exhibits. The last displays Townsend’s Anole and the Pacific Least Gecko [no picture] from Cocos Island; the Clipperton Lizard, a skink; the Socorro Blue or Soccoro Island Tree Lizard; the Clarión Island Whipsnake [no picture];Clarión Nightsnake; and the Clarión Island Tree Lizard.

The large aviary contains the endemic land avian fauna of Socorro (it has no native mammals or amphibians), the largest of the Revillagigedo Islands: the Socorro Parakeet ; the Socorro Yellow-crowned Night Heron; the Socorro Common Ground Dove [no picture]; the Socorro Mockingbird; the Socorro Tropical Parula; the Socorro Towhee [no picture]; the Socorro Wren; and the Socorro Dove.

Next to the large aviary is a smaller aviary with the endemic birds of Clarión Island; the Clarión Mourning Dove and the Clarión Wren [no pcitures]. The second of the smaller aviaries displays the Clarión Burrowing Owl, and the Cocos Island aviary displays the Cocos Cuckoo, the Cocos Flycatcher, and the Cocos Finch, closely enough related to Darwin’s Finches to be considered part of the group.

As you leave this group of exhibits, a sign lets you know not to miss the sea birds, fish and invertebrates from these islands displayed at the Eastern Tropical Pacific Aquarium.
Marveling at learning of a set of islands and unique, evolutionarily significant faunas of which you had never heard, you stroll along the penguin exhibit and, at the other end opposite the mini-Galápagos hall, just past the exit out to the sea lions, you enter a small theater, where you can experience a multi-media introduction to Charles Darwin, his Galápagos visit, and how it helped him explain evolution to the world—now a well-proven theory, not a hypothesis as some would try to claim.
The presentation over, you exit, turn right and follow the visitor flow through a set of double doors leading you to Galápagos by Night. After giving your eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light simulating moonlight, you are staring through an aviary’s glass wall into the eyes of a Galápagos Barn Owl, whose mate is softly hooting from another perch. Breaking your gaze, you turn around. Along your left is a comprehensive collection of the six species of geckos endemic to the archipelago and the four species of rice rats that are the islands’ total rodent fauna, indeed, the only native mammal fauna besides the fur seals, sea lions and bats that are on the other side of the walkway. The geckos and rice rats are arranged by islands, the Large Fernandina, Small Fernandina and Santiago Rice Rats each with Galápagos Leaf-toed Geckos in each exhibit) as cage mates, and the Santa Fé Leaf-toed Geckos paired with the Santa Fé Rice Rats, while the Baur’s, Gilbert’s and San Cristóbal Leaf-toed Geckos are each on their own, the introduced Norway Rat having wiped out the other kinds of rice rats.



[Santa Fe and Gilbert’s Leaf-toed Geckos can be seen here: ]Visual Escapes Images Photo Keywords: gecko
Along your right is another aviary, a large pool with volcanic rocks on the right and mangroves on the left. The rocks provide the home for a small colony of Swallow-tailed Gulls, the only nocturnal gull in the world. The mangroves are the nesting place for a small colony of Yellow-crowned Night Herons, and flitting about throughout the exhibit are a dozen each of Hoary Bats and Galápagos Red Bats. A sign explains that the exhibit, like the others, is kept on the same equatorial light cycle as the Galápagos Islands, although night and day are reversed so that the animals of the Galápagos night are active for the visitors by day.

Through another set of double doors and you are back in daylight, in a large, open exhibit landscaped as a Mangrove Lagoon. (For those wishing to avoid an exhibit with bats, you can enter the Mangrove Lagoon directly from the penguin exhibit walkway.) Like the penguin exhibit, the lagoon water level is raised, and you have a view of a pair of Galápagos Green Sea Turtles swimming in the brackish water. You learn that they earned their name not from their outer color but because their algae-rich diet turns their body fat green.

A flock of American Flamingos, a pair of Lava Herons and another of Common Gallinules are wading as they will while White-cheeked Pintails swim by. Small birds vocalize and fly; the signs explain that they are Galápagos Martins, San Cristóbal Mockingbirds, Yellow Warblers, Dark-billed Cuckoos and the rare and endangered Mangrove Finch, introducing the first of Darwin’s finches on your tour.


You turn and head down a ramp lined on each side with museum exhibits explaining the geology of the Galápagos and their relationship with ocean currents, including the impact of El Niño and La Niña. Building on these, the next exhibit shows how dispersal populated the islands with the animals you are seeing and then how humans have wiped out so many of the forms that nature created, along with those that remain vulnerable, threatened or endangered.
At the bottom of the ramp, you start through a series of terrarium exhibits that contain the Galápagos’s five native snakes (a pair each of the Galápagos Racer, the Galápagos Snake, the Hood Island Snake, the Banded Galápagos or Slevin’s Snake, and the Striped Galápagos or Steindachner’s Snake) and eight kinds of lava lizards (a pair each of the Galápagos, San Cristóbal, Pinzón, Floreana, Marchena, Santa Cruz, Santiago and Española Lava Lizards), showing the marked differences in coloration between male and female of each species (the usually more brightly colored females are pictured first here).

[Hood Island Snake can be seen here: ]Galapagos Snakes - Visual Escapes Images


The next set of exhibits show a selection of the island’s endemic terrestrial invertebrate fauna, such as beetles, ants, bees, wasps, grass insects (the Painted Locust, a pale brown mantis, grasshoppers, katydids and crickets), butterflies and moths, scorpions, spiders, crabs and an endemic centipede that can reach thirty centimeters/one foot in length.

A ramp at the end of these exhibits leads you back up into the Mangrove Lagoon.
The next exhibit continues your introduction to Darwin’s Finches, a smaller aviary showing the relatively unique fauna of Darwin and Wolf Islands, including the Pink Land Iguana, the Galápagos Mockingbird, the Large Cactus Finch, the Green Warbler Finch and the unusual Vampire Finch, whose diet includes the blood of much larger sea birds. Gilbert’s Leaf-toed Gecko is part of the same small islands’ fauna, but would pose a threat to any nesting birds and is nocturnal.

A sign explains that you will now be taking a journey through the six different land habitats of the Galápagos, from the lowlands to the highlands, traveling up through the building as if you were climbing through the different altitudes of the islands themselves, although for every twenty-five meters you would climb in nature, you will be going up only a foot here.
The first of these exhibits is another large, open skylit aviary, showing you the Arid Lowlands of the Galápagos. There are assortments of drought-tolerant evergreens, such as Manzanillo and Palo Santo (or Incense) trees and the Chala tree, and of cactuses (Prickly Pear, Lava and Candelabra). Matplant appears in patches, and the Passionflower and Lava Morning Glory vines creep over the dark volcanic soil and the trees.

You take the time to find the many small land birds that produce near ubiquitous movement in among the plants: the Small Cactus Finch; the Large and Medium Ground Finches; the Woodpecker Finch; the Gray Warbler Finch; the Vegetarian Finch; the Yellow Warbler; the Floreana Mockingbird; the Galapagos and Vermilion Flycatchers; the Dark-billed Cuckoo; and the Galápagos Dove. The last, as is true of many doves, can sometimes be found on the ground, a level shared with the Santa Fé Land Iguana and a much larger and heavier cousin, the Galápagos Giant Tortoise. In this exhibit you meet one of the saddle-backed subspecies, a shell shape adapted for the arid conditions of this habitat, enabling the tortoises to extend their foraging reach in the effort to survive in landscape not so well endowed with forage. There is a low fence dividing the exhibit in half, and a sign explains that the two male and two female tortoises are kept in single sex groups except in the breeding season, similar to their association habits in the wild.

You look to the right and realize that, behind netting, are two of the islands’ leading predators with a view of the prey in the aviary with you: a pair each of the Galápagos Hawk and the Galápagos Short-eared Owl, which, unlike the cousin you already saw, is often diurnal. You walk a little farther, and you have a direct view into their aviary.


You keep going, and you enter the Transition Zone, another open and skylit aviary. In the islands, rainfall is higher and the soils are deeper here than in the lowlands. The landscaping consists of trees typical of this zone, the Pega Pega, Guayabillo and Matazarno trees, laden with epiphytes (lichens).

Your climb starts here, as a series of ramps around the outside of the aviary take you up a total of twelve and a half feet, almost four meters. In the trees are a group of Española Mockingbirds, the Galápagos and Vermilion Flycatchers and the Medium Tree, Small Tree, Medium Ground, Small Ground, Woodpecker and Vegetarian Finches. On the ground are the Galápagos Land Iguana and another set of Giant Tortoises, this time a subspecies with the shell shape intermediate between the saddleback of the arid lowlands and the dome of the humid highlands.


The walkway takes you back into the Arid Lowlands, where you now have a view of the trees from one story up. The birds here, as is the case in the Galápagos, have little fear of humans and, unlike in similar aviaries, do not particularly avoid the visitor space. They perch on the railing and eye you as you saunter by.
The walkway continues on into the Mangrove Lagoon, and you have a view of that exhibit’s second story as well as the upper level of the Darwin and Wolf Islands aviary, and then you enter the Scalesia Zone. The reptile and invertebrate area was sunken to provide extra space for the soil in this exhibit, and the skylight is high above you to provide plenty of room for the sizeable trees that take advantage of the higher humidity and rainfall as you ascend the slopes of the archipelago’s volcanos. This is a cloud forest, and machines provide occasional mists to keep the humidity high, dominated by several species of the Scalesia tree, whose trunks and branches are covered with a variety of epiphytes: mosses; liverworts; orchids; Peperomia; and bromeliads. The understory is heavy with ferns and lycopods, and there is the flowering Pisonia as well.

Here is a domed subspecies of the Giant Tortoise; there is no need for a long reach in a forest this lush. White-cheeked Pintails swim in the pond from which the tortoises drink. The trees house a variegated assemblage of small land birds: the Large, Medium and Small Tree Finches; the Small Ground, Sharp-beaked Ground, Woodpecker and Green Warbler Finches; the Galápagos Dove; the Galápagos and Vermilion Flycatchers; the Yellow Warbler; and the Galápagos Martin. As with the Transition Zone, a walkway ramps up as it guides you around the outside of the exhibit, and by the end you are eight meters/twenty-five feet above the level of the Arid Lowlands.


You exit the Scalesia forest onto a balcony with third-story view of the Mangrove Lagoon, you go around a corner and enter the last of the skylit areas. You are now standing on the roof of the nocturnal exhibits, and the ramps continue to take you up to view the last three habitat zones. The first of these is the Brown Zone, so called because that is the color the epiphytes turn during the dry season.

Vegetation is scrubbier here, an open forest dominated by shrubs/short trees such as Lime Prickly-Ash or Cat’s Claw, White-haired Tournefortia, and Acnistus ellipticus. In those trees live the Woodpecker Finch, the Large and Small Tree Finches, and the Galapagos Martin.


Next, as you ascend again, comes the Miconia Zone, named for its dominant plant, a purple-flowered shrub with larger, leathery, veined leaves that can grow to four meters tall.

It provides shelter for the Woodpecker and Large Tree Finches and a pair of Paint-billed Crakes, and the fresh water pond is home to Common Gallinules and White-cheeked Pintails. The zone is so wet that few other landbirds live there.


The same is true for the last zone on your visit, the Pampa Zone. It is the highest and wettest zone, dominated by grasses, sedges, ferns and mosses, and the aviary belongs to the endemic Galápagos Rail.

As you leave the Pampa Zone, you exit the building and you are over thirty-two feet, or about ten meters above the ground. A series of ramps leads you down, and you realize you are descending along one side of a large outdoor aviary. Signs explain that it displays colonies of the sea birds of the Galápagos: the Blue-footed, Red-footed and Nazca Boobies; the Brown Noddy; the Galápagos Shearwater; the Red-billed Tropicbird; the Galápagos and Wedge-rumped Petrels; and Elliot’s/White-vented Storm Petrel. As you descend, you have a nice view directly onto the nest bearing cliffs in the exhibit, watching the birds court, squabble, rest, take off, land, and, if you’re lucky, feed chicks.

You stroll along the full length of the outdoor aviary, and there is a second, smaller, housing a pair of Lava Gulls, the rarest gull in the world. You are sharing your view of the aviaries with the diners at the Galápagos Café across the walkway.

 

Here is the dolphin complex.

 

Galapagos Dolphin Complex - Visitor Experience

(Attached is a pdf drawing of the complex and the visitor experience version with pictures of the six dolphin species.)

Next stop is the dolphin complex. This is the largest aquarium complex in the world for dolphins, holding a total of twelve million gallons of salt water. First, you make a trip around the outside, viewing each of the six large salt-water pools up to fifteen meters deep and the dolphins they house: the two largest pools (about two and a quarter million gallons each) hold the two largest species, Common Bottlenose Dolphins and the odd-looking Risso’s Dolphin; the other four pools (about 1.7 million gallons each) house Pantropical Spotted Dolphins, the famously athletic Spinner Dolphins, and Long-beaked and Short-beaked Common Dolphins. All can be seen in the waters around the Galápagos Islands. You head into the amphitheater to watch the day’s dolphin show. Each of the six species performs on a different day, making for a relaxed once per week schedule (there is no show on Monday), although trainers work with all the dolphins daily as part of a comprehensive enrichment program. As you enter the amphitheater, you follow a ramp that takes you down below the water levels of the flanking dolphin pools. On your right and left, you have clear underwater views into the pools, and you can come face to face with the curious dolphins. Just before you enter the amphitheater, you look up, and you have a view into an aquatic highway, the dolphin channel passing over your head, which rings the dolphin complex and provides the route for dolphins to come from their pools into the performance pool or even to visit the other dolphin pools. Mixed species groups of dolphins occur in nature, and providing that opportunity is part of the enrichment program for these dolphins.

 

Here is the Aquarium.

 

Aquarium Visitor Experience (picture version and building detail attached):

After the dolphin complex, you head for the Aquarium of the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Around about half the outside is a large seabird aviary filled with color and noise: the seabirds of the Tropical Pacific Coast of Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Ecuador. There are Northern Blue-footed, Northeast Pacific Brown, Red-footed and Masked Boobies, the East Pacific Brown Noddy and the tree-roosting Black Noddy, Wedge-tailed and Townsend’s Shearwaters, the Neotropic Cormorant, the endemic subspecies of Brown Pelicans, American Oystercatchers, Black Skimmers and Black-necked Stilts; three plovers: Wilson’s; Collared; and Snowy Plovers; and four kinds of terns: White/Fairy; East Pacific Sooty; Royal; and Bridled Terns.

Inside the aquarium, the center is dominated by two huge tanks displaying pelagic fish and invertebrates of the tropical eastern Pacific. This is one of the most productive ocean regions on Earth. The larger center tank, holding almost one million gallons, includes schools of many of the fishes that attract sports fishing aficionados from all over the world to this part of the Pacific, including Yellowfin Tuna, the Dorado/Mahi Mahi, Tilefish, Roosterfish, Wahoo, and Cubera and Mullet Snappers.

The smaller of the two center tanks, about 400,000 gallons, is a predator tank, displaying well fed sharks, rays and barracuda.

Around these are eleven separate alcoves, each holding a set of tanks displaying the coastal and continental shelf fish and invertebrates from the different marine ecoregions of the area: the Revillagigedo Islands; Clipperton Island; the Mexican Tropical Pacific Coast; Chiapas-Nicaragua; Nicoya; Cocos island; the Panama Bight; Guayaquil; and the Eastern, Northern and Western Galápagos. The fact that the archipelago has such a diverse marine fauna that it merits three separate marine ecoregions illustrate the richness of the environment provided by the combination of ocean currents and geology.


Your tour of the Galápagos Complex done, you head for the monorail station, but decide to detour for lunch at the Galápagos Café. The dining room, like the building exhibits, is skylit, and each of the tables is named for a different island from either the Galápagos or the mini-Galápagos group and is decorated with pictures of plants and animals that can be seen there. The menu includes specialties from Central America and northwestern South America. While you eat, you enjoy another view of the Galápagos seabird aviaries.
Sated, you make your way to the monorail and consider the zoo map for your next location—perhaps to the museum at the center of the zoo?

 

Wow!!! Awesome!

~ Thaumatibis

 

Thanks! Was the trip through the building clear?

 

Wow. You continue to exceed all expectations. Please tell me you will complete this zoo?

But yes, it's absolutely fantastic and the tour is so well explained. What part of the zoo will you be tackling next?

 

Yes. Now if only Ecuador would lift their exportation laws...

~ Thaumatibis