Hey. Living in North Carolina we have a lot of cool smaller and larger zoological collections, that are not regularly discussed on this site. I have visited several in recent weeks (GSC & NC Museum of Natural Sciences) and in coming months will visit several more. This thread is for me to post reviews of these little known collections and I am going to start with the Greensboro Science Center, which I visited just yesterday. Greensboro Science Center Review (Part I): The Greensboro Science Center is an AZA accredited science museum & zoo in Greensboro, North Carolina. It started out in 1957 as a small children's museum, and has now grown into a 20 acre attraction that receives 450,000 visitors a year. The center was always nature themed and in 1973 opened an outdoor zoo behind the main building with a variety of North American species. This section was completely replaced in 2007 with a complex that includes all of the outdoor animal exhibits known as “Animal Discovery.” This reconstruction changed the centers focus to species from around the globe. That following year the center was able to acquire AZA accreditation and a $20M municipal bond to completely renovate the interior sections of the center. This included a renovation to the science galleries and opening of the aquarium. The 23,000 sq ft aquarium was further expanded in 2017 with an additional 5,000 sq ft of space. In this review I hope to go through the basic parts of the center and include species lists (except for fish, which are signed but I did not fully record). This part is the Aquarium and first floor. It will be followed by a section on the outdoor zoo and bottom floor. When entering the Greensboro Science Center the first section you see is the aquarium. The main section of the aquarium holds 7 exhibits, while the 2017 expansion holds an additional 18 tanks. Overview of the Aquarium 1. Fishing Cat: A rather small exhibit, that does have good height, yet is definitely not ideal for the species. The habitat does feature live plants and natural substrate, yet is still to artificial of a space for them. Luckily the fishing cats will receive a completely new exhibit in the upcoming expansion of the zoo section. 2. Asian-small clawed otter: This exhibit is much better and is smaller than some otter exhibits, yet is most definitely adequate. The exhibit is about 70/30 land to water. The land area has plants and natural substrate, as well as a pop-up bubble for kids. 3. African Penguin: Probably one of the smallest I have ever seen for any penguin species. It has a nice pool and is nicely detailed; yet simply lacks the size to make it a good exhibit. In recent years the penguins have been rather successful at breeding, yet given the limited space, the exhibit must already by at capacity 4. Giant Pacific Octopus: A eccentrically themed tank created by the Animal Planet show “Tanked.” On my visit held a newly acquired octopus who was acclimating to the tank. 5. Amazon River: A long row of tanks for mata-mata, yellow-spotted amazon river turtle, caiman lizard and a variety of Amazon fish. Above these tanks is an exhibit for golden lion tamarin and white-eared titi. Next to these exhibits is an additional tank for the centers 36 year old green anaconda. 6. Stingray Touch Tank: A basic touch tank with cownose rays. 7. Shark Reef: The largest tank in the section, shark reef is a really nice exhibit for blacktip shark, sandbar shark, blacknose shark, spotted eagle ray, southern stingray, cownose ray, green moray eel, along with a variety of other fish species. The tank is 90,000 gallons in size and while not a huge exhibit, is definitely impressive. The aquarium expansion holds a variety of smaller aquatic species. In this wing are 18 smaller tanks, for mostly saltwater species. Tanks in this section include: Kelp Forest (Wolf Eel, Kelp Greenling,…), African Chiclids, Moon jellies, red lionfish, peacock mantis shrimp, garden eel, Living Coral reef (blue tang, clown-fish,…), seahorses, among several other tanks. Overall the aquarium is not massive but has a pretty comprehensive collection in what are mostly great tanks for inhabitants which are well themed. Around the tanks are interactive elements and displays on conserving the ocean. The aquarium also highlights the centers conservation work breeding freshwater mussels for reintroduction. After touring the aquarium, I explored the original building which holds the majority of the centers non-animal related exhibits. The one animal exhibit outside the aquarium on this floor is the Komodo Dragon indoor exhibit which was added as part of the new dinosaur exhibit. The exhibit is pretty big for the single male they currently have and is nicely detailed. The center is going to be adding an outdoor exhibit for the species by 2020. The exhibit will have the capability to be split in 2, allowing for the center to easily hold a pair of dragons. The other exhibits on this floor are non animal related and largely aimed towards children. These include the planetarium, Sci-play Bay (A giant playground), & temporary exhibit gallery (currently holding an maze that teaches how we see color). To be continued with Animal Discovery Review Photo Credits: Greensboro Natural Science Center | Carolina SciQuarium | Zoos, Aquariums & Gardens Project Portfolio Greensboro Science Center Aquarium Expansion | Lindsey Architecture | Archinect 60 Years of Science
