I visited the Montreal Biodome in 2008 and of course it has been renovated since then. One thing that hasn't changed is the stunning architecture. Nice photo!
@snowleopard The architecture is gorgeous, but it doesn't work as a zoo/aquarium. With the vegetarian restaurant, etc the place seems very conservation-minded, but there isn't a thing about it elsewhere. There is so much room for education here, especially with 3/5 of the areas being native species, and there's nothing. There were also dramatically few animals about in comparison to the size of the place. The Gulf exhibit in particular is supposed to have a bunch of birds, and I only saw a couple; I don't know where others could have been hiding.
@TinoPup wow, I couldn’t tell that this was supposed to be a free flight exhibit for birds at all. It just looks like an empty plaza. I visited the biodome before the renovation in 2014, and I remember the place not leaving much of an impression on me either. I didn’t like the focus on almost exclusively smaller species which were often harder to see. I remember there used to be a big sloth exhibit in one of the plaza areas, where they would climb over your heads. It was one of the least naturalistic parts of the biodome, but also one of the most memorable. It felt like a weird modern art exhibit, which fit nicely with the nice sweeping white shapes that make up the rest of the building’s architecture.
@ZooElephantsMan This isn't an animal area, this is where you walk in, get your tickets, etc. (Saw where you thought it was, I was replying to a couple of comments at the same time and got the pictures mixed up!) The sloths have the entire tropic area, I think, so there was no hope finding them. Your photo didn't load.
It was pretty crazy, and was probably the most memorable part of my visit. I am normally a bigger fan of more naturalistic and immersive enclosures, but the way that the tree is made out of braided material made it feel like a crazy weird modern art piece, and complemented the architecture of the rest of the building very well. The sloths could cross over the path above your heads, and they were much easier to locate. From the picture, it also looks like there was a red footed tortoise in this exhibit too, camouflaging into the log in the foreground. Unfortunately it sounds like the exhibit was removed during the renovation, but I really liked it when I saw it.
@ZooElephantsMan As an art piece it's really interesting, and I like the concept. But as a place where the animals live during opening hours all day every day? UGH.
