Imitation stalagmites

November 8, 2011.
I have not been in the cave part of the museum for over a decade because there are no animals exhibits. Snowleopard\'s summer trip report listed a few small animals (including bats) here, so I decided to do a quick walk through to see if I was missing something. Turns out I was correct, there are no animals, which means it will likely be another decade before I walk through again.

Arizona Docent said:

November 8, 2011.
I have not been in the cave part of the museum for over a decade because there are no animals exhibits. Snowleopard\'s summer trip report listed a few small animals (including bats) here, so I decided to do a quick walk through to see if I was missing something. Turns out I was correct, there are no animals, which means it will likely be another decade before I walk through again.

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I remember a ring-tailed "cat" in an exhibit near the end of the cave, but it was a pretty small space so maybe it's no longer there. But I would never pass up a chance to walk through the cave, one of the brilliant high points of immersion design history, animals or no animals. The "adventure" side cavern passageways could never be built today ( not "ADA accessible"), but absolutely fun and realistically claustrophobia-inducing.

When I first visited in 1988 there were salamanders.

The LA Zoo cave exhibit didn't seem to work out as an animal exhibit either as there were once vampire bats, a skunk, a ring-tailed cat, and a barn owl which are no longer there. Now there are only scorpions and blind cave fish. Maybe not enough attention to the actual animal habitats was paid when these caves were designed?

I do love the ASDM cave exhibit and is one of the exhibits that has made the biggest impression in my zoo travels.

DavidBrown said:

When I first visited in 1988 there were salamanders.

The LA Zoo cave exhibit didn't seem to work out as an animal exhibit either as there were once vampire bats, a skunk, a ring-tailed cat, and a barn owl which are no longer there. Now there are only scorpions and blind cave fish. Maybe not enough attention to the actual animal habitats was paid when these caves were designed?

I do love the ASDM cave exhibit and is one of the exhibits that has made the biggest impression in my zoo travels.

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Yes, near the beginning there was a small pool that held larval tiger salamanders and crayfish. Could anyone tell me if that pool is still there?

Pool is still there and there is a sign about crayfish, but as far as I can tell there were none in there. The pool looked completely empty. And definitely no ringtail - that is kept in Life Underground, which is a smaller cave exhibit (actually more of a tunnel) on the opposite end of the grounds.

There is potential for some fantastic animal exhibits here, but sadly that potential has never been realized.

@Arizona Docent: You have mentioned a few times on ZooChat how you have been quite disappointed with the direction of ASDM during the past decade, and yet many fellow zoo nerds (such as myself) rave about the facility and rank it very highly on our lists. I wonder if because you are such a frequent observer of the captive wildlife in Tucson thus you see the flaws of the establishment more so than a tourist might. I often can see many flaws with Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle due to my monthly tours, but international visitors are often amazed by the quality of some of the exhibits that I now almost take for granted.

In regards to my review of ASDM I enjoyed the cave experience and there was certainly a pool with what appeared to be crayfish. I also mentioned bats but I could well have been mistaken on that account. Is there some kind of bat signage instead? Whether there are animals present or not would not stop me from squeezing myself though the passage on a future visit, and the cave is still a very impressive addition to an excellent zoo.

An excerpt from my 2011 review:

Earth Sciences Center: Cave – This is a lengthy tunnel that goes partly underground as visitors are immersed into an extremely life-like cavern. Inside the main cave are bats, crayfish, stalactites and stalagmites...and there is even an offshoot tunnel from the main pathway that I managed to squeeze through. This 75-foot tunnel is only for skinny folks, as I had to inch my way along it in semi-darkness and I'm exactly 6 feet tall and banged my head twice as I hunched along. It is a great experience for both adults and children, and the lack of light and rocky floor makes for an intriguing detour from the main path.

The bat sign says that bats live in caves like this (not this actual one) and that there are models of bats behind you (though I did not see them). Having not been in this area in over a decade, as I said, I was amazed at the great potential here yet also saddened at the lack of use. There are basically two large "rooms" in between the passageways. The lower one, which is more of a room as we would think of it, has geology displays and some impressive colorful minerals, so that is ok as is I guess. But the upper room is more like a real cave expanse and has nothing of interest but would really make for great animal exhibits. A waste of a really creative space.

As for my disappointment, it is not that I don't like what is there, it is that I am frustrated with the lack of progress over the last decade. The raptor cages were replaced with an herb garden. The exhibition hall connected to Life On The Rocks has been completed for years and sits empty and closed. The temporary construction road leading to it (that divides the intended coyote exhibit in half) is still there, even though it is not being used. And for those regulars who know how much I love cats, small cat canyon now only has cats in 2 of the 4 exhibits. Plus, for the entire 18 years I have lived in Tucson I have heard periodic rumors that they are going to add a jaguar exhibit, but nothing has ever happened.

Arizona Docent said:

The bat sign says that bats live in caves like this (not this actual one) and that there are models of bats behind you (though I did not see them). Having not been in this area in over a decade, as I said, I was amazed at the great potential here yet also saddened at the lack of use. There are basically two large "rooms" in between the passageways. The lower one, which is more of a room as we would think of it, has geology displays and some impressive colorful minerals, so that is ok as is I guess. But the upper room is more like a real cave expanse and has nothing of interest but would really make for great animal exhibits. A waste of a really creative space.

As for my disappointment, it is not that I don't like what is there, it is that I am frustrated with the lack of progress over the last decade. The raptor cages were replaced with an herb garden. The exhibition hall connected to Life On The Rocks has been completed for years and sits empty and closed. The temporary construction road leading to it (that divides the intended coyote exhibit in half) is still there, even though it is not being used. And for those regulars who know how much I love cats, small cat canyon now only has cats in 2 of the 4 exhibits. Plus, for the entire 18 years I have lived in Tucson I have heard periodic rumors that they are going to add a jaguar exhibit, but nothing has ever happened.

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It is called the Arizona-Sonora Desert MUSEUM for a reason--it is not just a zoo, and the cave is perhaps the best exhibit experience about geology I've ever seen. Yes, squeezing a couple of animal exhibits into it would make it even better, but I certainly am not "saddened" by this, and am puzzled why someone would describe this brilliantly-rendered "real cave expanse" as having "nothing of interest" and as a "waste of...space.???" Really?

I agree that the glacial pace of improvements at ASDM is frustrating. Clearly there is a fundraising problem there--but it sounds like that is an issue throughout Arizona with its fiercely conservative, "I've got mine, now go away" politics. It's interesting that Reid Park has been able to raise $$ for its new elephant exhibit, when the world-renowned ASDM takes decades to build things like Life on the Rocks, one nickel at a time.

Update, the crawfish pool still apparently has inhabitants (though I did not see them), but the salamander pool no longer contains animals.