They may have been off exhibit for meidcal check ups, but we have had sloths since 1981. Three sloths were put on exhibit in 2007 to replace the older female sloth who was their since 1981. One was actually born in 2008.
There are also two golden lion tamarins on exhibit as well.
I used to be an Aviculture Assistant (volunteer) in the Rainforest and still cover occasional shifts when time allows.
The birds in the exhibit are as follows:
Scarlet Ibis
Sunbittern
Sun Conure
Blue-headed Pionus
Yellow-headed Amazon
White-tailed Trogon (NAIB is the most successful breeder of this species and most others in the USA originated from our stock)
Blue-crowned Motmot
Screaming Piha
Brazilian Tanager
Scarlet-rumped Tanager
Blue-gray Tanager
Turquoise Tanager
Green & Gold Tanager (bred at NAIB in recent years)
Paradise Tanager
Bay-headed Tanager
Red-capped Cardinal (bred recently as well)
Yellow Grosbeak
In the past (since 1994), there were also:
Pale-vented Pigeon
Hawk-headed Parrot
Black-spotted Barbet
Green Aracari
Spangled Cotinga
Silver-beaked Tanager
Blue & Yellow Tanager
Burnished-buff Tanager
Green Honeycreeper
Swallow Tanager
Saffron Finch
Troupial
Yellow-hooded Blackbird
On the floor beneath the Rainforest is the Amazon River Forest, a long glass-fronted exhibit where the water comes to about eye level. There used to be birds in there around 2000/2001 but all were removed:
Currently the Aquarium is working on pairing up/re-structuring groups of existing species and may get some new ones in the future. The motmot is my favorite!
A motmot has begun to dig tunnels in the ground of the rainforest exhibit. They use these for nesting, but not for sleeping. Motmots are a very unique species to have in captivity.
