Restless Planet - Komodo Dragon Exhibit

July 22nd, 2012. This area opened in 2009 and was a $25 million addition to what was already a very good aquarium. The stars of the show here (and in fact the entire facility) are two Komodo dragons in side-by-side habitats that are spacious and full of naturalistic elements. The enclosure for the male lizard has a series of glass windows at the rear of the exhibit so the lizard actually has a spectacular view of the nearby water and forested region. Indonesian finches (7 species) flit above the heads of the huge dragons and there is a pop-up bubble that is enormously popular with visitors. There are actually 3 Komodo dragons and one of them is always off-exhibit while two others rotate through the pair of habitats.

snowleopard said:

July 22nd, 2012. This area opened in 2009 and was a $25 million addition to what was already a very good aquarium. The stars of the show here (and in fact the entire facility) are two Komodo dragons in side-by-side habitats that are spacious and full of naturalistic elements. The enclosure for the male lizard has a series of glass windows at the rear of the exhibit so the lizard actually has a spectacular view of the nearby water and forested region. Indonesian finches (7 species) flit above the heads of the huge dragons and there is a pop-up bubble that is enormously popular with visitors. There are actually 3 Komodo dragons and one of them is always off-exhibit while two others rotate through the pair of habitats.

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How did they end up spending $25 million on a Komodo dragon exhibit?

Maybe I am misunderstanding something here?

The $25 million includes not only the Komodo dragon exhibits (there are 2 of them) but the entire "Restless Planet" wing of the aquarium. Here is an excerpt from my 2012 review, and there are some rarities on display in Virginia:

The rest of the Restless Planet area has a short walk-through tunnel with brightly-painted coral in the Red Sea habitat that has zebra sharks and spotted eagle rays (rarely exhibited animals) as the largest inhabitants; a Coral Reef tank that is smaller but no less densely packed with colourful fish; a tank with short-snouted seahorses, long-snouted seahorses and pipefish; fat-tailed scorpions that glow green in the dark; Algerian hedgehogs; an Egyptian cobra; common cuttlefish and another tropical fish tank. A nicely-darkened tomistoma habitat is spacious for the large crocodilian inside and a delight to view; a rarely exhibited Macklott’s water python has a small terrarium; snakehead fish are in a mid-sized tank; and a Malaysian giant pond turtle is surrounded by freshwater fish in its own pool.

Thanks for the information snowleopard. It sounds like an interesting collection of exhibits.