North American Rain Forest Buildings

I know that the hurricane damage to the rain forest pyramid at Moody Gardens was extensive. Many of the animals were transferred to Houston Zoo. At one time I heard it would take 2 years to rebuild--I'm not sure where the work stands at this time. I saw lots of photos of the damage caused mostly by the storm surge--terrible mess. Many of the plants were damaged by the influx of seawater.
 
Rookeyper said:
I know that the hurricane damage to the rain forest pyramid at Moody Gardens was extensive. Many of the animals were transferred to Houston Zoo. At one time I heard it would take 2 years to rebuild--I'm not sure where the work stands at this time. I saw lots of photos of the damage caused mostly by the storm surge--terrible mess. Many of the plants were damaged by the influx of seawater.
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As I said above, I was just there a bit over a year ago (April, 2008) and I toured the Rain Forest pyramid. It seemed fine to me -- no evidence of any damage.
 
Perhaps I'll try reading more carefully! I'm glad to hear they are back to normal and that repairs went quickly! Thanks Alan!
 
The Hurricane was Ike in Sept. of '08 so Allen you got there before the hurricane hit. At Dallas I know we got some of their animals.
 
Can anyone who has been to Moody Gardens post a review of the rainforest and aquarium?
 
Hi everyone,

Since there seems to be some confusion on how Moody Gardens is since Hurricane Ike, we thought we'd come in and give updates.

The Rainforest Pyramid took the longest time to reopen of all the attractions at Moody Gardens and receive the biggest damage from Hurricane Ike. At the end of April 2009, we were able to celebrate the reopening of the exhibit which features over 1,000 species of tropical plants from the rain forests of Africa, the Americas and Asia. You can read a Houston Chronicle article and see photos here: Back to normal at Moody Gardens' Rainforest Pyramid | Lifestyle/Features | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

The Aquarium Pyramid is one of the largest aquariums in the nation and features four oceans of the world. Some of our popular marine creatures include over 100 of our penguins, seals and seahorses. One thing people seem to enjoy is the behind-the-scene's experience with penguins called Penguin Encounter. You can meet a penguin and see them paint pictures with their feet!

More information is at Moody Gardens Galveston Texas | Amusement Theme Parks | Houston Attractions | Family & Group Vacation Idea TX. Hope this helps!
 
Moody_Gardens said:
The Aquarium Pyramid is one of the largest aquariums in the nation and features four oceans of the world. Some of our popular marine creatures include over 100 of our penguins, seals and seahorses. One thing people seem to enjoy is the behind-the-scene's experience with penguins called Penguin Encounter. You can meet a penguin and see them paint pictures with their feet!
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Thanks, MG folks, for the update. I'm so glad you're back open. I was there in April, 2008 and I really enjoyed my visit. I saw the Penguin Encounter and you're right -- it was great fun, and it drew a huge crowd of mostly children.
 
geomorph said:
Moody_Gardens, does your rainforest pavilion include any animals?
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Hopefully he'll answer you himself (or herself), but I'll quickly say that YES, there were many animals on display, some in separate side exhibits, and some roaming freely (mostly reptiles). I recall many small monkeys.
 
I agree that the Lied Jungle is the best one, followed by Tropic World in Brookfield Zoo. I think I was in the Lied Jungle for close to an hour. I seem to remember the Minnesota Zoo having a nice tropical exhibit as well. Another nice indoor tropical and desert exhibit is the Sky Dome in Reptile Gardens in Rapid City, SD. There are tons of reptiles in there and birds. It's the only one that I have seen where they have boa constrictors loose. They also pride themselves on their orchid collection. It's an old building but very nice. I believe the website claims it was the first of its kind anywhere.
 
elefante said:
It's the only one that I have seen where they have boa constrictors loose. They also pride themselves on their orchid collection. It's an old building but very nice. I believe the website claims it was the first of its kind anywhere.
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I agree that Reptile Gardens' rain forest dome is very nice. As for "first of its kind", that would depend on how you define "its kind". Perhaps they mean with boas roaming freely. Its pretty well established that the first indoor rain forest in a zoo was at the Topeka Zoo in Kansas. Because of that, they had the banner, "World Famous Topeka Zoo" for many years.
 
ANyhuis, here is the quote from Reptile Gardens' web site (http://www.reptilegardens.com/sky-dome/):
The Sky Dome has been a favorite with our guests since we moved to our new location in 1965. At that time, a genuine indoor jungle experience was unheard of in the U.S.
When was the one in Topeka built? As far as boas roaming freely I'm not sure if this is the first one or the only one, it is just the only one I have seen that does that.
 
elefante said:
When was the one in Topeka built?
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Topeka's Rain Forest dome opened in 1974. I'm certain that they at least used to claim to have been "the first" and in fact had the unofficial title of "World Famous Topeka Zoo" because of it. There was a New York Times article in the early 1980s, spotlighting the nation's 10 (or so) best zoos (in their opinion) and they put Topeka on their list (and in the article) because of its rain forest dome.

But now, when I check all the websites for the Topeka Zoo, I see the words, "one of the first", which means they are backing off of that claim.
 
Thank-you for the info. Is there a similar list of top ten zoos in the nation available? I was on the web site and the exhibit in Topeka does sound interesting.
 
elefante said:
Thank-you for the info. Is there a similar list of top ten zoos in the nation available? I was on the web site and the exhibit in Topeka does sound interesting.
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There have been many such articles written, picking what they thought were the "best zoos" in the USA. Quite honestly, I used these lists a lot in deciding which zoos I should get to -- in preparation for writing my book.

That New York Times article was written in September, 1982. Just a sampling of others include: CNN (June, 1998); Family Fun magazine (April, 2001); Child magazine (June, 2004); MSNBC (June, 2005); and Forbes Traveler (see below).
Here's a link for the Forbes article:
America's Best Zoos - ForbesTraveler.com

In case you're interested, here's another Forbes article for the World's best zoos. I am quoted in this story:
The World's Best Zoos - ForbesTraveler.com

Hope this helps.
 
MARK said:
You could always write a book called "The worlds best zoo's", lol.
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Nope. I'm too many trips to Europe -- PLUS trips to Australia, Singapore, Japan, China, and South Africa -- away from being qualified to do that.
 
Thanks for the info. The only one on the list I have been to is the Brookfield Zoo, unless you count Cincinnati when I was 2. I'm hoping to make it to the National Zoo if I can go to this conference in DC that I am trying for.
 
I think the National Zoo's Amazonia is just ok, perhaps because it doesn't have any mammal exhibits inside. It's still nice though!
 
geomorph said:
I think the National Zoo's Amazonia is just ok, perhaps because it doesn't have any mammal exhibits inside. It's still nice though!
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I think they have some monkeys high up in the trees -- but they're usually hard to see.
 
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