Tropical halls

I managed to visit Omaha in 2017 and got to experience the Lied Jungle. I think that, in spite of a few questionable exhibits, it's a fantastic Jungle hall with amazing scale and landscaping, especially on the lower level. The paths down there are all dirt, and I distinctly remember a pond that featured freshwater rays and Turtles without any barriers. And the free-flying fruit bats as well. Got a kick out of having a bunch of them fly close to me.

On the smaller end of the scale, the NC Zoo has the Rainforest Aviary. Although mainly for free-flying birds, it does feature an indoor rainforest setting with winding paths and a large cliff which provides great viewing opportunities. Some Poison Dart Frogs (in the entrance hall) and South American Tortoises in the mail aviary also add to the mix. It's worth noting that the Zoo even grows some of the food for their Gorillas in here.

The NC Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh also has a small tropical hall on their top floor known as the Living Conservatory. It depicts a South American Tropical Dry Forest and has several species of free-flying butterflies, Ornate Wood Turtles, South American Cichlids, A Two-toed Sloth, a Tarantula, and a Mexican Milk Snake. It's closed at the moment due to the pandemic, but it's a great little exhibit nonetheless.
 
Minnesota Zoo has a rainforest hall known as the Tropics Trail. It’s ok, but definitely showing it’s age. Many of the exhibits are sorely outdated, such as the Tapir & Urail exhibits, although a couple of them have been renovated within the last decade or so.
 
One of the best Tropical Halls I visited was at Blijdorp. It had a wide range of species, including nautilus, cock-of-the-rock, rockfowl and umbrella bird, when I visited in 1982.
 
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