I decided to make a trip to the Sea Life Cavens at west edmonton mall today, and figured I would post this review and add some pictures to the gallery.
Firstly, the large glass room that originally contained Flamingos and later sloths & ring tailed lemurs has been ripped down and turned into more floor/retail space.
Entering the "cavens",things have been changed up since I last visted several years ago. Most noticably the two enclosures containing spectacled caimans and the other housing random reptiles, have been torn down. The caimans were sent to a zoo out east, and in their place a larger pool for their bat nosed rays has been constructed. The pool was not overly impressive, but it got the job done and offered the rays much more space to swim and get away from the public then their old touch pool home.
Turning to the left I was brought into the "reptile room", which was decreased in quality since my last visit. There was a single stand of smallish tanks containing toads, box and wood turtles, blue tounged skinks, frogs, and salamanders. There are far fewer species as opposed to the last time I visited. Across from the smaller tanks is a single large tank containing two large boas and a carpet python. There is also a large iguana beside the smaller tanks.
Going into the "main caves", there are two large exhibits on either side of the wall. One is a room containing a colony of 16 African Black Footed Penguins. This exhibit is far from the best penguin exhibit out there, and the older birds do seems to get rather gnarly looking beaks, however the birds do live for a fairly long time and look otherwise healthy.
Across from them is the shark tank. This contains several Nuse Sharks, 3 male Green Sea Turtles, and a number of fish, mainly trevally and jacks, but there are some angelfish and tangs, along with a number of pennant butterfly fish. There used to be other species of sharks, but they have all died off, due to old age according to one of the keepers.
At the end of the caverns are two small cages bulit into the wall, housing prehensile tailed skinks and a greater plated lizard.
Just before leaving, the is a largish fish tank shown through the wall that contains clownfish, yellow and regal tangs, and cardinal fish. There is also a fair bit of coral. Overall the tank was fairly dull and could use some better lights and brighter coral.
The main shark tank is quite dark as well, and really needs to get a lighting upgrade, at least over the main section of the tank where the public can view the animals. Some good metal halides would work nicely for this.
After I exited the caverns I decided to watch the Sea Lion show. You could pay 5 dollars to watch from the grand stands, but I opted to not pay and watch from a bridge near the show. It was an alright show, but out of four sea lions they only had one out for the show. They also kept them off exhibit at all times except for shows and rarely for periods of free activity. Rather sad as it is nice to see them simply swimming or lounging around as opposed to only during the twice daily shows.
That sums up my trip of the Sea Life Caverns, and for 6 dollars it was a good way to break up the afternoon. With a little(lot) of work, the place could be extremely nice and have quite a bit to offer.
I'll be uploading pictures to the galley shortly, and will add links to a couple of videos I took as well, as the light conditions were not favorable to photography.
Firstly, the large glass room that originally contained Flamingos and later sloths & ring tailed lemurs has been ripped down and turned into more floor/retail space.
Entering the "cavens",things have been changed up since I last visted several years ago. Most noticably the two enclosures containing spectacled caimans and the other housing random reptiles, have been torn down. The caimans were sent to a zoo out east, and in their place a larger pool for their bat nosed rays has been constructed. The pool was not overly impressive, but it got the job done and offered the rays much more space to swim and get away from the public then their old touch pool home.
Turning to the left I was brought into the "reptile room", which was decreased in quality since my last visit. There was a single stand of smallish tanks containing toads, box and wood turtles, blue tounged skinks, frogs, and salamanders. There are far fewer species as opposed to the last time I visited. Across from the smaller tanks is a single large tank containing two large boas and a carpet python. There is also a large iguana beside the smaller tanks.
Going into the "main caves", there are two large exhibits on either side of the wall. One is a room containing a colony of 16 African Black Footed Penguins. This exhibit is far from the best penguin exhibit out there, and the older birds do seems to get rather gnarly looking beaks, however the birds do live for a fairly long time and look otherwise healthy.
Across from them is the shark tank. This contains several Nuse Sharks, 3 male Green Sea Turtles, and a number of fish, mainly trevally and jacks, but there are some angelfish and tangs, along with a number of pennant butterfly fish. There used to be other species of sharks, but they have all died off, due to old age according to one of the keepers.
At the end of the caverns are two small cages bulit into the wall, housing prehensile tailed skinks and a greater plated lizard.
Just before leaving, the is a largish fish tank shown through the wall that contains clownfish, yellow and regal tangs, and cardinal fish. There is also a fair bit of coral. Overall the tank was fairly dull and could use some better lights and brighter coral.
The main shark tank is quite dark as well, and really needs to get a lighting upgrade, at least over the main section of the tank where the public can view the animals. Some good metal halides would work nicely for this.
After I exited the caverns I decided to watch the Sea Lion show. You could pay 5 dollars to watch from the grand stands, but I opted to not pay and watch from a bridge near the show. It was an alright show, but out of four sea lions they only had one out for the show. They also kept them off exhibit at all times except for shows and rarely for periods of free activity. Rather sad as it is nice to see them simply swimming or lounging around as opposed to only during the twice daily shows.
That sums up my trip of the Sea Life Caverns, and for 6 dollars it was a good way to break up the afternoon. With a little(lot) of work, the place could be extremely nice and have quite a bit to offer.
I'll be uploading pictures to the galley shortly, and will add links to a couple of videos I took as well, as the light conditions were not favorable to photography.
