A Jungle In The City: The Incomparable Biodôme

February.  Twenty below. Wind whipping through concrete canyons.  It's time to buy a ticket and travel to Viau.  Time to take a break in Costa Rica--even if just for the afternoon.

The cry of tropical birds; monkeys in the trees; 70% humidity and 75° F -ah, such sweet relief.  It's a small jungle - 27,976 square feet - but some 3,224 animals and 902 plants call it home.  Over 900,000 visitors come here each year and Montreal's Biodôme has become the most popular admission-charging attraction in all of Quebec. 

Beneath a single roof lie four diverse ecosystems:  The Artic/Antarctic Region; St. Lawrence River Estuary; Laurentian Forest; and the ever-popular Tropical Rainforest.  Housed in the former velodrome built for the 1976 Summer Olympics, this educational and research facility opened in June 1992.  Its "ecosystem" concept was the first in the world, and the Biodôme has since won international recognition and numerous prestigious awards.

Though it's infinitesimal compared to the Costa Rican rainforest it's modeled after, it still proves  difficult to spot most of the species that live under this glass-domed roof.  Somewhere beyond the concrete walkway there are iguanas, geckos, basilisks, anoles, turtles, tortoises, giant marine toads, and poison frogs (their Biodôme diet has removed their toxicity, although the other animals aren't aware of this).  There are insects, too.  Several species of tanagers and various honey-creepers are among the tropical varieties of grosbeaks, finches, and sparrows living in this space.  There are Blue-Crowned Motnots, Spectacled Parrotlets, and Northern Helmeted Curossows.  Most take patience to spot amid the dense vegetation.  The macaws are readily visible, as are the Scarlet Ibises, Roseate Spoonbills, and jacanas.  The gregarious Grey-Winged Trumpeter is so friendly that employees have to follow it around with a pedestal sign requesting that it not be touched.  I lean against the railing practically shoulder-to-shoulder with the trumpeter while visually scanning the jungle in search of more reclusive birds to photograph. 

This is not a zoo: it's an educational and research facility that's involved in International conservation programs, including those for the Hyacinth Macaw, Goeldi's monkey, and the Golden Lion, Cotton-Top, and Bare-Face tamarins.  

A tropical rainforest has water - lots of water.  This one is modeled after a valley carved  by a raging river, now reduced to a stream.  It's a place where waterfalls cascade and streams are populated by numerous species of catfish, Red Devils, and the large fruit-eating Black Pau. Yacare Caimans command their private pool, as do the capybara (the world's largest rodent).  Many species of piranha, angelfish, tetras, and others are confined to aquarium tanks. The pythons are also restricted  behind glass, although this is more for the other valued residents of the rainforest, not the visitors. 

The caves even have space for bats, their natural nocturnal rhythm having been switched to diurnal so visitors can see them (behind glass) during their active foraging time.

There is a family of Southern Two-Toed Sloths somewhere in the upper canopy, but I can't seem to locate them today.  The Rufous-breasted Hermit Hummingbirds are in seclusion, probably somewhere close to the hidden feeders, and I catch only a brief glimpse of the toucans. It takes patience and lingering to observe most of these creatures.  Some, like the Cotton-top and Golden Lion tamarins, have their own territories.  While it would be simple enough for them to jump across the walkway and invade other territory, they don't - at least during the light of day.  Who knows what goes on in the jungle at night?