Saturday, June 25, 2011

The Dallas World Aquarium

After our yummy lunch at Cibus, we decided to visit the Dallas World Aquarium. The steep admission cost was a bit off-putting, but I am glad that we did not let that deter us. The DWA was definitely worth the price, and was the highlight of our Dallas Easter weekend.

The DWA looks deceptively small from the outside.

Even the outside has something to look at.

Ariana posing on the away to buy tickets to get in.

On the way to the ticket booth.

Can't remember what this curious creature is.

Once inside, there are birds everywhere. Some of them fly right past your face.



There's even penguins.

This feather wreath looks like a firework explosion.


This tall waterfall was the centerpiece of the rain forest part of the DWA.

An anteater.

There's a baby anteater there, too, if you look carefully.

Ariana at the top level of the rain forest exhibit.



Toucans.

People can even feed the birds blueberry snacks.


This sleeping sloth was out in the open, not even behind bars, screens, or Plexiglas.

There was a sign right by the sloth's tree, warning people: Please don't touch the sloth.

It really does look like you're in a rain forest.

Is it a crocodile or and alligator?


One of several ponds throughout the DWA.


Flamingos!

Another big-ass alligator.

A fern imprint in the concrete walkway. There were lots of such imprints in the walkways.

A sea otter.

This sea otter was called the Black Widow because she outlived 3 of her mates.

So she's all alone.

But she's not lonely. She has many visitors to entertain every day.

A double yellow Amazon parrot. We used to have a parrot that looked just like this bird. His name was Jerry, and he was quite the talker.

Not all the wildlife at the DWA are intentional, as these ants on a lollipop attest.

Mother and baby primates.



I love this lizard . . .

. . . but I couldn't decide which pic I liked better. LOL

A tortoise.

More mother and baby primate pix.

(In case you're wondering why these pix are in black and white, it's because the primates were too far away for the flash on my camera to reach.)

A colorful toucan.

And a likewise colorful tree frog. This is the type of frog that's used to make poison-tipped arrows in the Amazon.

A very spiny tree trunk.


Lizard on a branch.

Closeup of the same lizard.

Another double yellow Amazon parrot. This one looks like it's taking a snooze.

Looking up at the rain forest exhibit.


Another monkey.

Here's an anaconda under the water. But where's the head?

Here's the head.

A caiman.

Closeup of the caiman.

An electric eel.

Ditto.

Ditto again.

A pond filled w/arowanas.

An arowana is considered to be a good-luck Feng Shui fish. But you would have to have a really HUGE fish tank. These fish get to be rather big.

Looks like some sort of conure.


A skate.

More skates.

Here's that waterfall again.


A red ibis.

Fancy beaded pelican at the gift shop.

More fancy beaded critters.

Cute beaded lizard.

Big-ass giant catfish.

Ditto.



One of many coral reef displays.



Jelly fish.

What was really cool was that these jelly fish would phosphoresce. It's too bad the camera could not capture that.

Sea horse.

Another one.

There were lots of different species of seahorses.

A beautiful sea dragon.







Clown fish among the anemones.



More sea dragons.



These fish look like pieces of floating seaweed or kelp.


Pretty stripes.






I love the patterns on this fish - very tribal looking.

King crab. Yummy!

A boa.



Garden eels. They were so cool. Their tails are in the sand and they sway like blades of grass.

Cute lizard.

Hammerhead shark swimming over the shark tunnel.

Saw fish.

Manta ray.

A rattlesnake.

Alligators.

Silver dollars. We used to have these fish when we had an aquarium back in Massachusetts. Ourswere big, but not as big as the ones here.




There was even a jaguar at the DWA!


Closeup of the jaguar pattern.

A Mayan-type statue outside the jaguar exhibit.

Flamingos!

Tons of them!

Flamingos get their bright pink color from the algae they eat.



Looking down at the shark tank and shark tunnel.

The DWA was an incredibly cool place to tool around through.

It just kept going on forever.

Just when you thought you came to the end of your visit, there was still another large section to explore.

We spent 2 hours there, and it was nowhere near long enough to get the full appreciation of this very amazing place.


A really cool building outside the front of the Dallas World Aquarium.

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