Biodome, Montreal

Montreal hosted the Olympic Games in 1976. Like many other cities, they had to build facilities for the events, facilities that would need a purpose after the athletes went home. Some of the park buildings were turned into museums. We parked in one of the underground lots and walked over to the Biodome, a recreation of five different ecosystems under one roof.

Part of the Olympic Park, now quite quiet

A stadium

Olympic Rings from an awkward angle

The Biodome looks quite futuristic from outside, but the ecospheres definitely feel like different places. We visited in cold weather and had to take our winter coats off as we visited the Tropical Rainforest area.

Scarlet macaws

More macaws

Blue-and-yellow macaw

Birds aren't the only animals in the forest. We saw a very lazy Broad-snouted caiman who did not even move for the five minutes we watched it. I guess that's good for a predator.

Broad-snouted caiman

The trees were home to Golden lion Tamarins, little orange monkeys with cute faces and very long tails.

Golden lion Tamarin

Such a cute face

A tunnel led us to see various fish and nocturnal animals like snakes and bats.

Turtle and Fish, a good name for a pub

Cute little fish

Uncute Emerald tree boa

Dyeing poison dart frogs (blue, not Oyapock)

Yellow anaconda

We went up a staircase to one biodome that was called "Bio-Machine" and was more like an interactive science exhibit, not an ecosphere. The kids had fun there.

What does the animal eat?

Screen time!

From our high viewpoint, we saw the Gulf of St. Lawrence area and the Laurentian Maple Forest.

Ecospheres from on high

We visited the Gulf of St. Lawrence area next. We saw some Black guillemots hanging out on the rocks far above the water.

Cliff dwellers

The main attraction was the waters, which was full of sea stars and sturgeons, along with the occasional aquatic bird.

Underwater stars!

Taking a swim

Not taking a swim

The next ecosphere was the Sub-Polar Region, which was basically a penguin habitat.

King penguins

Swimming underwater

A place to chill

More swimming

A small stream from the rocks

No end of penguins

Our final area to visit was the Laurentian Maple Forest, also the home of many cute animals. No creature is cuter than a river otter!

North American River Otter

Resting animals

The North American beavers built a large lodge but were not out doing things. The museum had a camera inside of the lodge, which showed the beavers resting.

Beaver lodge

Lynx hiding in the trees

Beavers not doing much on TV

A final walk led us through more of the Gulf of St. Lawerence aquariums with their huge sturgeons.

That sturgeon is going for your neck!

Upwardly-mobile sturgeon

Snail with shell on its back

Moon jellies in their own tank

It's fun to see a bit of nature we don't get to see in our day-to-day lives.