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.
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| Part of the Olympic Park, now quite quiet |
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| A stadium |
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| 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.
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| Scarlet macaws |
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| More macaws |
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| 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.
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| Broad-snouted caiman |
The trees were home to Golden lion Tamarins, little orange monkeys with cute faces and very long tails.
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| Golden lion Tamarin |
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| Such a cute face |
A tunnel led us to see various fish and nocturnal animals like snakes and bats.
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| Turtle and Fish, a good name for a pub |
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| Cute little fish |
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| Uncute Emerald tree boa |
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| Dyeing poison dart frogs (blue, not Oyapock) |
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| 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.
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| What does the animal eat? |
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| Screen time! |
From our high viewpoint, we saw the Gulf of St. Lawrence area and the Laurentian Maple Forest.
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| 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.
The main attraction was the waters, which was full of sea stars and sturgeons, along with the occasional aquatic bird.
The next ecosphere was the Sub-Polar Region, which was basically a penguin habitat.
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!
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.
A final walk led us through more of the Gulf of St. Lawerence aquariums with their huge sturgeons.
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| Cliff dwellers |
The main attraction was the waters, which was full of sea stars and sturgeons, along with the occasional aquatic bird.
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| Underwater stars! |
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| Taking a swim |
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| Not taking a swim |
The next ecosphere was the Sub-Polar Region, which was basically a penguin habitat.
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| King penguins |
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| Swimming underwater |
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| A place to chill |
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| More swimming |
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| A small stream from the rocks |
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| 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!
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| North American River Otter |
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| 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.
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| Beaver lodge |
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| Lynx hiding in the trees |
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| Beavers not doing much on TV |
A final walk led us through more of the Gulf of St. Lawerence aquariums with their huge sturgeons.
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| That sturgeon is going for your neck! |
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| Upwardly-mobile sturgeon |
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| Snail with shell on its back |
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| 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.
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