This weekend we decided to use our tickets that my sister gave us to go and visit the Biodome. This popular tourist attraction was thankfully quiet this sunny Sunday and we were able to wander through nice and easily without any pushing and shoving like you sometimes get at zoo-type places.
The Biodome has five ecosystems of the Americas including a tropical rainforest, Laurentian Maple Forest, Golf of St Lawrence, Labrador Island and Sub-Antarctic Islands. Each section has flora and fauna consistent with those ecosystems and visitors can walk around the paths and viewing platforms admiring the lovely flowers and spotting the sometimes shy animals.
The Biodome has five ecosystems of the Americas including a tropical rainforest, Laurentian Maple Forest, Golf of St Lawrence, Labrador Island and Sub-Antarctic Islands. Each section has flora and fauna consistent with those ecosystems and visitors can walk around the paths and viewing platforms admiring the lovely flowers and spotting the sometimes shy animals.
The first area we came to was the tropical rainforest and we found ourselves stripping off our coats as we walked through. Austin found the (fake) poisonous frog and jumped onto it straight away! He also found the (fake) alligator and pretended to be eaten by it, or was it vice versa? Anyway, he also loved watching the massive fish and rays swimming past a viewing window and stayed at that one for ages. We were surprised at how much there was to see in this one section and it took a lot longer than we thought to get through.
Next, we hit the Laurentian Maple Forest and this is where we expected to see otters (see photo of Austin sliding down the otter slide), beavers and the much-awaited baby lynxes. We were lucky enough to go past a Biodome employee who was giving out explanations on the different animals in this ecosystem and so Austin got a very exclusive talk on beavers and the lynxes and how they make their homes and what they eat. Even I learnt some things (not surprising since I don't know much about Canadian animals in general), like beavers don't actually eat wood, they chew off the bark and then use the wood to make their beaver dams. And the feet of the lynx are massive and covered in lots of fur so they don't sink in the snow when they're running after the snow-shoe hare they like to eat! Can you guess why the snow-shoe hare is called that? I bet you can! Oh, if you'd like to see the baby lynxes in action yourself, there's a video here from the Biodome website. They're very cute! But do you know what? In the end we only saw the face of the mother and she was way up high so we didn't even get a glimpse of the lynx kittens! We did see the beavers from through a glass window and they were very cool. One actually picked a rock up off the floor of the pool and carried it between its paws to where he was building his dam!
After the Laurentian Maple Forest was the Golf of St Lawrence exhibit where we got to see lots of sea life from above and below. We again encountered a Biodome employee, who was all too eager to talk about the difference between sea urchins and sea anemones! This section had some huge fish in it including the Atlantic salmon and Atlantic sturgeon, and also some seaweed that looked like it came from the dinosaur era!
The Labrador coast is meant to represent the subarctic zone and if you can imagine a place with no vegetation, this is it. Cute little puffins and auks waddled their way around the stark landscape and some even approached the glass like they knew people wanted to take their photo!
Finally, we came to the Sub-Antarctic Islands, which is ironic given that we're closer to the Arctic than the Antarctic! Here we saw lots of penguins sitting on the icy rocks, swimming playfully in the water and popping back up onto the rocks. It felt like we were watching a live version of the movie Happy Feet! Click here to see my Youtube video of the penguins we saw.
Finally, we came to the Sub-Antarctic Islands, which is ironic given that we're closer to the Arctic than the Antarctic! Here we saw lots of penguins sitting on the icy rocks, swimming playfully in the water and popping back up onto the rocks. It felt like we were watching a live version of the movie Happy Feet! Click here to see my Youtube video of the penguins we saw.
We sat down to a relaxing cafe lunch and pondered what we were going to do for the rest of the day. It was so sunny outside, albeit a little chilly, that we thought it a shame to go home. So we decided that after I'd had a quick look around in the souvenir shop (I don't know why I like souvenir shops, I hardly ever buy anything but I just love looking at things!), we'd head off to another park that we hadn't been to yet. On the way to the souvenir shop, we passed the sign to the Naturalia exhibition so I suggested Michael and Austin go there while they were waiting for me (to wander slowly around the souvenir shop!).
Half an hour later I went to find them and discovered Austin looking at a feather through a microscope in a room filled with touch and feel things from nature. There were stuffed animals, creatures in fish tanks and lots of microscopes around the room for kids (and adults) to look at different things they found. My favourite was the smell test; 16 herb jars filled with cotton wool, each containing a different smell that you had to identify and put on the right picture. Smells ranged from lavender and lily of the valley to cloves and thyme. Austin was really good at it and I've put it down as something for his next birthday party, although Michael reckons a touchy-feely guessing competition would be more fun than a smelling one for 5-year-olds.
After discovering the Naturalia exhibition, and spending more time there than walking through the zoo part, we never did get to the park but we had a great day and will definitely go again while we're here. Thanks again Dan!
After discovering the Naturalia exhibition, and spending more time there than walking through the zoo part, we never did get to the park but we had a great day and will definitely go again while we're here. Thanks again Dan!
How to get there
The Biodome is in the Olympic Park complex so the best metro station is Viau.