You are absolutely welcome.
The Dallas World Aquarium is a gorgeous place and I definitely recommend visiting it if any of you are in the area. It is really quite hard to describe. The outside exhibits are seasonal depending on the weather and I believe in the cooler months are completely empty.
The outside walk takes you up and around the building until you get to the entrance. When you enter the 7 story building you are up in the canopy of the trees. These trees are actually rooted really far down below you in the ground and have grown up to nearly the ceiling. There isn't one tiny bit of free space anywhere in there. Everything has a plant or something to catch your eye. There are dozens and dozens of bird species ranging from humming birds, soft-bills, flamingos, occelated turkeys, currasows, parrots, waterfowl and birds of prey.
You descend down through the forest alongside a thundering cataract of water with monkeys playing until you get to the water and see swans floating serenely on top with manatees and large fish cruising underneath. Then there are river otters and Orinoco crocodiles, and other ground dwelling species like jaguars or ocelots, frogs, and even rabbits. On the bottom floor are also beautiful fish tanks fresh and marine before you finally descend into the cenote (se-note-tay) which is on the basement level and has sharks and other large marine fish, mimicking a cenote in South America.
I know they have another building where I presume they do quite a bit of breeding, and they are one of the only facilities outside of South America to have a breeding pair of the Orinoco crocs, and only because they return the young to the wild. I would have loved to work there if I lived in Dallas. It is a beautiful place.
Here are a few pics:
Flamingos (Caribbean I believe):
Adult and juvenile Orinoco Croc:
Currassow (don't remember species):
Misc:
And so we are not off-topic I saw where Bird Express has the Golden-headed mannikans listed but aren't currently for sale. I wonder how much they go for? They also had the Paradise tanagers listed and I believe that Paradise Earth has the tanagers as well.
When people say that tanagers and other soft-bills are messy...what exactly is messy? I know fruit and other soft food items makes for soft poop but surely they can't be compared to the liquid poo a Lory, Lorikeet, or Toucan has right?
