Dallas World Aquarium

Established in 1982 in a vacant 1920s warehouse building in the West End Historic District, the Dallas World Aquarium is currently housed within an expanded aquarium complex that includes both freshwater and saltwater exhibits in two separate buildings. The Aquarium's first major international exhibit, Orinoco: Secrets of the River, opened in 1997. Since then, the institution's conservation efforts have focused extensively on the animals and ecosystems of Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rico, Mexico, and Brazil. In 2020, the Aquarium unveiled its newest exhibit, The Cloud Forest Trek, a multi-sensory LED-screen journey through a Columbian rainforest, with live jungle plants and animals that are indigenous to South America.

The Dallas World Aquarium was established in 1982 in an old warehouse building located at 1801 North Griffin Street in the West End Historic District. The warehouse, built in 1924, had been used by several different industries, from the Mohawk Rubber Company to the Pioneer Steel Rule and Die Company. Next door, another warehouse, built in 1929, previously housed a Venetian blinds manufacturing company and also a restaurant and bar known as the "Tejano Rodeo." By the 1990s, the Aquarium acquired this second warehouse, gutting the interior as it had done with the first warehouse, so that only the exterior brick walls and support beams remained. After completely renovating the property, the Aquarium was able to expand, utilizing both of the old warehouses. The alley that ran between the two buildings became known as "The Channel," as it separated the Aquarium's saltwater tanks, located in one building, from the freshwater tanks in the other.

In 1997, the Aquarium opened its first habitat display, Orinoco: Secrets of the River. This exhibit continues to feature dozens of different species of birds and animals that inhabit the Orinoco River watershed. The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America, flowing through Venezuela and Columbia. The birds on display in this exhibit include the Saffron toucanet (a yellow bird with an olive-green horn beak), the Blue-crowned motmot (a vibrantly-colored kingfisher), the Gray-winged trumpeter (a terrestrial bird found only in the forests of South America), and the Great tinamou (a ground-nesting bird with brownish plumage who lays turquoise eggs in leaf litter), to name just a few. Other animals in this exhibit include the Pied tamarin (a primate that inhabits the rainforest canopy), the exceptionally slow-moving Hoffman's Two-toed sloth, the critically-endangered Orinoco crocodile, the Electric eel, the Red-bellied piranha (a freshwater fish native to South America), the Waxy Monkey Tree Frog (who lives its adult life entirely in the trees), the Yellow-spotted Amazon turtle, and the Red Howler Monkey (whose rumbling growl can be heard three miles away, and whose call often signals the onset of rain).

In 2020, the Dallas World Aquarium opened its most recent exhibit, The Cloud Forest Trek, which occupies a huge third-floor space. This high-tech, multi-sensory exhibit includes a "wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling" LED video screen that shows what life is like for the animals in an actual South American rainforest at various times of day and night. Animal vocalizations from the video mingle with the sounds of live animals who are also part of The Cloud Forest Trek. These live animals include a Three-toed sloth from Costa Rica and a Southern Pudu, the world's smallest species of deer. Many of the frog species included in the exhibit are currently endangered or threatened in their natural habitats within the Andean Cloud Forests of Ecuador, Columbia, and Peru. This exhibit aligns with the Aquarium's ongoing wildlife conservation efforts in South America. Among its varied conservation efforts throughout the continent, a team of biologists and veterinarians from the Aquarium recently released five rehabilitated Amazonian manatees back into their natural habitat in Iquitos, Peru.

About, Dallas World Aquarium. Accessed April 24th, 2023. https://dwazoo.com/about-dwa/.

Clark, Katie. "SNA Displays Brings Multi-Sensory Rainforest Exhibit to Life in Dallas Zoo", Rave Pubs. November 5th, 2021. Accessed April 24th, 2023. https://www.ravepubs.com/sna-displays-brings-multi-sensory-rainforest-exhibit-to-life-in-dallas-zoo/.

Little Blue Penguins, Dallas World Aquarium Facebook Page. April 10th, 2023. Accessed April 24th, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/DallasWorldAquarium.

Orinoco, Dallas World Aquarium. Accessed April 24th, 2023. https://dwazoo.com/exhibit/orinoco/.

"The Dallas World Aquarium, Peruvian Conservation Group Release Rescued Amazonian Manatees", Business Wire. November 3rd, 2017. Accessed April 24th, 2023. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171103005865/en/The-Dallas-World-Aquarium-Peruvian-Conservation-Group-Release-Rescued-Amazonian-Manatees.