The Rainforest at Moody Gardens, Galveston TX

I went on a trip to Galveston, TX in late June and wrote a little about it here.  The first couple of days we were there it rained, which at the time everyone really wanted since it had not rained since Jan 24 in that area.  We didn't mind because there were lots of things to see and do in the area.  One of the things to do is the Rainforest museum.
Here's what it looks like on the outside of it.

The Rainforest Pyramid at Moody Gardens, Galveston TX

And here's what it looks like from the inside looking up.  I liked the geometric design of the place. 

To get to the Museum we had to walk outside and they had an exhibit with two live Otters playing.  Otters are almost extinct and the place was fortunate to be able to get these two.  Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Otters

Once inside the pyramid there was all sorts of display cases with exotic animals that are found in the Rainforest.  My son liked see these the best.
Below is a poisonous Dart frog.  You wouldn't think something so small could be so deadly to humans.  This is the animal that the Amazon's used to coat there darts with that they use to hunt with.

I like the way they had nice signs explaining what you see see.
I know the pictures are not the best.  Like the Aquarium you could not use a flash in the building so it all depended on the lighting of the exhibit whether the pictures turned out or not.  I did take a lot that ended up getting deleted since they were too difficult to see.

Iguana

Here's a snake that at the time I could tell you what it was but right now its totally slipped my mind.  All I know was it is poisonous.

This exhibit I found really fascinating to look at.  They had butterfly's hatching from their cocoons.  They had them so you could see all different stages of how the caterpillar metamorphosis into a butterfly.  They also had signs explaining things too.  I think this was a Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

 

 I think the one below is a Monarch Butterfly.  These were in two different locations.

What was neat to do was to go into this area that had a fine net around it.  There were all sorts of butterflies flying around.  The Monarchs were in this enclosed area while the Tiger Swallowtails were in the display area.

After we saw the butterflies we started to walk around.  I was surprise to see this bird just standing in the middle of the path.  I started to look at him and expected him to fly away, but he just stood there.  The more I looked  at the bird I could tell it was a juvenile that was starting to molt.  The bird obviously had been hatched in the Rainforest pyramid and had been around people its whole life and thus its lack of fear of people coming up and taking its picture.

A molting Sunbittern

This Sunbittern was starting to molt some of  its baby feathers.  It was so engrossed in it that it paid no attention to people just walking up to it.  It was fascinating to watch and it did put on a show.

A Sunbittern starting to open its feathers.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Sunbitterns.

Sunbittern (Eurypyga helias major)

The main thing about the Rainforest wasn't about the unique animals you find there (but that is what my son was most interested in) but more about the abundant and varied vegetation that grows so prolifically there.  What was very interesting to me was the fact that just a few years earlier when I had been there the pyramid had been closed because of all of the damage it had undergone with Hurricane Ike in 2008 (Ike had been very damaging as read in this Wikipedia article about the  2008_Atlantic_hurricane_season ).
They basically had to redo most of the pyramid, yet just 3 years later it was looking like this. 

Zebraplant at the Rainforest Pyramid, Moody Gardens Galveston TX

Again I like the way the plants had signs by them so that I could know what I was looking at.  Now if I could just remember it all when I see them in other places. I wish I could take plants and signs like this around with me, but instead I've settled for a photo or two.

Sealing Wax Palm @ the Rainforest Pyramid, Moody Gardens Galeston, TX

Now I'm just going to include a few of the many pictures I took of plants that I enjoyed viewing.

Rosey Periwinkle @ Rainforest Pyramid, Moody Gardens.

Wild Orchid

Java Laurel

Anthuriums

They were all around this lovely pond. 

Which was feed by this waterfall. 

African Violets

Here's the brochure that came with the Rainforest Pyramid.  You were suppose to keep track of the birds you saw.  We saw most of them but not all of them.

Someone did not realize there were Parrots there too, and they were not in the brochure.

Now I muse upon what these two parrots where saying to each other.