TACOMA — Lemurs. Meerkats. Mole rats. They aren’t as different from people as you might think, at least when it comes to building family, home and community.
That’s the message that officials hope to convey with Animal Avenue, the latest attraction at Point Defiance Zoo &Aquarium.
The $4.2 million exhibit opens Saturday. It’s next door to the Kids’ Zone, and it technically completes the 2005 youth-themed attraction.
Animal Avenue is tailored to children ages 3 to 8, though officials hope people of all ages will find it interesting.
“Children in this age range are learning about the world through their own relationships,” said Carla Collette, the zoo’s education curator. “They compare animal families to their own families.”
That thinking helped guide the selection of animals used in the new exhibit.
It helps, of course, that lemurs and meerkats are riding high in pop culture. Zoboo the lemur has a plum role in the PBS Kids program “Zoboomafoo with the Kratt Brothers,” and meerkats have their own soap-opera-style reality television show on Animal Planet, “Meerkat Manor.”
But that’s not the only reason they were chosen for the new exhibit, Collette said.
“Meerkats are amazing how they build great family structure and great community structure,” she said.
Lemurs likewise build amazing family structures and communities, Collette said, adding, “You can’t help but look at them and fall in love with them.”
The exhibit is modern and open, with climbing structures for both animals and children. One of the climbing toys inside the lemur exhibit mimics a structure at the Kids’ Zone, demonstrating to kids and adults that young lemurs and children share a love of play and climbing.
“The lemurs and the kids can see each other play on the same structure,” said John Houck, deputy zoo director.
Animal Avenue is the culmination of six years worth of major projects including the Wild Wonders theater and the Asian Forest Sanctuary exhibit, Houck said. The same “creative team” has pretty much remained intact throughout the projects, and Houck said he believes Animal Avenue is the group’s best work.
Eighteen species will live in Animal Avenue. The meerkats are awaiting a final permit before they move into their space and won’t be on display when the exhibit opens.
Features include a darkened scorpion tunnel, a network of mole rat tunnels with peek-a-boo glass viewing areas, and an interactive wall with an ant character named Simon who speaks in rhyme.
There also are an aquarium with cichlids — fish that hold their babies in a pouch inside their mouths — a giant bird’s nest and a toddler sand pit with statues of a mother Western pond turtle and her young.
About half of the cost of the exhibit came from the voter-approved 2005 Metro Parks Tacoma park improvement bond. Another $2.3 million was raised from private sources.
Admission to Animal Avenue is included in regular zoo admission.
18 kinds of creatures featured
Animal Avenue, the latest exhibit at the Point Defiance Zoo &Aquarium, includes these animals:
n Meerkat
n Ring-tailed lemur
n Black lemur
n Damaraland mole rat
n Golden orb weaver spider
n Goliath bird-eating spider
n Emerald tree boa
n Green tree python
n Western Bell’s hingeback tortoise
n Pancake tortoise
n Ornate horned frog
n White’s tree frog
n Hourglass tree frog
n Suriname toad
n Long-legged desert ant
n African emperor scorpion
n Madagascar hissing cockroach
n African cichlids
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