Nocturnal house

For other uses, see Nocturama (disambiguation).

Animal in the nocturnal house at the Calgary Zoo.

A nocturnal house, sometimes called a nocturama,^[1] is a building in a zoo or research establishment where nocturnal animals are kept and viewable by the public. The unique feature of buildings of this type is that the lighting within is isolated from the outside and reversed; i.e. it is dark during the day and lit at night. This is to enable visitors and researchers to more conveniently study nocturnal animals during daylight hours.

Internally, a building usually consists of several glass-walled enclosures containing a replica of the animals' normal environments. In the case of burrowing animals, often their tunnels are 'half-glassed' so the animals can be observed while underground.

Notable nocturnal houses

Current

USA

• Kingdoms of The Night, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (Nebraska)
• Nocturnal Building and Aviary, Columbus Zoo & Aquarium (Ohio)
• Animals of The Night, Memphis Zoo (Tennessee)
• Bat House in Jaguar Jungle, Audubon Zoo (Louisiana)
• Brazos by Night, Cameron Park Zoo (Texas)
• Mouse House, Bronx Zoo (New York)
• Desert's Edge and Clouded leopard Rain Forest, Brookfield Zoo (Illinois)
• Night Hunters, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden (Ohio)

Mexico

• Guadalajara Zoo

United Kingdom

• Nightlife, ZSL London Zoo
• Fruit Bat Forest, Chester Zoo

Europe

• Berlin Zoological Garden
• Frankfurt Zoological Garden
• Moscow Zoo
• Prague Zoo
• Plzen Zoo
• Budapest Zoological and Botanical Garden

Australasia

• Taronga Zoo
• Wild Life Sydney
• Adelaide Zoo
• Perth Zoo
• David Fleay Wildlife Park
• Auckland Zoo

India

• Nandankanan Zoological Park

Former

USA

• World of Darkness, Bronx Zoo (New York) - closed 2009

• The Night Exhibit, Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle, WA) - closed 2010

References

1. The Rotarian - Jan 1977 - Page 19 "Although ours is a private zoological organization, we still manage to operate an aquarium, a dolphinarium, a planetarium, a nocturama, a botanical garden, a museum of natural history, a public library, a natural reserve of some 100 hectares ..."

External links

• Queensland Environmental Protection Agency
• Goodzoos.com