Victoria Bug Zoo, Vancouver Island, Canada. Recent trip.

Pictures and reports of colonies on show around the world
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Acromyrmexbob
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Victoria Bug Zoo, Vancouver Island, Canada. Recent trip.

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Sat Feb 25, 2017 7:27 am

So last week I travelled to the Victoria Bug Zoo on Vancouver Island and delivered 2 colonies of Atta cephalotes to them. SPent a few hours discussing their set up. This is one that has been in place for many years, and is one of the most recognisable setups we have featured here. If you check through the threads below, I am sure we have shown pictures of it. Jordan and his team are very knowledgeable about all aspects of the inverts they have on display and the ant exhibit is very impressive. Unfortunately it seems like their exhibit is in decline and so they have secured two new colonies so they can effect a change over when and if this proves to be the case.

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This is one of the colonies I delivered to them, housed in its temporary tank.

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The display, I am sure you will recognise it.

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Such an interesting way to show the ants! There are in fact two colonies at work here, separated by blockages in the tube, but the effect is one big colony. What was strange is that the people here had seen their display on this Forum when they were reading various posts to get a background on things.

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Some of the chambers are showing reduced fungus, whereas before they were full. We discussed possible reasons for this and they were fairly sure it was humidity based. The ants were stockpiling cut leaves immediately outside the fungus chambers in order to raise the humidity.

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Also the ants have started to convert several chambers from fungal chambers into dump chambers. This is a sure sign that the balance within the colony has changed and there is an active decline at play.

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This is one of two feeding tables within the overall display. The ants were very busy but the team reported that they no longer get a constant, solid stream of leaves being carried. I believe they said the colony was into the teens in terms of age. A truly remarkable setup, and getting a couple of Atta colonies to install as backup now seemed to be very sensible indeed. If anyone is in the area of Vancouver Island I would highly recommend this attraction as a destination.

RichardP
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Re: Victoria Bug Zoo, Vancouver Island, Canada. Recent trip.

Post by RichardP » Sun Feb 26, 2017 11:38 am

What a fantastic set up... looks great...

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