The very best place to go for an introduction to the kind of wildlife you are likely to see during an Alberta mountain get-away is the Calgary Zoo. The Zoo has recently opened a new and beautiful exhibit reproducing the terrain, plant and animal life found naturally in the Canadian Wilds. The object of the exhibit is to immerse visitors in the habitat, surrounding them with the feel of a mountain meadow, rocky canyons, lush valleys and quiet hillsides. There is even a burnt-out forest, with blackened skeletons of pines prickling at the sky and a vigourous stand of new trees coming up underneath.
Visitors enter through the Aspen Woodlands Phase of the project, where the leaves of the aspen poplars quiver in the slightest breeze. Beneath the trees a variety of native shrubs, bushes, and berries flourish. Resting in the shade of a stand of poplar trees on a hillside are herds of whitetail and mule deer. Wild turkeys strut as if they were the only attraction, or at least the only one worth seeing! Children can crawl through the hillside in a specially constructed tunnel, and peer into the porcupine's den.
As the woodlands give way to the Rocky Mountains Phase it becomes increasingly obvious that this is definitely meant to be a hands-on exhibit. There are canyon walls to be climbed, a waterfall and mountain stream to be splashed in, and there is a "cave" in the works that children will be able to explore.
The wind and rain-eroded canyon walls are touched with patches of lichen and though the walls themselves are actually built of rebar and gunnite, they look very much like the real thing. The care taken to reproduce the habitat of mountain wildlife shows. Mountain goats and sheep graze the steep rocky hill and cliff sides with perfect ease. The peaks looming behind them place them in context, and they appear totally content.
The trail winds through a canopy of trees beside a small set of rapids, and on into the forest fire/burnt timber section which demonstrates the devastion and regrowth that accompanies forest fires. This area is so realistically reproduced that a "Prevent Forest Fires" TV commercial was filmed here. The mile-long trail crests a ridge and emerges at a major crossroad for zoo foot-traffic, near the bridge over the Bow River.Looking back you see what appears to be wilderness. Looking ahead the downtown skyline, powerlines and all the trappings of a modern city are very much in evidence.
The Calgary Zoo is open all year, for more information call 403-232-9300.
Are you interested in hiking up Mount Yamnuska, then continue onto the next page
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