Adventure: Dallas World Aquarium

I was in Texas last November (2019) to shoot my cousin David's wedding to his beautiful bride, Lacy. Jeremy and I decided to stay a few days after the wedding to enjoy exploring Texas, and my mom happened to have the same idea! Jeremy, Mom and I all flew out the same day (different airlines, different airports), and since we each had evening flights, we decided to go explore the Dallas World Aquarium. We also explored that area of Dallas a little bit. It was a bit drizzly and foggy that day, so I captured the photo below before we went into the Aquarium.

We were greeted by all sorts of greenery when we were approaching the aquarium. I loved these little boat planters in the window outside of the ticketing booth. I definitely think this could be a fun decorating idea for your home if you have a four season room!

You get to see animals right away in the ticketing area, which is cool. I loved this bird, even if he was keeping his back to me. PS this beautiful bird is a Shoebill Stork.
Learn more from the DWA website: ​https://dwazoo.com/animal/shoebill-stork/

DWA is gorgeous, and I highly recommend it to everyone.

This is definitely not an aquarium just for kids, it has gorgeous landscaping, wonderful exhibit set ups, and several restaurants that range from family friendly to targeted more for adults.

I absolutely loved this little waterfall they put into the landscaping, and the water it falls into is a sea life exhibit.

I also loved how most of the birds were able to fly around somewhat freely.

The little green bird below, called a green oropendola, was quite curious about me and my camera. To learn more about this cutie, check out: ​https://dwazoo.com/animal/green-oropendola/ 

PS I love how Dallas World Aquarium has informational pages on their animals. If you are stuck at home and have the desire to learn more about animals, it's a great website to check out!

Isn't he cute? Also, that's my amazing mama in the background with the purpley-gray top.

In case you don't know this about Jeremy already, he loves monkeys. I just told him about Monkey Island in Peru while writing this, and his response was, "That sounds cool!". So, I guess I'll add that to the list of future potential vacation spots.

The monkey below is a Pied Tamaran, and you can read up on this little primate here: ​https://dwazoo.com/animal/pied-tamarin/

I loved these birds. They were very vocal, and I thought they looked like baby "Toucey Toucey Birds"! George of the Jungle, anyone?

However, these little fellas are not toucans, they are aracaris. The ones pictured here are Humboldt's Lettered Aracaris, and they are pretty young!

​https://dwazoo.com/animal/humboldts-lettered-aracari/

The sloth was sleeping.... I don't think this will take anyone by surprise! Ha. 

​https://dwazoo.com/animal/hoffmans-two-toed-sloth/

I absolutely love this blue/purple, pink and red bromeliad above, left. The image below is of a different type of bromeliad as well. I tend to be drawn to them, photographically speaking.

The orinoco crocodile didn't really move at all while we were there, and I was somewhat convinced it was fake... until it twitched. Eek!
​https://dwazoo.com/animal/orinoco-crocodile/

I was so happy when I captured this electric eel swimming right for the glass. On second thought, maybe I shouldn't have been so excited, maybe he saw me as a snack. Who knows!

Just kidding ;)

Seriously though, I'm so glad I was able to get the reflection in the image too. And look at the little face! 

https://dwazoo.com/animal/electric-eel/
​
​The bird below reminded me of the brightly colored tropical birds you can find in your local PetCo or PetSmart. The little guy below is a hawk-headed parrot. I can confirm that I have never seen a hawk-headed parrot in stores, in case I triggered anyone with my previous statement. Just love the colors!

https://dwazoo.com/animal/hawk-headed-parrot/

I love sea life exhibits that are lit up with black lights. The little guy above is a Banggai Cardinalfish. 

https://dwazoo.com/animal/banggai-cardinalfish/

There was this part of the aquarium where you could look through and see people on the other side. It was fun seeing my fiance (then boyfriend) and mom enjoying the fish.

Is it just me, or does the freshwater sawfish above look bloody. Uff da!

I believe the coloring is actually from a mix of its diet and dyes that get on its skin from the bottom of the exhibit. At least, I did not witness any "fish killings" while I was there!

https://dwazoo.com/animal/freshwater-sawfish/

You can also see him in the photos of Jeremy and my mama checking him out below. Props to my mom for doing a scream pose!

One of my favorite sea creatures is the sea horse. Fun fact, I actually did a project on them back in fifth grade. The one pictured here is a Longsnout Seahorse.

https://dwazoo.com/animal/longsnout-seahorse/

Aren't the colors of the world just gorgeous? The colors of the coral with the brightly colored fish, the octopus puckers, the greenery with the bright pink flamingos,  and even the slight pink on the penguin's feet all bring me such joy. This is why I love photography. 

Thank you all for your time in reading this blog about my trip to Dallas World Aquarium, and I hope you enjoy the links I have provided to their website which give you educational information on each creature pictured in this blog! For the final images, check out the links below.

https://dwazoo.com/animal/black-footed-penguin/

https://dwazoo.com/animal/carberryi-anthias/

https://dwazoo.com/animal/giant-pacific-octopus/

https://dwazoo.com/animal/american-flamingo/