Reptile Gardens
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Reptile Gardens is an animal park featuring the world's largest collection of venomous snakes[1]. It is located in Rapid City, South Dakota, in the Midwest Region of the United States. The mission of Reptile Gardens is "To educate the public on important environmental issues, while working closely with many major zoos worldwide to promote species survival".
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[edit] History
Founded in 1937, by reptile enthusiast, Earl Brockelsby, Reptile Gardens was conceived upon Earl's discovery of people's innate interest in snakes. Growing up in the small town of Kadoka, South Dakota, he kept snakes as pets - his yard would be filled with friends and neighbors eager to observe these interesting creatures and admire Earl's courage to handle them.
Today, Reptile Gardens continues its legacy as an entertainment source. It is still operated and under the ownership of the Brockelsby family, and has steadily grown from its modest beginnings of a one-man show, to one of the major tourist attractions in the Midwest[2].
[edit] Animal Overview
Reptile Gardens houses a large collection of reptiles, from crocodiles and alligators, to turtles, lizards, and snakes; as well as amphibians ranging from salamanders to frogs. They also have a variety of birds of prey and a prairie dog town.
The animal park maintains many rare species of snakes from around the world; these include Rough-scaled Pythons, Fierce Snakes, and Samar Spitting Cobras.
Reptile Gardens also offers educational interactive animal shows and a tropical Sky Dome.
[edit] Animal Shows
This family attraction hosts 3 animal shows during the summer. These shows are both educational and interactive.
The Snake Show gives visitors the chance to learn about snakes - venomous, non venomous, and constrictors; the snake keepers also teach snake safety techniques.
The Crocodilian Show includes 57 crocodilians - Alligators, Crocodiles, and Caimans.
The Bird Show, also known as “Wings of Adventure”, highlights a variety of birds from around the world and discusses conservation efforts to aid in species survival.
[edit] Sky Dome
The Sky Dome is a 3-leveled structure. It includes a Safari Room on the main level, their extensive collection of snakes on the Mezzanine Level, and crocodiles, alligators, lizards, amphibians, and bugs on the Lower Level.
The Safari Room houses a multitude of colorful, rare, and unusual jungle and desert plants and colorful finches, parrots and macaws.
The Safari Room also houses a replica of the largest turtle fossil ever found, an Archelon Turtle Fossil[3]. Archelons are the largest turtle species known to Man. It was found by paleontologists a short distance from Reptile Gardens in the 1970s. In spite of efforts by Reptile Gardens' founder Earl Brockelsby to keep the original in South Dakota, it was sold to a museum in Vienna, Austria.
Reptile Gardens' collection of exotic reptiles is on the Mezzanine Level of the Sky Dome, this includes the most venomous snake on earth - the Fierce Snake, as well as the rarest snakes in the world, the Rough-scaled Pythons. Reptile Gardens has the ONLY rough-scaled pythons in the world outside of Australia[4].
The Lower Level is home to various species of Crocodilians - Alligators, Crocodiles, and Caimans, a variety of amphibians, and bugs.
[edit] Maniac
Maniac, their large saltwater crocodile, is the largest captive saltwater crocodile in North America. Maniac is 15 feet 8 inches long, and weighs in at 1250 pounds.
Maniac is originally from Australia and was born in captivity in 1970. He safely made the long journey to South Dakota in 2004, under the careful guidance of Reptile Garden's Head Curator, Ken Earnest.
Worldwide, there are only 2 saltwater crocodiles in captivity larger than Maniac - Cassius at Marineland Melanesia on Green Island, Australia, and Yai, a saltwater/siamese hybrid in Thailand. Cassius is 18 feet long, and Yai is reported by the Guiness Book of World Records to be 19 feet 8 inches.
[edit] Methuselah
Methuselah is a giant Galapagos Tortoise and Reptile Garden's oldest resident. He was born in 1881 in the Galapagos Islands, is 127 years old, weighs 600 pounds, and is nicknamed "Earl" (after the founding father of of Reptile Gardens, Earl Brockelsby). Methuselah celebrates his birthday each year by feasting on his favorite food, watermelon.
[edit] Conservation
The members of the Reptile Gardens’ team are very aware of the importance of preserving vital wildlife habitats, especially the native lands of many of their animals - wetland and rain forest areas. They make special donations to various environmental conservation organizations, like the Charles Darwin Center in the Galapagos Islands, for example. The money donated to these wildlife organizations helps to protect the natural wildlife of these spectacular environments.
[edit] Conservation Green Committee
The stockholders of Reptile Gardens have created a task force to explore energy conservation applications and the exciting potential for introducing energy efficient technologies to their grounds.
Members from this team of reptile experts attend community seminars in order to educate themselves about the possibility of wind and solar power in the area. They hope to eventually install solar panels and/or wind turbines on their grounds.
