Beneath the verdant canopy you'll find crashing waterfalls, gentle pools and a Mayan Colonnade.

You'll also find the popular Bat Cave and the Rainforest Rediscovered Exhibit featuring an ocelot, coatimundis, chevrotains and other rainforest animals on exhibit., as well as two-toed sloths and Cotton-Top Tamarins roaming free-range through the trees, as well as other rainforest animals on exhibit.

Highlights of the Rainforest Pyramid:

• Asian Rainforest: Second in size to its American counterpart, Asian tropical forests include those of Australia and the Pacific Islands, are varied and unique. Void of bromeliads, there are plenty of other epiphytes, especially aroids, ferns and orchids. Massive colonies of birds nest and staghorn ferns grow in some of the wettest areas, along with many species of pitcher plants. One of the most popular food plants in the world, bananas, originally came from the Asian tropics.
• The African Rainforest:
Although the rainforest of Africa encompasses a smaller area than either of its Asian or American counterparts, it is no less interesting and unique. Many plant groups are common to all rainforest areas, but each has wildlife specific to it. African forests have large ficus, mahogany and ebony trees, orchids and African "violets". Important commercial plants originating here include coffee, castor bean, oil palm and vanilla. The rosy periwinkle, from Madagascar, is one of the most important medicinal plants from this area. Medicines derived from this plant are still the best treatment for childhood leukemia.
• The Americas Rainforest:
The largest rainforest zone on Earth stretches from southern Mexico through Central America, the islands of the Caribbean and finally into South America. As one might expect, it is also the most biologically diverse. Aroids and other plants such as dieffenbachia, anthuriums, philodendrons, monstera and syngoniums abound, as do thousands of species of orchids and rainforest cacti. Exotic flowering plants, passion vines, powderpuff trees, plumeria and cattleya orchids originate here. The giant Victoria water lily inhabits the blackwater lakes of Amazonia. Important commercial crops include guava, chocolate, papaya, avocado, allspice and pineapple. The Cinchona tree from Bolivia and Peru yields one of the world's most import medicines, Quinine for the treatment of malaria. There are more than 25,000 species of plants known to exist in the Amazon alone, with many more yet to be discovered.
• The Mayan Colonnade:
This is an authentic re-creation of the Mayan Colonnades from Central America. It was generically produced from a photograph of these ancient ruins to capture the fine details of this great structure.
• The Bat Cave:
The 250-square-foot Bat Cave is home to 60 Old World bats native to Africa, as well as flying foxes and vampire bats on exhibit. The light cycle has been reversed to ensure the bats are active for visitors during "real" daytime hours. No other mammal has wings and can fly. They are found throughout the world in both temperate and tropical climates. Most bats are nocturnal and find their way by echolocation. Sounds, usually above the range of human hearing, are emitted through the mouth or nose and are reflected back as echoes which enable the bat to avoid obstacles and locate prey. There are two major groups of bats - the Microchiroptera and the Megachiroptera. The "Microbats" are the largest group with over 750 species worldwide. Most are insectivores, but some are specialized to eat fruit, fish, rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians and even other bats. The vampire bats of tropical America are in the group and have become specialists at feeding exclusively on the blood of other vertebrates. The "megabats", found only in the Old World tropics, are mostly fruit and nectar feeders. Some called "flying foxes" grow to a very large size. Fruit Bats live in a variety of habitats from lowlands to mountain forests. Roosts are ancient tombs and temples, garden trees, rock crevices and caves. Fruit bats feed primarily on fruit and nectar. This activity is important to plants and to forest survival as the bats pollinate flowers and disperse seeds as they feed. In some areas where agriculture has replaced native forest, fruit bats and flying foxes are thought to damage fruit crops.

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Rating Rated by Date Review DARLA 8/22/2008 9:31:00 AM WE CAME TO GALVESTON THE WEEK OF OUR ANNIVERSARY (8/4-8/8). AFTER WAITING OUT THE "STORM", THIS WAS A GREAT WAY TO SPEND THE DAY. IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL! vickie 8/10/2008 2:03:00 PM the Rainforest was closed due to "workes on a display" they kept saying it coiuld possibly open up later on that day. after checking 3 times and in line with a lot of other angry people we left. that night on the news we found out a snake had escaped and that is why it was shut down. the rainforest personnel could have communicate with the ticket sales people.....too many people bought tickets and were not able to see what they came there for. Blake 7/7/2008 11:14:00 AM We went to the Aquarium pyramid first and when we finished it earlier than expected went to the Rainforest. My two year old loved this pyramid too! Wonderful habitat for a variety of birds, animals and plants. We really enjoyed the colorful plumage of the birds and because we just came from the Aquarium, my daughter was fascinated by the fish. This pyramid really has it all.