Visitors to Auckland Zoo can expect to get hot and sweaty in its new fully immersive habitat that houses crocodiles, thousands of fish and exotic flora.
The Indonesian Swamp Forest marks the completion of the zoo's most ambitious project yet in its 100-year history.
Unlocking Auckland Zoo's hottest new attraction a place where a myriad of tropical fish cruises around with their flatmates the Sunda gharial crocodiles.
"It’s a climate-controlled dome in the heart of the zoo," Animal Care and Conservation's head Richard Gibson said.
The structure was engineered to mimic the hot and humid environment of countries near the equator so the tropical flora and animals can thrive.
" It's absolutely critical if you’re working with ectothermic species that you provide not only a physical environment that looks like where they come from but climatically it behaves where they come from as well," Gibson said.
The heat hits you as soon as you walk through the doors, the habitat climate is set at 28 degrees and between 70 to 90 percent humidity year-round.
To top off the fully immersive multi-sensory tropical experience it even rains, just one element that's controlled in a dedicated life support system room.
"Certainly for Auckland Zoo, this is the most complex complete and computer-controlled life support we have. It’s definitely state-of-the-art," Gibson said.
The Indonesian Swamp Forest is the final exhibit to be completed in the zoo's South East Asia Jungle Track, a $62 million project that spans one fifth of Auckland Zoo.
It contains a high canopy for orangutans and siamangs and Lowlands for Sumatran tigers and otters.
"It's been such a long project a lot of us are teetering between exhaustion and being relieved we have finally got across the line and then the other part of us is so excited to be able to share this with our visitors," Gibson said.
And one that everyone can soon enjoy in its entirety when the dome opens to the public on Saturday.
