A Short Hop to the Tropics

Walk into the Santa Barbara Zoo’s new Toad Hall and darkness envelops you as the wild cackles and chirps of the rain forest fill the air.

Apparently, the re-created atmosphere is realistic because what sometimes happens is even wilder: Local frogs and lizards skitter into the exhibit from the marshy bird refuge nearby. Spotting the local intruders on the floor, zoo visitors then get excited, thinking the critters have escaped from the glassed-in enclosures that house their more exotic cousins, such as the infamous poison arrow frogs.

Toad Hall opened in the fall, and the zoo is getting ready for another grand opening of sorts. The gorilla compound has a couple of new residents: two 5-year-old male gorillas. Born at the Buffalo Zoo, the pair--teenagers in gorilla years--are being gradually introduced to another occupant of the compound: Max, a 27-year-old silverback gorilla who settled into the zoo’s lush new $750,000 gorilla quarters in June.

The zoo hasn’t officially announced the arrival of the pair because the gorillas are still getting used to Max and their new digs.

Compared to the huge, grassy, rock-lined gorilla compound, Toad Hall is modest. The building is small, but you’ll spot it easily because of the colorful likenesses of rain-forest animals painted on the exterior by 12 local schoolchildren.

Inside, the frogs, geckos, chameleons and other lizards, from the island of Madagascar as well as South and Central America, are housed in three glassed-in enclosures. Don’t expect to be wowed by this exhibit right away. Some of these little guys are not that easy to spot.

“It’s a little like ‘Where’s Waldo,’ ” said Kelly Rogers, the zoo’s public relations coordinator. But if you spend some time here, you will be rewarded. Some frogs have vivid markings and odd features, like the red-eyed tree frogs. The poison arrow frogs come in some wild colors. One type is black with yellow cross-bands, and its babies look like bumblebees. They are so named because Indians of South America would poison the tips of their hunting darts with toxic secretions from the frog’s skin. Their vivid colors serve a purpose: to warn predators to stay away.

The tomato frogs from Madagascar resemble the various shades of a tomato, from orange yellow to deep lobster red. Two plump adult tomato frogs have been segregated from the scads of babies that hop about the enclosure.

Joe Hoegeman, the animal keeper and frog expert who set up the exhibit, is clearly entranced by the fiery red frog. Pointing to one, he said, “I think she’s beautiful.”

Hoegeman is trying to breed the endangered variety of the tomato frog (the more common type is on display). Eventually he hopes to breed some of the other species as well.

The loss of habitats like the rain forest and the disappearance of frog populations is a message clearly conveyed at Toad Hall. One and a half acres of rain forest is lost every second, according to the exhibit. (You can drop coins into a parking meter outside Toad Hall to help save the rain forests.)

Hoegeman had hoped to include the local arroyo toad in the exhibit by the time it opened, but the zoo missed the collection time for obtaining these disappearing animals. Their home is along the Santa Ynez River and some tributaries in Los Padres National Forest, but they are extinct in 76 percent of their original range.

By the way, if you don’t know the difference between a toad and a frog, you can find out at Toad Hall. A hint? Toads are stout, with warty, dry skin; frogs have moist, smooth skin.

In the enclosures, the animals scamper about or nestle into the tropical plants Hoegeman has installed to make it seem homey. A misting system keeps it wet like the rain forest. Special lighting illuminates the exhibits in the dim interior of the exhibit.

It may be hard to spot the chameleons, geckos and some of the frogs, but a few might virtually be in your face. The frogs that live in the trees have suction-cup-like feet that enable them to grasp leaves, a skill that also allows them to climb slowly up the glass.

DETAILS

* WHAT: Toad Hall.

* WHERE: Santa Barbara Zoo, 500 Ninos Drive (Cabrillo Boulevard exit off Highway 101).

* WHEN: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.

* HOW MUCH: $6 for adults, $4 for kids 2 to 12 years, and $4 for those over 60.

* FYI: 962-6310.