Universeum

Universeum
Universeum is Sweden’s largest science center, located in Gothenburg. We were short on time, so this was a fairly quick visit and we only focused on the animal-related parts.

The building spans seven floors, but only some of them feature animals. Starting from the top, the first relevant area is Vattnets väg (Water’s Way), which follows Sweden’s waterways from mountain springs through forests and lakes, out to the coast and sea. Here you can see species like arctic char (salvelinus alpinus), atlantic sturgeon (acipenser oxyrinchus), and european tree frog (hyla arborea).

This section blends into Akvariehallen / Ocean Zone, described as one of the largest immersive aquarium experiences in Northern Europe. The main attraction is the 1.4 million liter tank with a walk-through tunnel. The aquarium area itself was smaller than I expected, but still very good. During our visit, species on display included leopard-spotted goby (thorogobius ephippiatus), yarrell’s blenny (chirolophis ascanii), longspined bullhead (taurulus bubalis), canarytop wrasse (halichoeres leucoxanthus), bicolor goatfish (parupeneus barberinoides), and yellow-banded sweetlips (plectorhinchus lineatus).

Next to the aquarium is the reptile room. This was also much smaller than I’d imagined, but species-wise it delivered. Highlights included catalina island rattlesnake (crotalus catalinensis), rough-scaled death adder (acanthophis rugosus), ethiopian mountain adder (bitis parviocula), yucatán neotropical rattlesnake (crotalus tzabcan), and many-horned viper (bitis cornuta).

After the reptile room you have to return through the aquarium (it’s a dead end), and from there you enter Regnskogen, the rainforest. This is easily the most impressive part of Universeum: an 18,000 m³ glass cube designed to recreate an equatorial rainforest, complete with heat, humidity, and a 25 meter kapok tree. The rainforest spans five to six floors depending on how you count, and visually it’s very striking.

That said, this was also where I felt a bit disappointed. I expected far more birds. According to Zootierliste, species such as blue-necked tanager, blue-crowned motmot, crimson-rumped toucanet, saffron-crowned tanager, yellow-hooded blackbird, red siskin, flame-faced tanager, white-throated toucan, and white-tailed jay have been kept here.

I usually spot birds fairly easily, but during our visit we only saw thick-billed euphonia (euphonia laniirostris), inca jay (cyanocorax yncas), toco toucan (ramphastos toco), scarlet ibis (eudocimus ruber), and sunbittern (eurypyga helias). That makes me suspect several of the rarer species are no longer part of the collection, especially since many were last reported years ago and are no longer signed.

This seems to apply to the collection in general. Several snake and fish species reported just a couple of years ago were also no longer signed or on display.

Even so, this is a really strong collection overall, with high-quality exhibits and some excellent species. Despite the missing signage and apparent changes in the lineup, it’s absolutely a place I’ll return to.