Tropiquarium de Servion (tropical greenhouse and Komodo dragon dome)

The Tropiquarium is the creation of Philippe Morel, an ornithologist by training. In 1979 he opened a first greenhouse to the public, immersing visitors in a small tropical jungle where exotic birds flew freely around them. The venture was then called the Parc ornithologique de Servion; it stands next to the Servion Zoo, which had opened in 1974.

In 2003 the park took its present name, Tropiquarium de Servion, and specialised in tropical herpetology. Extensions followed: a pavilion for Cape penguins in 2007, then in 2009 a pavilion devoted to renewable energy, the same year a wood-chip boiler replaced oil heating.

The most ambitious step was the dome inaugurated on 9 and 10 August 2014, designed by Philippe Morel with his son Thomas to house rare species threatened with extinction and to attempt to breed them. Three years of procedures and negotiations were needed to obtain a pair of Komodo dragons, Flores and Padar, both six years old, which flew from the Canary Islands to Geneva and were then driven to Servion by van. At the time the park received 80,000 to 90,000 visitors a year; it employs about a dozen people.

The site brings together several separate buildings: the tropical greenhouse with its aviary, a vivarium of terrariums, the penguin pavilion, a tortoise house, a large two-part aviary and the dome for large animals. The tropical greenhouse and its aviary carry on the park's founding idea: a small heated jungle that visitors walk through among plants and birds.

The 2014 dome covers 800 m². Built in five months for 1.3 million Swiss francs, it has an upper floor from which visitors look down on the animals, with a plunging view into the monitor lizards' terrarium, and its roof, worked by a hydraulic system, can be lifted entirely. The sources consulted do not specify the cladding materials or the firms involved.

Since 2009 the complex has been heated by a wood-chip boiler that replaced oil; according to the park, the fuel oil saved each year equals the heating of some twenty houses. The energy pavilion opened the same year explains these renewable-energy questions to visitors.

The Tropiquarium shows more than 70 animal species. The dome houses the pair of Komodo dragons, each nearly 2 m long and weighing 35 kg on arrival, the male being expected to reach 3.30 m and 120 to 130 kg as an adult; it also holds two Siamese crocodiles, rhinoceros iguanas and Galápagos giant tortoises. The park works with other European zoos to protect threatened species; among them it keeps Rothschild's mynas and Cape penguins.

The vivarium gathers snakes, fish, insects, iguanas, lizards, frogs, toads, geckos and caimans, while the aviaries show ibises, ducks, flamingos, cranes and ostriches. On the plant side, the tropical trees of the greenhouse bear bananas, pineapples, papayas, passion fruit and pepper.

The Tropiquarium lies in Servion, in the canton of Vaud not far from Lausanne, and adjoins the Servion Zoo, a separate institution opened in 1974: the two parks are easily visited on the same day. The route takes in the tropical greenhouse and its aviary, the vivarium, the penguin pavilion, where the birds are fed several times a day, the tortoise park, the large aviaries and the dome, explored on both levels to look down on the Komodo dragons. A large playground, a restaurant, a shop and rest areas complete the facilities, which are designed with families in mind.