Your Digital Guide
Scan the QR code to explore every illuminated display on your own device. Adjust the text size, zoom in, or use your phone’s built-in accessibility features, including screen readers, to experience the content in the way that works best for you.
Icicle Gateway
📍 Map ref. H14
🎨 Artist: Cindi Drennan and illuminart
Before you explore the Zoo tonight, step through the Icicle Gateway.
Built from layered fabric and glowing from within, this walk-through archway marks the entrance to the Ice Age world. Masses of softly lit icicle forms hang overhead, changing colour and glowing as you pass beneath them. Touch-safe and designed for all ages, stop for a moment of wonder before the journey begins.
Roving Mastodon
📍 Map ref. C9-K9
🎨 Artist: Erth Visual & Physical Inc.
Along the Ice Age pathway, a curious young Mastodon moves with surprising swiftness, searching the frozen landscape for its mother.
- Species: Mastodon
- Pronounced: Mast-uh-don
- Found in: North and Central America
- Diet: Herbivore
- Lived: 5 million–10,000 years ago
Mammoth Mountain
📍 Map ref. D10
🎨 Artist: After Dark Theatre
🔊 Soundscape by Chismes
🎙️ Narrated by Nicholas Farnell
Stand before the Woolly Mammoth and listen as his story unfolds. Journey back to the Ice Age to discover how this ancient giant survived a frozen world, the challenges that led to its extinction, and why its story still matters today.
- Species: Woolly Mammoth
- Pronounced: Wuhl-ee Mam-uth
- Found in: Europe, Asia, and North America
- Diet: Herbivore
- Lived: 300,000–10,000 years ago, during the Late Pleistocene Epoch.
Roving Thunderbird
📍 Map ref. H12-L8
🎨 Artist: Erth Visual & Physical Inc.
Marvel as the mighty Thunderbird explores the Ice Age pathway before returning to its nest inside the Dino Dome. Inspired by Genyornis, this giant flightless bird was one of Australia’s most remarkable prehistoric megafauna.
- Species: Genyornis
- Pronounced: Jen-ee-ORN-iss
- Found in: Australia
- Diet: Herbivore
- Lived: 2 million-40,000 years ago
Stirring Smilidon
📍 Map ref. G5
🎨 Artist: Erth Visual & Physical Inc., After Dark Theatre
🔊 Soundscape by Chismes
Deep within the Ice Age cave, a Smilodon mother rests peacefully in the shadows while her playful cub sneaks outside to explore the frozen world. Curious and brave, the young cub ventures into the icy landscape, discovering the wonders of the Ice Age one careful step at a time.
- Species: Smilodon
- Pronounced: SMY-luh-don
- Found in: North and South America
- Diet: Carnivore
- Lived: 2.5 million–10,000 years ago
\
Spike Garden
📍 Map ref. V9
🎨 Artist: After Dark Theatre
Hiding amongst the rocks are the mighty Ankylosaurus! With tough armour, sharp spikes and a tail shaped like a giant club, these dinosaurs were well protected from predators looking for their next meal.
- Species: Ankylosaurus
- Pronounced: Ang-ky-loh-sore-us
- Found in: North America
- Diet: Herbivore
- Lived: 68-66 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period.
T-Rex Terrain
📍 Map ref. N4
🎨 Artist: After Dark Theatre
🔊 Soundscape by Thomas ‘Soup’ Campbell
As darkness falls, a giant 5-metre-tall Tyrannosaurus Rex steps into the clearing. Nearby, two Parasaurolophus stick together as they journey through the shadows, keeping a careful watch on the mighty predator.
- Species: Tyrannosaurus Rex
- Pronounced: Tie-ran-oh-sore-us Rex
- Found in: North America
- Diet: Carnivore
- Lived: 68-66 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period.
Drift
📍 Map ref. T10
🎨 Artist: Cindi Drennan and illuminart
As night falls at Adelaide Zoo, the façade of Minchin House comes alive.
Drift is a looping projection experience that fills the heritage building with snow, mist, and drifting particles of light. Out of that atmosphere, creatures appear, ancient animals that once roamed this continent, forming briefly from the light before dissolving back into the cold. There is no beginning and no end, just a quiet, ever-changing world to wander through. Look closely at the lower walls for small details that reward curious eyes.
For Adelaide Zoo this winter, Drift and Icicle Gateway were crafted by Cindi and the illuminart team. Cindi led the creative direction of the Minchin House and garden experience, and constructed the Icicle Gateway. Animation for Minchin House is by Robert Dinnerville, with electronics and lighting design for the gateway by Trevor Collict, shaping a quietly magical night time world for visitors of all ages.
Brachi Brunch
📍 Map ref. F14
🎨 Artist: After Dark Theatre
🔊 Soundscape by Thomas ‘Soup’ Campbell
Brunch is served! Two gentle giants stretch skyward towards the treetops for a tasty leafy treat. Just like Giraffes, Brachiosaurus used their powerful neck muscles to help lift their long neck and find food sources high above the ground that other dinosaurs couldn’t reach.
- Species: Brachiosaurus
- Pronounced: Brak-ee-oh-sore-us
- Found in: North America
- Diet: Herbivore
- Lived: 152–145 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic Period.
