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Manor Heath and Jungle Experience

The Jungle Experience

The Jungle Experience at Manor Heath has something for everyone!

Opened in 1998 the converted glasshouses provide botanical gardens and habitats for a huge variety of plants, butterflies and animals including fish, quails and terrapins. The Jungle Experience provides and maintains a collection of exotic plants, some of economic importance, in conditions similar to their natural environment, providing stimulation to the senses of sight, sound, smell, touch and movement.

The public access throughout the Jungle Experience has been designed to provide disabled and wheelchair access. Staff are able to provide guided tours for organised groups and to assist with the number of events which take place throughout the year.

The minimum indoor temperature is 21°C and humidity levels are at around 70 per cent. As you enter through the curtain door you will see story boards placed throughout the building, which guide you through the different zones. A children's guide, which contains a guided tour, puzzles and pictures to colour is available in the foyer.

There are a number of different zones within the Jungle Experience which can be explored:

The Time Zone

The Time Zone takes visitors on a journey from the present day, back to the dawn of time and features species of prehistoric plants from the days of the dinosaurs. Walk along the 'river of time', past the Orchid wall, through the plant covered archway to the present time and into the space age to see the hydroponic (plants which have the ability to grow without soil). Other plants which can be seen include arucaria, cyads, tree ferns and ginkgo to name a few.

During organised visits staff are on hand to guide and inform both young and old on what the Jungle Experience and the Time Zone has to offer.

The Savage Garden

Most of the plants in this area are called 'Carnivorous Plants' which can catch and eat small insects and flies. They have evolved in this way because the areas in which they grow are very poor in plant nutrients. The plants supplement their diet by enticing and trapping their prey in specially adapted parts of the plant before digesting them with enzymes and absorbing the nutrients.

The mature Venus Fly Trap has jaw like leaves, which snap shut when a fly or other small insect triggers hairs in the centre of the trap. The Venus flytrap plant grows in the wild in South Carolina in the USA.

The Monkey Cup or Nepenthes sometimes called the Picture plant has jug like traps, when an insect descends into the trap to find food, downward pointing hairs prevent it from escaping.

The North American Pitcher plant or Sarracenia attract their food by growing long tube like traps with a sweet smelling substance at the bottom.

Some species of Butterwort or Pinguicula are native to Ireland and are sometimes grown in bog gardens in the UK, the rosette type leaves feel like butter when touched. Cultivated species attract fungus gnats and whitefly.

Bladderwort or Utricularia has a trapping mechanism which is well hidden and is sometimes underground or even under water. Species of this plant can be found growing in continents all over the world. The bladder has a trapdoor, which opens inwards with two or three trigger hairs on the outside. When a microscopic insect such as a nematode touches one of the hairs it is sucked in by a vacuum together with a small amount of water, which is slowly released leaving the insect inside.

Some Sundew plants, Drosera, have rosette type sticky leaves, which shine like jewels in the sun waiting to trap unsuspecting small insects.

Butterfly World

Within The Jungle Experience is a unique habitat which is specifically designed for butterflies. In Butterfly World if the conditions are good as many as five different species of butterfly can be seen in free flight. The different types of butterfly will vary from season to season and are more likely to be seen on a warm, sunny day.

The butterflies at The Jungle Experience are hatched in the specially heated butterfly case in the glasshouse from pupae which are provided by a specialist supplier and varieties include owl, clipper, glasswing and the blue morpho to name a few.

The brightly coloured butterflies feed on the red and yellow flowers and coloured sponges containing a sugar solution. Their caterpillars eat the leaves of the climbing Passion Flowers and Banana. Our butterflies are tropical and need certain plants that might grow in a jungle, to live off, and lots of heat to keep them warm.

The Lily Pond

Tropical Water Lilies live in warm water. Ponds in the jungle would be warm due to the sun and climate. However, we heat ours up so that it is as warm as a bath you might have. Our lilies need 15 hours of sunlight a day, which they wouldn't get in rainy old Halifax, so we have to trick the flowers by hanging a special low energy lamp over them, which gives out rays like those of the sun.

What's On!

Events are held at The Jungle Experience throughout the year. For more details see our What's on calendar.

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