HALIFAX—A new animal exhibit has crept into the city and will remain here until fall.

The new Discovery Centre live show, called Survival of the Slowest, is described as featuring animals with counter-intuitive adaptations for survival.

Exhibit creator Paul Raymond Goulet, more commonly known as “Little Ray,” travels North America in order to educate people on different types of animals while promoting conservation efforts for endangered species.

The exhibit is a collaborative effort between Little Ray’s Nature Centres and the Canadian Museum of Nature. It features 15 live species of animals who have unique survival tactics related to camouflage, protection and stillness.

“If you don’t have to move as much, you don’t need to eat as much food,” said Goulet about the benefits of being a slow animal, in an interview at the Discovery Centre Thursday.

“Strong animals have a lot of muscle mass, so they need to eat more food, quite simply, so ... really the main disadvantage is the energy requirements.”

The highlight of the exhibit is Lilo, the two-toed sloth, who spends most of her time sleeping, chomping lettuce and occasionally climbing around her enclosure.

“Lilo came from a vet in Florida that has basically dedicated his life to doing research on sloths in human care,” said Goulet.

Almost all of the animals in the exhibit are rescues, according to Goulet. His company is the largest exotic animal rescue in Canada.

In one example, he spoke about how he came to acquire a large green iguana by the name of Hammer.

“I was at an agricultural fair doing educational programs, and staying true to it being an agricultural fair, somebody showed up in a pickup truck and had an iguana in the back,” said Goulet.

The Survival of the Slowest exhibit also features a number of endangered species of Canadian snakes, including the Massassauga Rattlesnake. Little Ray’s Nature Centre breeds snakes and gives the babies to Canadian zoos in an effort to promote their conservation and educate the public about the dangers these snakes face.

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“There’s a couple snakes here that are fairly rare, there are threatened species that we’ve actually bred, we have the parents and these are babies, and we provide other zoos with babies because it’s important to talk about Canadian snakes that are in trouble,” said Goulet.

Lilo, Hammer and a number of other animals will be at the Survival of the Slowest exhibit every day from 10 a.m to 5 p.m. (except Wednesdays when it’s open until 8 p.m.), starting Friday. The exhibit runs until the end of September.

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