New exhibit at Vancouver Aquarium bridges mythology and real life

The Vancouver Aquarium's "Dragons" exhibit is opening on Feb. 7, 2026.

Dragons are usually the stuff of fairytales and legends, but the Vancouver Aquarium’s latest exhibit is bridging mythology and real life.

The temporary display “Dragons” invites visitors to meet the real animals that inspired the legendary tales.

From gila monsters and bearded dragons to carpet pythons to caimans, the exhibit will feature a variety of exotic reptiles.

Some of the creatures can also be found closer to home.

“When some settlers were coming into Canada they found rattlesnakes, and they actually presumed rattlesnakes were what people described as dragons,” Joaquin Marquez, exhibit lead, told CTV News on Thursday.

“They took the idea of a rattlesnake home, and they told everybody that they were dragons and they breathed fire, because they were venomous. And so that’s where a lot of these stories come from.”

A fully scaled replica of each creature will allow visually impaired guests to get a feel for the size and scale of the animals.

The reptiles are all being loaned from Little Ray’s in Ontario, which is the largest exotic animal rescue in Canada. The aquarium says many of the rescued animals were originally surrendered as pets.

The exhibit launches on Saturday and is expected to stick around for several months.