Sparking Curiosity for the Littlest Learners

March 24, 2026



Dear Friends,

Babies are natural scientists, exploring the world with all of their senses. When the JMZ was redesigned in 2021, the Baby Meadow was made possible through the generous support of the John & Marcia Goldman Foundation, creating a safe, thoughtfully designed space where children under 18 months can explore and begin engaging with the natural world.

Through a collaborative effort between the JMZ Exhibits and Zoo teams, the Baby Meadow has recently been refreshed to feature wooden, nature-inspired design elements and two custom habitats for Sadiq the veiled chameleon and Sahara the uromastyx, a type of spiny-tailed, desert lizard. These updates create even more opportunities for our youngest visitors to observe, explore, and develop an early connection to nature. Read more about these new enhancements below. I hope you can visit the JMZ soon to see this refreshed space in person.

Warmly,

Lauren Angelo 

President, Friends of the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo

If you’ve ever brought a little one to the JMZ before they could walk and toddle around, you know about a special space called the Baby Meadow where children under 18 months old can hide in cozy nooks, explore a variety of textures, practice climbing on soft spaces and stairs, and even watch a display of cockroaches with wonder!

Interactive exhibits in the Baby Meadow, designed to spark curiosity!

The original design of the Baby Meadow included a display tank for the JMZ’s rats and veiled chameleon, Sadiq. Over time, zookeepers decided to remove the animals from the exhibit upon discovering that the rats did not enjoy being on display and that Sadiq would benefit from a larger, more enriching habitat. 

When Exhibits Director Brian Weinstein joined the JMZ last year, he was inspired to create a larger home for Sadiq and a new enclosure for Sahara the uromastyx, and to brighten the Baby Meadow with nature-inspired decorations. Brian and JMZ Zoo Director Sean Ramsdell collaborated to design improved enclosures, opening up walls to give both animals more space and adding hinged doors for easier staff access and updated lighting and drip systems to simulate a natural environment.

Sadiq and Sahara moved into their new homes earlier this month and are thriving! Sadiq’s substantially enlarged habitat includes live plants and vines. He is a tree-dwelling chameleon, native to the Arabian Peninsula, and the greenery in his exhibit supports natural behaviors such as climbing, finding hidden perches, and self-regulating comfort throughout the day. Known for the tall casque on his head, independently moving eyes, slow, careful climbing, and lightning-fast feeding strikes, Sadiq is an animal you can observe at length and still notice something new.

Sadiq enjoys his enlarged habitat featuring live plants and a humid environment.

Sahara, who has never before been on display for the public, now enjoys a hot, arid environment. His refreshed habitat includes live plants and a large climbing rock with multiple levels of basking ledges, giving him more options to warm up, explore, and choose a preferred “lookout” spot. You might also see Sahara using his exercise wheel—a favorite activity that provides enrichment and encourages natural movement.

Sahara basks on his rock display while warming up in his arid environment.

To incorporate visual learning into Sadiq and Sahara’s displays, JMZ Exhibit Technician Rook Fitts incorporated images from their native habitats – a cloud forest for Sadiq and a north African desert for Sahara. Side by side, these contrasting environments help children understand habitat variation while they enjoy observing the two reptiles. The new displays also feature captions with socratic-style questions to inspire conversations between caregivers and little learners, encouraging curiosity and discovery.

Another enhancement to the Baby Meadow is a series of custom wood cuts in grass and insect shapes that have been placed along the outside and throughout the Baby Meadow.  These were created by Rook, who was trained in CNC machining through a professional development grant supported by the Friends.

Nature-inspired wood cuts make the Baby Meadow even more inviting to little ones.

If you’d like to support the creation of more immersive, playful spaces like the Baby Meadow at the JMZ, please consider making a gift to the Friends today.