Brookfield Zoo Tropic World -Can it be saved ?

T

TeamTapir223

Well-Known Member
I have fond memories of Tropic World as a kid.To me there was nothing like it.It was the first thing I would wanna see whenever we would visit BZ.But these days its becoming more and more barren and run down.No natural substate and less and less species both on the ground and in the tree tops.So I want to pose the question what would you do to improve this building and do you feel it could really be done.

I would wanna see natural substate added to the forest floors and add some rarer land forest dwellers.Smaller animals like duikers,capybaras and anteaters.I also would like to see more primates in the tree tops and more of them.I think the Orangs gotta go there exhibit is just not adequate.Gorillas would probably stay but not if it were up to me.From a public standpoint you could not get rid of gorillas and orangs.But I would replace gorillas with mandrills.The bottom line is that I would love to see Tropic World refurbished and turned into basically a Rare Animal Conservation Building.What are some of your thoughts ?

Team Tapir223
 
Tropic world does have anteaters. Or they did when I was there over the winter. The anteater would only seem to come out during the indoor rainstorms in the first room of tropic world.
 
I think adding land dwelling species is out of the question. Earlier this year they took out pygmy hippos and tapirs (and probaly would have taken the anteaters out if the zoo had an exhibit for them) so i doubt they would add any other species. Also Brookfield already has two species of duiker and they have good outdoor exhibits so I doubt they would bring duikers indoors.

I think the zoo is going to build outdoor exhibits but leave Tropic World connected to the new exhibits as in the winters they would need to be indoors and Tropic World would be a decent exhibit for part of the year. I think it would be hard to add substrate because the ground is uneven and eventually all the substrate would go into the river systems. But if they shut off the fake rain fall and drained all the water in the exhibits they could fill the waterways with substrate and try to plant some plants. And even though that would mean the removal of the otters from Tropic World the zoo already has an exhibit for them in the Fragile Forest.

I highy doubt the zoo would knock down Tropic World because it would cost so much. Tropic World will probaly remain how it is for a few more years since the zoo is going to build a new baboon exhibit and animal encounters area this fall and they are trying to breed the gorillas. So it will take some time but hopefully the zoo opens new outdoor exhibits and adds more species in the future.
 
What sort of state is the building in? A big complex tropical house that's had to survive thirty years of Chicago winters must have had a fair bit to endure!
 
IanRRobinson said:
What sort of state is the building in? A big complex tropical house that's had to survive thirty years of Chicago winters must have had a fair bit to endure!
Click to expand...

It's condition inside is not that bad, it's paint is fading especially because of the simulated rain storms that occur multiple times every day inside the building. From the outside the massive building itself looks fine though the graphics along the walk ways leading up to the building are broken and really faded. The building has been frequently updated over the years including adding enrichment items.

I think the building has lost some of it's magic since so many species have left the building and the huge exhibits now look very empty. But you can not blame Brookfield for moving out the tapirs and pygmy hippos because no animals that large should be indoors year round especially in a place where there is no natural substrate. I agree with Team Tapir that the exhibit is no where close to the exhibit it used to be when I grew up but the zoo had to do what was the best for the animals and you can not be angry with them for doing that.
 
I think you could still keep the orangutans inside the tropic world if you added vines connecting their exhibit to the main tree level.
 
I've thought about this a lot over the last few years. The following is what I would like to see happen with Tropic World.

Firstly, I would take a minimalist approach species wise and concentrate exclusively on the Great Apes. Gorillas, Orangutans, Gibbons. Possibly add chimps or another species of gibbon as well.

Secondly I would rename Tropic World. It's not very "tropic" anymore. It's really failing at what it was meant to be, so i think rebranding it would be be smart.

Renovations- 1) I would get rid of the water features, that would allow the zoo to add natural substrate to the ground. 2) I would remove all of those metal plants. 3) New living plants and trees would be added. 4) Outdoor exhibits would need to be builit.

With South America now empty the zoo could concentrate on renovating that exhibt for the gibbons. The orangutans would then have the Asia exhibit all to themesleves. The Gorrillas would have the Africa Section all to themselves. If the zoo wanted to added a few species like chimps or another species of gibbon there's enought space to accomadte that.
 
I was once told Brookfield Zoo has a number of Bonobos off-exhibit as they were incompatible with the other animals in the African exhibit.

There's indication from the zoo's fifteen-year plans to perform some kind of renovation -most notably outdoor areas for the gorillas and mandrills.

I was really disappointed to see the Pygmy Hippo and Tapir removed, as the land animals were my favorite part. The primates are very fun but hard to spot in the trees and I've never noticed the birds much until a more recent visit.
 
I agree, a well done natural substrate would do wonders for the building. But, I think this may require quite a bit of additional maintenance and the zoo already seems to be having problems keeping up with the maintenance of it's existing aging infrastructure.
Having larger animals such as pygmy Hippos and Tapirs on this natural substrate could also potentially require increased maintenance of the natural substrate which as stated above is currently a monumental task.
I like some of Wilson's ideas of expanding the size of the Orrangutan and Gorrilla exibits, but I also think currently the building is quite barren.
I would also hate to see the simulated thunderstorms disappear, this was magic when I first saw it and that first experience stuck with me over the many years.
 
From what I remember of my visit in 1996 I think the orang exhibit if it hasn't been up dated badly needs it, It was as much fake rock as trees and ropes, The gorillas couldn't escape the public gaze and over all i was very disappointed I also think as I have said before natural light would help, could the roof sections be curt away to let more light in and open up the place a bit? more live plants would be better than the metal ones, I know they hid or are the fencing but they looked silly growing out of concrete.
May be I should dig out the video i took at the time, it could be it wasn't as bad as I seam to think it was.

I have just scanned the gallery and from what i can tell there is a lot of natural light in the roof, I don't remember that, though it was a very cold dark April day I recall. I stand corrected on my earlier judgment.
 
Last edited:
The future of tropic world.

Perhaps one of the biggest contreversites in the zoo world is brookfields zoos rain forest exhibit Tropic world. When it first opened in the 1980s it was the biggest zoo exhibit in the u.s. however 3 decades later the exhibit has lost its luster. With no natural substrate or outdoor exhibits, not to mention the peeling paint from the simulated rainstorms every few hours.
Many animals have left the building such as
Capuchins, tapirs, sloths, tree shrews, pygmy hippos, wolf guenein (bad spelling) and mandrills.

This is the current spices list in tropic world
SOUTH AMERICA
Spider monkey
squirrel monkey
golden lion tamerain
cotton top tamren
goldies monkey
giant anteater

ASIA
White cheeked gibbon
Orangutang
Asian small clawed otter
pygmy loris
quince monitor

AFRICA
Swamp monkey
colubus monkey
red tailed geniuan
wastern lowland gorilla

So. what do you think is the future of this building?
 
I know this thread is old but here is what I would do.

SOUTH AMERICA, Add capybara capuchins and howler monkeys to the main exhibit.
in the front with the tamrians coati, sloth, and tamandua

Africa.
Mandrills... that's it

And lastly I would knock down baboon island and make a outdoor ape transition yard for gorillas and orangs.
 
pachyderm pro said:
Thet are in tropic world Asia but rarely come out during the day. see here https://www.czs.org/BackstageAdventures then clik apes of Asia
Click to expand...

You would probably know better but are you sure the website isn't referring to the fact that lorises are simply nocturnal? If it's a backstage experience and considering their size and since they're easier to handle upclose then I can imagine they're saying the lorises can only be viewed backstage. I couldn't see that size of animal being exhibited in that large of a complex, they would surely be impossible to find. Plus if the lorises wanted to reach the trees they would have to go through water first. Lastly, I've never seen any identification signs for them.
 
Moebelle said:
You would probably know better but are you sure the website isn't referring to the fact that lorises are simply nocturnal? If it's a backstage experience and considering their size and since they're easier to handle upclose then I can imagine they're saying the lorises can only be viewed backstage. I couldn't see that size of animal being exhibited in that large of a complex, they would surely be impossible to find. Plus if the lorises wanted to reach the trees they would have to go through water first. Lastly, I've never seen any identification signs for them.
Click to expand...
Why do they even have them then? why not give them a terrarium like the quince monitor.
 
I know this is an old thread, but here is I would do with tropic world:
South America: Add Greater Capybara and some kind of Capuchin. Also maybe some birds (Blue-Crowned Motmot?)
Africa: Add Mandrills, Common Bulbuls, and Blue Duikers.
Apes: Renovate Baboon Island with trees, and in the summer, rotate Gorillas and Orangutans on it. In the winter, and when the other ape is on the island, they remain in their indoor habitat.
 
birdsandbats said:
I know this is an old thread, but here is I would do with tropic world:
South America: Add Greater Capybara and some kind of Capuchin. Also maybe some birds (Blue-Crowned Motmot?)
Africa: Add Mandrills, Common Bulbuls, and Blue Duikers.
Apes: Renovate Baboon Island with trees, and in the summer, rotate Gorillas and Orangutans on it. In the winter, and when the other ape is on the island, they remain in their indoor habitat.
Click to expand...
South America does have Mot mots.
 
I think Tropic World is a really, really good exhibit for monkeys and gibbons.
They have tons of space and climbing oppurtunity, there is no natural substrate but I feel the sheer three-dimensional space available to them in all three eco-regional exhibits makes up for it. They seem happy, busy, and entertained whenever I see them. No stereotyping.

I think Tropic World Asia is a great enclosure for its otters.
The water area is huge, and they also have a lot of land to run around, they seem to be content.

And all three exhibits are absolutely brilliant for the many little birds in them, they have so much space and room they probably think they're free. However, you never see the birds! They stay up high, near their cages and in the vines on the ceiling.

I think Tropic world is a poor exhibit for its giant anteater.
He seems to spend all of his time doing stereotyped pacing in a few circles around the exhibit and near the door to back-stage housing. He has no soft substrate to dig or really, any enrichment at all. He doesn't seem happy in there.

The orangutan exhibit is subpar. No substrate or vegetation, nothing soft except some wood fiber bedding. Some climbing opportunity, but just not enough space.

The gorilla exhibit is worse. It is really small, really hard, and the male gorilla who lives alone in particular is living in a cell.

Both great apes and the anteater, I feel, need some outdoor access and then these would be excellent indoor quarters. Leave Tropic World to the smaller primates and add some more birds, perhaps waterfowl or some small parrots. I don't want to see any land ungulates in there on that concrete. Capybaras, possibly. The water space would be well-used by them.
I think the pygmy hippo was a nice touch for Africa, though, and would like to see one rotated back in, or housed there in winter and summered outdoors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top