It is amazing what can be accomplished when a zoo has $30 million to spend on a new complex. I have probably seen every single great ape exhibit in the United States (literally a couple of hundred enclosures with gorillas, chimps, orangs or bonobos) and I think that Houston might have the second best habitat I've ever seen in my life for great apes. Congo Gorilla Forest in the Bronx is still hugely memorable but Houston has incorporated the Dallas Zoo idea of a large, lush environment with an air-conditioned room for visitors. That room is huge, the viewing deck is tremendous, the undergrowth hides whatever barrier is keeping the two groups of gorillas in the exhibit, and Red River Hogs are a neat addition.
A second massive building features indoor views of the gorillas and windows into the fairly new chimp exhibit and it is all great. One potential downfall is if the gorillas do not use the enormous fake tree trunk to cross into the meadow section of their habitat. I'm sure that the keepers will eventually lure them with food, but that would be a lot of wasted space otherwise.
One factor that has allowed DAK's exhibit to achieve a level of vegetative lushness that Bronx's does not have is the climate and rate of growth of Orlando vs New York. These southern exhibit landscapes are far more resilient than similar sized enclosures in the North. Houston will be on the Southern list of lush exhibits if the gorilla population does not become more than the landscape can sustain.
