The exhibit is ugly and completely fake, and the one major problem that I have besides the small size is the fact that zoo visitors can go all the way around the gorillas. There is not much room for privacy, and I have photos here on ZooChat with a gorilla chewing on a pop bottle that had fallen into the pit.
That's hideous and about the size of Melbourne Zoos old ape grottoes (which are now home to two De Brazza's monkeys and three male gorillas) but the only difference is that Melbournes exhibits had grass floors.
Actually, in the wild lowland gorillas are highly arboreal. The notion that gorillas don't like to climb came primarily though studies of Mountain gorillas, who don't (because there's no good fruit in the trees of their habitat).
At Bronx (in a naturalistic way) and Lincoln Park (in a highly stylized artificial way), good provisions for gorilla climbing have resulted in gorillas being up high a lot of the time. Good fun for all
The fact that this exhibit is 100% fake and seemingly coated in plastic, there is zero outdoor areas, the gorillas are surrounded on all sides by gawking zoo visitors...I won't continue to discuss this exhibit as I personally feel that it is a complete disaster and is now 30 years out of date. Woodland Park Zoo built a pair of gorilla enclosures that are now 30 years old this year and are still brilliant! Brookfield should have built a new, outdoor gorilla exhibit in another part of the zoo and turned this one into an enclosure for a smaller primate species decades ago.
How I hate this exhibit! As I said in my review of the zoo a few months ago, the whole area looks like a Jungle themed plastic play pit for children and the lack of privacy, naturalism, space and enrichment for the apes is underwhelming. I know the Brookfield Zoo has plenty of devoted fans on here but I really don't think it can be considered a truly top-tier zoo with so many weak exhibits like this one. Tragic World needs to go!
