This does appear to be a naturalistic gorilla exhibit, and it makes the steel/metal cages at outdated zoos appear to be jokes. Is there a canopy in the Dallas enclosure?
There is no canopy. Some of the trees have a guard on them, but not many. Our youngest gorilla likes to climb up in the top of some of our trees so you have to look up to see her. Actually you can see lots of tree damage up about 20 ft. from the ground. In fact Jenny (even up until she died last year) would climb into the tops of the trees. Jenny was 55.
This sort of gorilla exhibit has become the norm in many zoos, and on my current massive road trip I've seen a 1-acre steep mountainside habitat for gorillas at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, another 1-acre outdoor area for the apes at Sedgwick County, a more than 1-acre exhibit at Kansas City and a very nice exhibit at Saint Louis Zoo. Add to that San Diego, Busch Gardens, Louisville, Atlanta, Lincoln Park, Woodland Park, Denver, Dallas, Bronx, North Carolina, Disney's Animal Kingdom and even San Francisco and there are plenty of massive gorilla exhibits all over America.
