At one time Tropic World was the largest zoo building on the planet, and it is nearly 500 feet long, 110 feet wide and 80 feet tall. I'm curious as to what zoo buildings are currently larger than Tropic World, although the more modern "indoor jungles" have more naturalistic animal habitats. Amazingly excavation began in September 1973 and it took over a decade to complete Tropic World (partly due to construction costs) and it opened in three distinct phases. Africa was in 1982, Asia was in 1983 and South America was in 1984...all under the same massive roof.
There are lots of mock-rock climbing structures for both the orangutans and gorillas, but both are awful exhibits. The gorillas are surrounded on all sides by humans peering down on them in their concrete "forest", and the orangs are too far away to see properly. Both species should be moved into outdoor exhibits and there are loads of far superior ape habitats in other American zoos.
This Gorilla exhibit is also famous for a incident in 1996, when a three year old boy fell into the exhibit and was rescued by a 7 year old female gorilla.With her own baby on her back she cradled the boy and brought him to the exhibit door where she stood by him to keep the child safe from the other gorillas until keepers and medical staff arrived.A truly remarkable story.
No it doesn't, and in fact it is one of the smallest gorilla exhibits I've ever seen. All indoors, all fake structures, and much different from the lush, green, naturalistic, acre-size gorilla habitats that are found at many other major American zoos.
