Bronx Zoo 10th Anniversary of Congo Gorilla Forest

snowleopard

snowleopard

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Bronx Zoo's gorilla exhibit celebrates 10th anniversary

What is often hailed as being the greatest zoo exhibit on the planet celebrates its 10th anniversary. The 6.5 acre set of habitats has had an amazing number of births since it opened a decade ago, and there have now been 14 gorillas, 23 red river hogs, 11 Wolf's guenons and 4 okapi born at the zoo since 1999.

Probably the most amazing thing about this world-class area is the fact that the $3 separate admission goes towards conservation efforts. To date $10.6 million has been raised, and that money has gone directly to creating 18 national parks in central Africa.

I personally think that there are barely any exhibits that are even in the same ballpark as Congo Gorilla Forest, and perhaps Disney's Animal Kingdom has the only gorilla habitats in North America that are comparable. The overall experience at the Bronx is simply brilliant!

Gorilla Exhibit:

http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-congo-gorilla-forest-41195/
http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-congo-gorilla-forest-41190/
http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-congo-gorilla-forest-41177/
http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-congo-gorilla-forest-41186/
http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-congo-gorilla-forest-41176/

Okapi Exhibit:

http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-congo-gorilla-forest-41163/

Red River Hog/Mandrill Exhibit:

http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-congo-gorilla-forest-41171/
 
$10.6 million is an amazing amount and I would like to see more Zoos follow Bronx's lead...I wouldn't mind paying a small fee to view a brilliant set of exhibits if my money was going straight to conservation efforts in places to sorely need it. Obviously if Bronx Zoo has taken 10 years to raise this much it would take others zoos maybe a century to raise a comparable amount.
 
While I certainly applaud the money going toward conservation and thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit, I HATE the fact that you have to pay a separate admission fee to see one of the zoo's exhibits. What is the solution? In my opinion, just raise the main gate admission by $3 and tell people $3 goes towards coservation. If you want people to be able to vote for their conservation project, as they do at the end of this exhibit, just give them a token at the gate to drop in a box at the exhibit for their favorite project.

This is exactly what Cheyenne Mountain Zoo does, except it's only 25 cents instead of $3. They have boxes right inside the entrance where you drop your 25 cent token to vote (see CMZ photo gallery).

What if I want to see Congo in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Now I'm up to $6 extra. What if gorillas are my favorites and I want to go three times? Now it's $9. What if I went specifically to see the okapis and they were hiding, so I had to go back later - again, we're back up to $6 extra (which is what my zoo charges for an entire full day adult admission). This pay-as-you-go scheme sets a terrible precedent. Remember Disneyland and Knott's used to do this years ago, and finally did away with the pay-per-ride tickets to a general admission because the former was a royal pain in the neck. Zoos should absolutely NOT go to this type of scheme.
 
Is it three (or four) different exhibits, 2 for Gorillas and one each for Okapi and Red River Hog/Mandrill? Is that correct?

Also how big are the outside areas in each case(available to the animals that is) They certainly have a rainforest feel to them and look wonderful.

I agree the extra entrance payment would be better absorbed into the main Zoo entrance fee, its not fair on people who would llike to revisit several times in the day(as I certainly would...)
 
The two gorilla enclosures are 22,000 square feet and 28,000 square feet meaning they are both over a half acre.
 
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, of course, got the idea from the Bronx. But the two system really are quite different by design. The admission fee for Congo was intended to affect the way people think about conservation. Charging at the entry to the exhibit and asking where the visitor wants to apply their fee at the end was essential.

Very very very few visitors go back multiple times in a day to the same exhibit. Designing it for that very few makes no sense. I'll bet that if a dedicated zoo goer were to say to the Staff that they want to come back in an hour to go through it again, accommodations would be made (of course, the kid sitting in the booth would have to ask a supervisor, etc., but it could be done).
 
Zooplantman said:
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, of course, got the idea from the Bronx. But the two system really are quite different by design. The admission fee for Congo was intended to affect the way people think about conservation. Charging at the entry to the exhibit and asking where the visitor wants to apply their fee at the end was essential.

Very very very few visitors go back multiple times in a day to the same exhibit. Designing it for that very few makes no sense. I'll bet that if a dedicated zoo goer were to say to the Staff that they want to come back in an hour to go through it again, accommodations would be made (of course, the kid sitting in the booth would have to ask a supervisor, etc., but it could be done).
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The original idea may have originated at the Bronx (paying for conservation) but the idea of a conservation fee added to the price of zoo admission actually began with Zoo Boise. Zoo Boise's director has been going around promoting the idea and now several zoos have caught on including Cheyenne Mountain, Oregon, Louisville and Naples.
 
At the risk of hijacking the thread totally, I'm against a separate entrance fee for an exhibit. It puts off folks who may not understand why they're being charged $3 when they just paid $10-$20 to enter the zoo. In addition, it limits the number of people who may go in and see it. As others have said, adding onto the entrance admission would have been a better idea.

Now then, the last time I went to the Bronx Zoo, Congo had just opened and it was jaw dropping. Regardless of my views on the separate admission issue, the amount of money it's raised is very impressive.
 
I don't have a problem with Congo Forest costing extra cause you can move through exhibit at your own pace and honestly I don't care about 3 extra bucks for the exhibit especially if its going towards conservation (and I'm a broke college student, so I don't want anybody with a job pissing and moaning about it).

What I don't want to pay extra for is that damn monorail. Last time i went I waited nearly 2 hrs in line for a 20 minutes ride to fly past some of my favorite animals in that zoo (rhinos, elephants, gaur, p. horses). Paying extra for that really bothers me.
 
The Bronx Zoo's efforts to raise over $10 million for habitat conservation is amazing, and really should be applauded. There are many other zoos that stick their apes into old-fashioned cages and then donate a fraction of the millions that the Bronx Conservation Society has raised. Habitat destruction is still the number one threat to just about every single animal species on the planet, and more zoos should strongly get that point across to their visitors.

@loxodonta: I agree with your thoughts on the monorail ride at the Bronx Zoo, or really any sort of ride that whisks people past animal exhibits. I saw the mandrills at Disney's Kilimanjaro Safari for 3 seconds, the hippos for maybe 10 seconds, etc, and at the Bronx the elephants were seen for maybe 25 seconds so I can understand your feelings.
 
loxodonta said:
I don't have a problem with Congo Forest costing extra cause you can move through exhibit at your own pace and honestly I don't care about 3 extra bucks for the exhibit especially if its going towards conservation (and I'm a broke college student, so I don't want anybody with a job pissing and moaning about it).

What I don't want to pay extra for is that damn monorail. Last time i went I waited nearly 2 hrs in line for a 20 minutes ride to fly past some of my favorite animals in that zoo (rhinos, elephants, gaur, p. horses). Paying extra for that really bothers me.
Click to expand...

One of the fine aspects of working at the Bronx Zoo was that when I needed to see Wild Asia, I stepped to the head of the line :D (Sorry everyone)

We did beat this horse thoroughly elsewhere: http://www.zoochat.com/22/wild-asia-bronx-zoo-16273/
 
Zooplantman said:
One of the fine aspects of working at the Bronx Zoo was that when I needed to see Wild Asia, I stepped to the head of the line :D (Sorry everyone)

We did beat this horse thoroughly elsewhere: http://www.zoochat.com/22/wild-asia-bronx-zoo-16273/
Click to expand...

I am jealous. I know this started on another thread, but it bugged me that people were complaining about paying extra for one of the greatest exhibits in the country (and they give the money back to conservation projects) when the real crime was on the other side of the zoo. I will not speak of the monorail again:)
 
I've got very mixed feelings about the extra fees. In some ways, it's quite misleading to think the (comparatively) low admission fee is only about $14 -- compared to San Diego's $24. But once you add in Congo, monorail, and Children's Zoo (at $3 each), you might as well pay the $25 all inclusive fee. But the good thing about the extra fees is that it allows visitors to actually have a low-fee visit, skipping the extra fee exhibits. If a family is on a very tight budget, they can still have a great zoo experience at the Bronx without Congo & the monorail.

I agree with ZooPlantman that multiple visits per day to Congo are probably an extremely rare thing. But this problem could be handled easily by simply having a hand stamp system -- have you hand stamped if you intend to come back to Congo.

Loxodonta: If you think the line is long now for the Wild Asia monorail, can you imagine how long they would be if the monorail didn't have an extra fee?

I've never had any problems with the time spent seeing the animals on the monorail tour (or on Kilimanjaro Safaris at DAK). I think this is because I'm not usually much of a photographer at the zoo. Those who I've heard complain (Snowleopard, my coauthor) are "lingerers" who like to stay in front of an exhibit for a half hour or more, shooting dozens (or more) photos.
 
ANyhuis said:
Loxodonta: If you think the line is long now for the Wild Asia monorail, can you imagine how long they would be if the monorail didn't have an extra fee?
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The same. Its the species on the monorail that draws people. The extra fee does not mean less people would ride it. Who is going to go to Bronx and not see the only elephants and rhinos at the zoo?
 
Allen I am not that big of a photographer, but I like to spend a good half hour or more at my favorite animals. At SDWAP on JiA we rode passed the black rhinos in probably 20 seconds while they were sleeping, and when we rode by them again (from up the hill) they were up & active. If someone is patient and likes to wait for animals to become active then the few seconds seeing an animal can be a major problem.
 
One of the charms of Congo--and a reason many feel it is the best zoo experience out there--is the fact that the pathways and viewing areas are quite narrow and intimate. You can truly feel immersed in the forest and close to the animals. That would be lost if it was open without restriction to all of the 2 million+ visitors to the Bronx Zoo each year. It tends to "select out" the most obnoxious "casual visitors" who can ruin every zoo visit with their stupidity, loudness and disrespect. Elitist? Absolutely. That's one reason why it's better than most exhibits anywhere.

If you want to visit more than once in a day, save your ticket stub
 
I understand that many are responding to their own agenda of paying extra for exhibits or opening exhibits to all comers, but I want to repeat that from the day Congo was conceived one of the major goals of Congo Gorilla Forest was to try to directly connect to zoo goer to conservation. The staff debated at length just how might that be accomplished. Messages about recycling were rejected as too weak and commonly taught in school. In the end the Contribution to a conservation project that the visitor had to select - after learning about the options and the challenges of triage - was thought to be the best way to accomplish this goal. No zoo exhibit had ever attempted to get inside a visitor's mind like this.

You may feel that the effort failed, but for a moment consider what was the intent and that it was never about the $3 itself. If you listen to visitors as they get to the voting area, they are really discussing the issues!

@reduakari - Staff was surprised that visitors to Congo, even "the most obnoxious 'casual visitors'", were much better behaved than they had been at the old gorilla exhibit. It was felt that the general design and atmosphere of the exhibit affected visitors' attitude. Children still screamed, but the gorillas were treated with awe rather than derision.
 
Zooplantman said:
.
Staff was surprised that visitors to Congo, even "the most obnoxious 'casual visitors'", were much better behaved than they had been at the old gorilla exhibit. It was felt that the general design and atmosphere of the exhibit affected visitors' attitude. Children still screamed, but the gorillas were treated with awe rather than derision.
Click to expand...

That's interesting, but when you think about it, not too surprising perhaps. Even the most thick-skinned and unthinking folk must be affected by their surroundings to some extent, it is a part of human nature. So if they are overawed by their surroundings and react better toward the animals as a result, that has to be good too.:)
 
snowleopard said:
The Bronx Zoo's efforts to raise over $10 million for habitat conservation is amazing, and really should be applauded. There are many other zoos that stick their apes into old-fashioned cages and then donate a fraction of the millions that the Bronx Conservation Society has raised. Habitat destruction is still the number one threat to just about every single animal species on the planet, and more zoos should strongly get that point across to their visitors.

@loxodonta: I agree with your thoughts on the monorail ride at the Bronx Zoo, or really any sort of ride that whisks people past animal exhibits. I saw the mandrills at Disney's Kilimanjaro Safari for 3 seconds, the hippos for maybe 10 seconds, etc, and at the Bronx the elephants were seen for maybe 25 seconds so I can understand your feelings.
Click to expand...

at least you saw the mandrills
 
Zooplantman said:
Children still screamed, but the gorillas were treated with awe rather than derision.
Click to expand...

Zooplantman, speaking of "awe", let me ask a question: The first time I experienced Congo, I felt that awe. The climax of that awe was at the end of watching their inspiring movie (about saving wildlife in the Congo), suddenly the curtains automatically pulled back and we (the audience) were surrounded by an amazing group of gorillas. At that moment, I was sure this was the best zoo exhibit in America. I've compared this experience to visiting Fort McHenry in Baltimore (where our National Anthem was written). Similarly, at the end of the Fort's movie about the history there, suddenly the curtains draw back and a huge American flag is exposed. Every American is very moved!

But the problem is that the next two times I went to Congo, this wonderful curtain-opening experience didn't happen. Once the curtains never opened at all, and the other time they only opened after the lights came on and we were already moving into the next room. Do you know what is the "regular" experience here? Did I experience something unusual that first time?
 
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