North America's Gorilla Exhibits

I'd put KC Zoo's gorilla exhibit in the "okay" column. It's fairly large, has a few big hotwired trees, but uses fairly obvious sheet metal walls and a very visible concrete block holding building to contain the animals. The relatively small group of animals (bachelor group??) is not especially engaging compared to zoos with big family groups.

An exhibit no one has mentioned that looks good in the plans and the photos I've seen is Wichita. But there are no big trees, so it loses major points for that, though I've never visited so would like to hear from anyone who has.
 
reduakari said:
I'd put KC Zoo's gorilla exhibit in the "okay" column. It's fairly large, has a few big hotwired trees, but uses fairly obvious sheet metal walls and a very visible concrete block holding building to contain the animals. The relatively small group of animals (bachelor group??) is not especially engaging compared to zoos with big family groups.

An exhibit no one has mentioned that looks good in the plans and the photos I've seen is Wichita. But there are no big trees, so it loses major points for that, though I've never visited so would like to hear from anyone who has.
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Wichita's exhibit had high aspirations but an inadequate budget to achieve them. In the end they pretty much eliminated most of the proposed landscaping. Happily, the Horticulture Department has spent the past few years working to add back what was left out and it is just now beginning to show.
 
groundskeeper24 said:
There are some very large outdoor yards with grass and climbing structures. The odd thing is, I've NEVER seen a single gorilla in them. They are always inside when I visit.
You know why, don't you... they like the secure feeling of a roof(i.e. forest canopy) overhead. That is why so many outdoor exhibits are so little used by the inmates.
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North Carolina, I'm told, has a superb gorilla exhibit although it is only occupied by four gorillas. I'll be sure to really evaluate the exhibit and take lots of pictures when I go there in a month.
 
ColumbusZoo001 said:
North Carolina, I'm told, has a superb gorilla exhibit although it is only occupied by four gorillas. I'll be sure to really evaluate the exhibit and take lots of pictures when I go there in a month.
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Look forward to it. Maybe a complete zoo review! We dont hear allot about this zoo from zoochaters.
 
Video of gorillas utilizing their climbing trees at WPZ:

 
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That looks great. Do the gorillas still make good use of it?

They are the latex artifical vines? How much do they cost? I hear they are astronomical in $$

Thx BR
 
joshgrossglaza said:
What about the Los Angeles Zoo's Campo Gorilla Reserve
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That exhibit has been discussed a lot on here and most including me think it's disappointing because of the lack of trees and foliage other than in the hot wired raised sections. I also prefer not to hear hot wire when I'm looking at animals.

BTW, back to some other points:

I don't see why the National Zoo exhibit is considered among the worst. It's pretty well planted, a decent size, has climbing opportunities, and decent viewing.

KC is also pretty good, but yeah, having only males is a big disadvantage.
 
mweb08 said:
KC is also pretty good, but yeah, having only males is a big disadvantage.
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But I would imagine very useful to the SSP. Bachelor holdings are always important.
 
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