From what I undertsan (from viewing photos) this exhibit is a pit enclosure? and is fenced by the large rock walls as can be seen? If this is true it looks nothing mor than a pit enclosure with a few trees in its centre. It is a very good enclosure but from the hype it has been given I expected more.
This enclosure is pit-like but has several nooks and is partially enclosed by fencing below the visitor boardwalk that surrounds part of it, and has a water cascade down the center and quite a bit of landscaping inside and outside the enclosure. I would say that this individual exhibit is just above average, but is part of the excellent Asian Rainforest/Trail of Vines exhibit complex. This exhibit is certainly larger than what I have photographed here!
While this exhibit is commendable because there is a lot of live vegetation and encourages arboreal activity, it (and the rest of the Asian Tropics area) fall far short of the quality of most of the other Woodland Park Zoo exhibit complexes. Overuse of unconvincing artificial rock, poorly-controlled sightlines, and clunky details are all present here, unlike much of what was built earlier in the Rain Forest, Africa and Northern Trails, and later (jaguar, penguin exhibits). WPZ staff will freely admit it is not up to their usual standards--they used a design firm that has done many zoos around the US (using very similar design ideas, especially the boardwalks and windows "built into" rocks), but had never done work at Seattle. And probably never will again. But is is cool to see the orangs and siamangs high up in living trees.
I agree that there could be flaws pointed out in the two orangutan enclosures at Woodland Park Zoo, but can anyone name a single orang exhibit in all of North America that is better? Also, the lion-tailed macaque and siamang enclosures are both close to #1 on the continent as well.
Good points. It just goes to show how high the WPZ standards are that these exhibits are among the very best of their kind but not even close to the top of the list at Seattle's Zoo.
