I have only ever been in NYC during the winter so every time I visit the Bronx Zoo the vast majority of the animal exhibits are closed. However Jungleworld stays open year around and I have read some interesting opinions about it. Here are my thoughts: Binturong and Tree kangaroo island enclosures are inadequately landscaped, if I designed these exhibits I would build more climbing structures to allow them to get higher off the ground Tapir enclosure was too small in actual land area, the beach should extend out much more, it is surrounded by too much water, and the tapir was just packing back and forth on the beach Various primate enclosures were top notch, lushly landscaped and plenty of climbing structures Jaguar glass fronted enclosure was way too small, they are big cats and should have much more space There is so much space inside one of the exhibits housing the otters and monkeys together, they should introduce more bird species such as parrots or horn bills. I do like how they exhibit bats in the area too. Also interesting why they do not exhibit more ground dwelling animals such as forest deer. They seem to focus mostly on primates.
There aren't many exhibits open in the winter, so to get my money's worth I can easily spend 1-2 hours in Jungleworld....
The tree roo and binturong enclosure was originally built for water monitors and crocodiles to illustrate the lowland rainforest. So they are not designed for tree climbing animals. The black leopard display was pretty creative when it was built. But for the leopard, it is kind of claustrophobic. All the fake plants and rocks are wonderfully fabricated. The artisans attention to details were incredible. To me they are the best I have seen. They probably translate these indoor design aspects such as lighting, visitor's line of vision and theming into other exhibits such as congo forest, renovated world of birds and jungle building in central park zoo. I can't wait to see what they have done for the new madagascar exhibit.
I think heard somewhere that the leopard exhibit was tacked on partway through the design process , although having written that, I'm not sure if such a thing is feasible. The two current animals are generic leopards (mother-daughter) that were imported from Basel in 1999. For two animals, it is quite small, and the majority of the cage furniture is gunnite rather than natural wood. Despite this, I enjoyed seeing the cats up off of the ground. I think the exhibit might work better for a smaller cat /carnivore species (clouded leopard, leopard cat, or even a new home for the binturongs?)
I recall that in the early 1990s they had bearcats and water monitors, but the stench of the bearcats and the public's need to toss coins into the pools of the monitors forced the curators to think again. By the way, all the plants are real except some fig leaves over the boardwalk by the leopards and some plants in the nocturnal galleries. While I was there (1993-2000) pretty much all the plants were SE Asian, as well.
Don't forget all the big trees in the silvery langur exhibit and the mangrove trees in the formerly proboscis monkey exhibit are artificially fabricated by some of the best craftsmen of its profession. But, you are right, they do have a lot of live plants in the exhibit. I am still amazed of how much plants there are on the gibbon island between the tapir exhibit and garial exhibit.
Ha! You are absolutely correct. I'm afraid I simply never think of the artificial trees as artificial plants. My oversight (and it will keep me chuckling for sometime!) Thanks
Most of my JungleWorld shots are from 1986-2000 and were originally taken as slides. But here's a few for you.
Jungle World means a lot to me, as it was a TV show in about 1985 on zoos, when I was four that inspired what later became. Jungle World was state of the art then and it was heavilly featured in the show. The probosic monkeys were still alive at the Bronx Zoo then. Never saw them there, never been to the Bronx actually, but had a holy moment earlier this year at the Singapore Zoo with their amazing breeding group. Spent three days at the Singapore Zoo and a good deal in front of the PM exhibit.
I visited Jungleworld in December of 2006. Here is the list of animals I saw when I was there. White cheeked gibbon, Binturong, Matchie's Tree Kangaroo, Ebony Langur, Small Clawed Otter, Silvery Langur, Black Leopard, Spotted Pond Turtle, Burmese Python, Small Clawed Otter, Tree Shrew, Fly River Turtle, Giant Gourami. These are the only ones I can see at the time.
Hmmm ... birds ... the only one that springs to mind is a green peacock which hangs around the tapir enclosure.
Jungle world Im new here and i have a couple of questions. How did the proboscis monkey die, what years were they in jungle world from, are there any zoos in the states that now have thesemonkeys and what ever did happen to the gharials that were at the end of the exhibit. Thanks
