melbourne zoo has announced some details for it's new orangutan exhibit opening mid next year. the enclosure will be themed around an orang rehabilitation centre and will feature an elevated boardwalk to bring visitors to eye level with the apes. it will also include an indoor "day room" and a educational point where visitors can lean about and donate towards conservation projects in asia for elephants and orangutans. the new exhibit will be integrated into the "trail of the elephants" mega-exhibit within the SE asian rainforest precinct that also includes otters, tigers and birds. similar to the orangutan exhibit being constructed at adelaide zoo, the new melbourne enclosure will be shared with the zoo's resident siamang gibbons.
the zoo said that they are not expecting the exhibit to be open until the end of june. i'm itching to go to the zoo as i haven't yet seen the finished stage 2 of the elephant exhibit or the refubished australian bush, but i'm not gonna go until the orangs are done so i can see it all at once. hopefully the zoos siamang family and five orangutans will all be on display together at the opening. should be pretty cool, the orangs will be able to overlook the elephants.
