Today the gibbon exhibit opened and as it is my day off work I was able to see it. It occupies the former sun bear exhibit, with very tall mesh and a large artificial tree. The viewing glass was covered in paper with small viewing holes (temporarily) as the gibbons have not had glass before. While I was there they already tore off one piece and the rest will be torn by them soon or removed by staff. Quite a large crowd at the zoo, in spite of somewhat cold and overcast conditions (by Tucson standards). Two mesh overhead tubes cross the visitor path and connect to a tower on the opposite side (just inside the former sarus crane exhibit). A spiral ladder leads up to it for staff to conduct training sessions in public view (at least I assume that is what it is for). Zoo director Jason Jacobs was there and we had a really nice, long talk. He confided a lot of near term plans and I am happy to say there will be several animal additions over the next two years. Since I am not sure if they are public knowledge I will not divulge any specifics, but suffice to say this is an exciting time in the zoo's development.
