I think you're being a bit unfair here. The vast majority of the building looks more like this with lots of greenery and dirt/mulch flooring. Yes part of that toucan/mammal enclosure has a bare floor but the enclosure goes further to the left than what my photo shows and the much of it has more natural flooring. Also keep in mind that 3/4 species in that enclosure are going to spend very little time on the floor. The enclosure is a pretty good size with some good height to it and the fixtures such as that hatch house offer the tamandua and porcupines some good climbing opportunities. As for the primate enclosure, I think my photo makes it look smaller than it is. The enclosure is actually a good size, has very good height, and there are plenty of vines and climbing opportunities. I understand that it is ugly-looking, but that does not make it bad. Remember that these primates will also be spending very little time on the floor of their enclosure. The outdoor enclosure looks rough, but it's also December in New England so we'll have to wait until summer to see how it really fairs. Aside from those, I really don't know what you mean by "poorly-conceived exhibits". Yeah the terrariums/aquariums aren't very big, but they also don't hold any big animals. The walk-through itself is large and very green. One thing they nailed with this exhibit is the height, and I think the exhibit will look a lot better as the trees grow into it. Even as it is, though, the birds can still easily access the full space and I even saw one of the lion tamarins crawling around in the rafters so clearly it's accessible. The outdoor flamingo enclosure isn't the best looking, and the mesh/poles do take away from the viewing experience, but netting the birds in means they don't have to have their wings clipped to keep them from flying away which is a major benefit imo. You mentioned the otter enclosure in the comments of the primate enclosure and said it has "the nation's smallest Giant Otter pool" but that's simply far from true. As I said earlier, this enclosure is far larger than Philadelphia's original (which I understand still exists, and while they've added another enclosure, the animals do not have access to the whole thing at one time) and has a significantly larger pool than DWA. There is a main pool and a smaller pool and both of them go deeper than floor level. The main pool is pretty big actually and there's a small waterfall and a small water slide leading down to the second pool, which the two animals make good use of during my visit. The land area of that enclosure also is not all cement either, though I will agree there is a bit of it, namely in the mock rock work (but what makes this worse than other zoos with mock rock?). Below are two photos I did not post to the gallery that may give a bit of a better perspective on the actual size of the pools: I will agree that the building didn't turn out very pretty and, as I said in my initial post, I do wish they had done a bit more, but this is still a great addition to the zoo and I appreciate the direction they're moving in. One thing I think we all need to keep in mind (myself included at times) is enclosure functionality/quality > aesthetics. ~Thylo
@ThylacineAlive I appreciate your thoughts and I also want to recognize the importance of seeing your photos uploaded with such haste as the exhibit just opened to the public. Thanks! I'd be intrigued to read what @reduakari and perhaps a few others think of the new rainforest building but at least the zoo has improved from what they had 8 years ago...that was a truly awful structure! Out of curiosity, I looked up my RWPZ review on my 2010 Road Trip thread and here is what I had to say about the old building: "The indoor rainforest building is within the tiny confines of what seems to be an ancient, 100 year-old, creaking structure that has puddles on the floor and appears to leak water on unsuspecting zoo visitors. A green anaconda is shoved into a small exhibit, and alongside an emerald tree boa also has a dirty tank as its home. There is a white-faced saki monkey enclosure, a green aracari enclosure, a Jamaican fruit bat enclosure and a small aviary, but it appears that most of these other species are free-roaming: cotton-top tamarins, golden lion tamarins, two-toed sloths, prehensile-tailed porcupines, yellow-rumped caciques, sunbitterns, blue-crowned motmots, South American red-footed tortoises, red-crested cardinals, silver-beaked tanagers and elegant crested tinamous. I can’t confirm that they were all free to explore wherever they wanted to, as the tortoises were definitely confined to their own area, but I did see many of the birds and a sloth, and it was a treat to have tamarins run around directly over my head. The small building is almost too tiny to contain the number of species that it has, and everything inside has an amateurish, haphazard feel to it."
@snowleopard you are welcome Yes we can certainly agree that this is a huge improvement over the old building (which at least partly appears to still be present). I, too, would be interested to hear some others' thoughts. ~Thylo
Ok I know this is late but I didn’t know it had opened already so here’s my opinion. I personally think this is a great addition although I do agree with @snowleopard that the howler monkey exhibit could use more detail and have much more vegetation along with the toucan and tamuta exhibit. I also wish the piranha tank would be bigger along with the Anaconda enclosure. But other than that I think it’s a great addition to the zoo. It’s certainly better than the Buffalos’ zoos rainforest and Omaha in my opinion. Although do u have any picture s of the sloths in the rainforest @ThylacineAlive?
I think I put one up already, there are two in the walk-through. I don't have any closer ones I don't think. ~Thylo
The roger Williams park zoo has a new giraffe Roger Williams Park Zoo introduces Cora the giraffe | Roger Williams Park Zoo
The emerald tree boas are not in the rainforest and are in the adaptations building instead- with the snake-necked turtles
What exactly is the point of keeping a colony of relatively common fruit bats if they aren't going to be on exhibit?
The zoo is now the latest to be protested against regarding their treatment of their elephants. Protesters want elephants out of Roger Williams Park Zoo
From the zoo's facebook: BABY ALERT ❤ Meet Thistle, the Zoo's smallest of three healthy baby binturong born on March 8. First time mom Poppy is feeding and nurturing two of the triplets. As the tiniest member of the family, and being pushed away by her two stronger siblings, Thistle is being hand-reared in the Zoo's Veterinary Hospital. The animal care staff is working around the clock to feed her, and make sure she gains weight and continues to grow. The goal is to get this small binturong strong enough to reunite her with her family.
A prehensile-tailed porcupine was born at the zoo. Stork delivers porcupine to Roger Williams Park Zoo
The zoo now has a Black Rat Snake in with the Timber Rattlesnake and a Collared Tree Runner has replaced the Casque-headed Iguana.
