Primate Palace
At the 1972 groundbreaking for Tropic World, no one really knew what to expect in terms of what the construction process would bring or how revolutionary the building would turn out to be.
 
The decade-long design process for the Tropic World of Apes and Monkeys, as it was then called, was not without challenges. Among them, curators and keepers struggled to figure out how to manage animals in a mixed-species environment and invent new techniques to provide for the realism of the experience.
 
To achieve that realism, staff traveled to Uganda to measure trees, tape insect noises, record humidity levels, and photograph rocks. Back at the zoo, the information was translated into a level of naturalism not to be found in a book or on television...or in other zoos.
 
When it was finally finished, Tropic World was the largest zoo exhibit in the world. It was also a new type of immersion experience, with visitors walking amid mixed species, occasional thunderstorms, a waterfall, and other naturalistic features.

Get Involved