GORILLAS LAND

Woodland Park Zoo is a zoological garden around the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. Opened in 1899, the zoo includes 92 acres (37 ha) of exhibits and public spaces. Its collection includes 1,090 animal specimens, 300 animal species, 35 endangered and 5 threatened animal species, and the majot exhibits of the zoo are Trail of Vines, Northern Trail, Tropical Rain Forest, Elephant Forest and African Savanna. A male gorilla called Bobo was the first of his species to arrive to Woodland Park Zoo, when he came from Africa in December 1953. Between 1968 and 1969, a family group arrived to Seattle. Nina and Pierrot (still at Woodland) were among that group and they were the parents of the first baby gorilla born at this park. It was a female who was born in September 1975 and died six days later.

The gorilla exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo was opened in 1979  as the very first naturalistic gorilla enclousure on the planet. There are two outdoor enclosures, which are delimited with a hidden dry moat. A very large canopy is placed in both habitats, where there are heat lamps and piles of hay for the gorillas to forage through. Treeline is used to naturally obscure any kind of hidden barriers, which, convinated with climbing structures of trunks and ropes, providesthe gorillas great posibilities to climb.

  
Photos © Scott Richardson