Zoos Go Wild Revamping Exhibits That Replicate Habitats of Animals

Can’t afford to go to Africa? No problem--just drop into the Denver Zoo’s Primate Panorama.

Don’t have time to visit the Pacific Northwest? Try the North Carolina Zoo’s North American Region Exhibit.

Gone are the days when a visit to the zoo meant watching lethargic animals sleep and pace in tile cages behind steel bars.

Zoos across the country--including the San Diego Zoo, the Kansas City Zoo, the Baltimore Zoo and the San Francisco Zoo--have replaced metal and concrete with grass, trees, bushes and pools to replicate their animals’ natural habitat.

The investment has paid off in climbing attendance.

The American Zoo and Aquarium Assn. reported that more than 116 million people visited member zoos and aquariums in 1994, and attendance in 1995 reached 120 million. The association represents almost every major zoological park, aquarium and wildlife park in North America.

Since the 1980s, when zoos began their metamorphosis from animal exhibitors to natural habitat and conservation sanctuaries, more people have gone to zoos and aquariums than to professional football, basketball and baseball games combined, the association said.

The zoo of the ‘90s is a place where birds fly freely, cats roam, chimpanzees and orangutans swing from trees and search for hidden food, and visitors feel a little less guilty about watching.

“I wouldn’t go to zoos for years because I considered them animal prisons. It was not what I wanted my children to see. Animals are not supposed to live like that,” said Sherri McCutchen, 45, as she watched primates at the Denver Zoo scampering along tree branches and munching leaves.

“I love the zoo now. I love the conservation and education aspect, so my kids can see animals they would never see otherwise,” she added.

The trend began, zoo association spokeswoman Jane Balantine said, “when zoos changed their priority from entertainment and exhibition to education, conservation and natural habitat.”

The newest trend is immersing visitors in the animals’ environment.

“We bring the visitors into the world of the animals they are viewing, to educate them about the wildlife within its habitat,” Balantine said.

She said many zoos either are opening new natural habitat exhibits and wildlife conservation education centers or are refurbishing their old exhibits. At least 30 new exhibits opened in 1996.

The animals eat better too, and companies such as GrubCo, HMS Zoo Diets Inc. and Flamingo Fare have sprung up to supply food ranging from the nutritious to the exotic. Flamingos are fed foods containing a high level of beta carotene, which helps them maintain their rosy pink color, and monkeys are given biscuits made with bran.

The trend also has created a market for companies specializing in zoo design and firms that provide graphics for wetlands, rain forests and savanna exhibits.

“No longer do the people who design zoo exhibits also design the local city pool,” Denver Zoo spokeswoman Angela Baier said.

Zookeeping has become a field demanding special credentials. Most zookeepers hold master’s degrees and specialize in fields such as biodiversity conservation, horticulture, animal dentistry, wildlife obstetrics, exotic animal veterinary science and biology.

The Denver Zoo, a leader in natural habitat exhibits since it built the first bar-less exhibit in 1918, Bear Mountain, has poured more than $30 million into new exhibits since 1986--and doubled its attendance to 2 million visitors per year. Revenues have risen in the last decade from $2 million annually to $4.78 million last year.

Mike Irwin exemplifies the new breed of zoo visitor who revels in his newfound guilt-free voyeurism.

“You used to see green rooms with concrete floors, and tigers in cages so small they could barely move around. It was terrible,” he said.

“I feel better about it now. I don’t know how they feel about it, but I think it’s good. If we want to see them, we should be caged and they should have some freedom.

“I would go more frequently, and pay a great deal more to support this, to be able to see the animals in their environment,” Irwin said.

After the North Carolina Zoo opened its $32-million, 200-acre North American Region Exhibit, its attendance nearly doubled to 1 million in 1995.

“Some people here won’t ever get to see those animals in their natural habitat,” zoo spokesman Rod Hackney said.

Baier said not everyone is enthusiastic about the trend.

“Although most people like the change, this is the MTV age, and we get some complaints,” she said. “People can’t see the animals when they’re in a tree, behind a rock or in a cave. Some people just don’t have the patience.”