Congo Gorilla Forest

There are many, many things we love about the Bronx Zoo and the Wildlife Conservation Society, but one that stands out is the Congo Gorilla Forest exhibit. The largest artificial rain forest in the world, Congo Gorilla Forest leads visitors on a winding trail through 6.5 acres of habitat that house 75 animal species and an astonishing 15,000 plants from 400 species. The design is marvelous--it was recently picked by New York Magazine as one of the 20 most important pieces of New York architecture of the last 40 years--and one of our favorite touches is the way the famously secretive okapi is screened by trees and brush, making it only slightly easier to see in the zoo than it is in the wild.

But the centerpiece, of course, is the lowland gorilla population, 22 individuals in all. The gorilla family is headed by the silverback Timmy and his first mate, Pattycake, who was the first gorilla ever born in New York. (Together, they produced one of the only sets of gorilla twins ever born and raised in a zoo.) The gorillas move through an undulating, tree-filled environment that allows them privacy if they want it; being primates, however, they are tremendously social and some seem to watch the visitors even more closely than the visitors watch them. Stepping up to the glass while Timmy stares back at you--he's particularly partial to people-watching--is an uncanny experience. You simultaneously feel our kinship and our difference, and while you certainly feel guilty, you also feel hopeful, since if we can build a zoo exhibit that produces such a complex sensation, it is surely within our power to keep such magnificent animals with us.