St. Louis Zoo: Jungle of the Apes

 The Great Ape Habitats at the St. Louis Zoo are home to Western Lowland Gorillas (three), Bornean Orangutans (four) and Chimpanzees (eight).  The complex has three large interior day rooms, off-view habitats and three very large exterior habitats, one for each species.  

Both the Gorillas and Chimpanzees were inside on view.  The Orangutans were outside.  Included in the four was a relatively recently born member.  There were three large viewing windows around the exterior Orangutan Habitat.  Two of them were frosted over with white paint, so guests were all gathered at the remaining window.  I wasn't able to see the females or the little off-spring, because a particular family refused to move from their position at the window.  Now, you may ask, how do I know this?  Well, the dad announced it to everyone else waiting for their turn.  He said, it was rare to get such a great opportunity and they had no intention of leaving as long as the little orangutan was there.  I was able to see the big old male.

What surprised me about their groups was how small they were.  To have such a huge space, and only three Gorillas, when in the wild a small troop would be easily twice that size.  

Outside the entrance to the inner habitats, a wall displays images of the Apes with their names.

Western Lowland Gorilla Day Room.

Chimpanzee Day Room

Orangutan Day Room

Western Lowland Gorilla External Habitat

Banners celebrate the Chimpanzees along the path to their exterior habitat.

Exterior Chimpanzee Habitat

Only Orangutan viewing window.

The male Orangutan

St. Louis Zoo: Aviary

 The Aviary is the third building (along with the Herpetarium and the Small Primate House) that was designed and built in the 1930's as part of the WPA initiative set into place by the Great Depression.  It is a testament to the beauty and resilience of these structures that they still remain vital and fully functional.  And it is the vision of a great institution like the St. Louis Zoo to seamlessly integrate state of the art modernization renovations within all three.  I've never seen a more amazing Aviary than this one.  The Habitats are all generous and flow with an organic design ethos that would make Temple Grandin proud!  When it comes to design--this Aviary gets an A+.

As for the content of species, well, it's a mixed-bag.  The majority of birds to be found here are ground birds.  The dearth of song bird species is a definite negative.  So if that's your bag, don't get your hopes up.  Also, the further I went, the more I encountered the same species in additional habitats giving the sense that the place has got more kinds of birds than it does.  Although, I will say that sometimes when it was difficult to see the bird in one habitat, it was much easier to see it in a different one.

The other interesting difference between this building of habitats and the other two aforementioned was the lack of signature species.  With the exception of the Rhinoceros Hornbills, there weren't any showcase moments.  I overheard one visitor comment that a Habitat under renovation had been thus for some time and wondered where the Toucans had gone in the interim.  Toucans, now that would have been nice to have seen.  The place has the bones, it just needs a little content polish to be A+ all around.

Adjacent to the Aviary are Bird Gardens and exterior aviaries for larger birds like raptors and Flamingos.

VICTORIA CROWNED PIGEON

LAUGHING KOOKABURRA

GOLDEN-BREASTED STARLING

BUFF-CRESTED BUSTARD

HELMETED CURASSOW

SPUR-WINGED PLOVER

Rhinoceros Hornbill Habitat.

RHINOCEROS HORNBILL

MAGNIFICENT GROUND PIGEON

LUZON BLEEDING HEART DOVE

CRESTED WOOD PARTRIDGE

GUAM KINGFISHER

CONGO PEAFOWL (Male)

SUNBITTERN

Entrance to one of the natural Bird Gardens around the Aviary.

St. Louis Zoo: Red Rocks

 Beyond the Big Cats at the St. Louis Zoo is a large section dedicated mostly to hoof stock from both Asia and Africa, with the occasional Crane.  The area is referred to on the map as Red Rocks, because all the faux rock formations have a deep red tint to them.  While I encountered a few familiar species, once again like with the Herpetarium I was thrilled to discover so many other species that I had never seen in a zoo before.  Among them is the utterly captivating Sichuan Takin--a sort of huge goat/buffalo.  They are incredibly agile animals for the size and girth.  With my beloved Maryland Zoo turning toward acquiring some Asian species to fill out its collection, I would dearly love it if Takin could one day join us in Baltimore.  

With the coolness and especially the dampness (wet ground), not everyone was out.  Most notably the Giraffe's, but once I saw their habitat and how sloping it is, I understood why.  There is a real risk of injury when a Giraffe walks on a wet, sloping surface--they are designed for flat ground.  Add in slippery wet grass, and it's not worth taking chances.  Also MIA were the Okapi, the Speke's Gazelles, and the Gerenuks, which I had really wanted to see, but, alas.  

Altogether, the Red Rocks hosts 24 separate exterior habitats, although a good third of them held duplicate species, suggesting that the animals are moved around (at least some of them) to give them a wider range of experiences outdoors.  Toward the end of touring this area, I came upon a curious placard describing the AZA Stud Book and some information about the process of moving animals between zoos for breeding purposes.  I have never seen that before, either.  Bravo!

GREVY'S ZEBRA

The Grevy Zebra Habitat--first of two, this one for three females

Grevy's are very uniquely striped with slender, tightly arranged stripes making them easy to identify.

The lone male was housed in the adjacent habitat.

BACTRIAN CAMEL

The Bactrian Camel Habitat.

SICHUAN TAKIN

The Sichuan Takin Habitat

The magnificent bull with one of the females.

Another female with her offspring who was born just about a year ago.

Another Bull was slumbering on a rock ledge in an adjacent Habitat.

ADDAX

A Habitat with a little herd of Addax.  Addax are extremely rare and on the verge of being extinct in the wild.  Their survival as a species is completely in the hands of Zoos now in North America and Europe where there are collective breeding programs to maintain genetic diversity.  I've only ever encountered them before at the Kansas City Zoo.

A young member of the group.

SOMALIA WILD ASS

Somalia Wild Ass

I find these critically endangered little equines so beautiful with their zebra stockings.  I first encountered them at the Denver Zoo.

BANTENG

Banteng!  These are wild cattle of Southeastern Asia, and based on their coloration, these are probably from a subspecies found on Java in Indonesia.  They are critically endangered in the wild.

Beautiful huge Bull.  Bulls are dark brown to black, distinguishing them from females.

SARUS CRANE

A pair of Sarus Crane shared the Banteng Habitat.

NILE LECHWE

Another first, a Nile Lechwe

SOEMMERRING'S GAZELLE

Soemmerring's Gazelle

The amazing ridged horns of the Impala, but much more intricate and varied face markings.

BLACK CROWNED CRANE

No Giraffe, but a pair of stunning Black Crowned Cranes.

TRANSCASPIAN URIAL

Transcaspian Urial Habitat

ADDRA GAZELLE

Parting Photo of a Addra Gazelle, another Critically Endangered animal from Africa's Sahel region.