Mouse Extra

The deep jungle of equatorial Africa is what gave the area the name “The Dark Continent.” It is where Joseph Conrad set his great novel the “Heart of Darkness”. It was the center of the nightmares of the slave trade and colonialism. It is currently a hotbed of civil war and a place troubled by poverty and epidemics. It is also home to one of the most diverse and endangered ecosystems on the planet, the Congo basin rainforest. And it is home to the gorilla.

There are three subspecies of the gorilla, the eastern lowland, the western lowland, and the mountain gorilla. The most famous, thanks in large part to Diane Fossey and her book “Gorillas in the Mist”, is the mountain variety. It is also the most endangered with only a few hundred left in the world. Virtually every gorilla found in a zoo, including the one at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, are of the eastern lowland subspecies.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom from the outset wanted to be a state of the art zoological institution. To that end, they recruited help from the best zoos the country has to offer such as the Bronx Zoo and ZooAtlanta. Disney’s Animal Kingdom has a few advantages over other zoos. First of all, there is the weather. Disney had no need to construct indoor rainforests, instead taking advantage of the heat and humidity. Many zoos couldn’t build an outdoor Congo simulation. Second on that list is that Disney has a lot more money to spend on exhibits. Most zoos are operated by city governments or non-profits conservation organizations. Thirdly, they were starting from scratch. Many of the great zoos in this country are decades if not a century old. Plus, you can’t remodel a building until you find someplace to put the critters living there.

Disney took great efforts in building their zoo. Kilimanjaro Safari is the envy of any institution and what zoo wouldn’t love to boast of a work of art such as the Tree of Life. But there are many smaller exhibits that attract me to the Animal Kingdom. The Oasis really sets the mood and the smaller exhibits around the Tree of Life blend nicely together and put you into the setting as opposed to the heavily used footpath a few feet away. When the park opened, the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail (originally titled the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail) was the major walk-thru exhibit even though it was often overlooked by the masses coming to and from the nearby safari ride.

The exhibit immediately sets you down a dark, jungle path. The first viewing area includes the unusual okapi, found only in the deep Congo jungle. It seems to be a strange scientific experiment gone wrong combining a giraffe, camel and zebra. The okapi is one of the last mammals to be “discovered.” For many years, the okapi was considered a myth by the Western world until it was first scene by Europeans at the beginning of the 20th century.

The next stop on the trail is to enter the research hut, a model of dwellings often used by biologists in the field. Here you will find the bizarre naked mole rat, a mammal that lives much the way an ant does in colonies with workers, soldiers and a queen. There is also an exhibit explaining the harshness of the bushmeat crisis. On exiting the hut, you enter what I consider the highlight of the trail, the aviary. In essence, its a huge flight cage hidden by dense vegetation with rare, colorful birds flying all around you. I like the fact that you are given a field guide to help you identify the various species.

You next enter an area that diverges from the jungle theme as you find animals native to the Savannah. This includes the dik-dik and gerenuk antelopes. The meerkats, made famous by Timon and the recent Animal Planet hit, are in this area as well. The hippoquarium is close by. Disney’s Animal Kingdom is one of the few zoos that allow visitors to see these huge animals underwater. It is quite the achievement in filter systems let me tell you.

Finally, you come to the gorilla research camp. There are several displays detailing the life and plight of this close human relative, but most people are pressed up against the glass viewing the troop. As is true throughout the trail, cast members in safari outfits are there to answer your questions. They are trained to be familiar with the ecology of the both the animals and the habitat. In fact, many are from Africa. After leaving the camp, you can view other gorillas from a suspension bridge. From there, you can view a bachelor group. Typically, gorillas live in a harem society such as the one viewed from the camp. There is another troop that can be viewed from the bridge, as well.

The Pangani Forest Trail is a fine example of one of the missions of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and zoos in general. It is their belief that if you show animals to people they will care about those animals and if you educate the public they learn about what needs to be done to save them. If a visitor sees a gorilla in its rainforest home, they will more likely be moved and more likely grow concerned of their plight. It is believed by the zoo community that no matter how much a person reads about the threats of deforestation, over hunting, and extinction, it does not hit home until that person looks into the eyes of an animal like a gorilla. The Pangani Forest Trail provides the visitor with just that opportunity.

Today’s posting is from Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra