Lately the Los Angeles Zoo has been changing it s image. Thanks to the money ushered from prop As success and many charitable donations, the zoo undertook a few very important renovations.
A zoo is all about the exhibits obviously, so much of the money goes to improving or creating enclosures which posses a more natural surroundings for the animals to live in.
Their most recent manifestation of that money is the Red Ape Rain Forest orangutan exhibit which made its opening debut July 13, 2000. The price tag? 6.5 million dollars, but it delivers big time.
Although the zoo already had an existing orangutan exhibit, its confines were very artificial, and cramped, a mere 500 square foot concrete and wood cell. There simply was not enough room to move around for the apes because the exhibit was like a deserted island, literally. However the new exhibit totally throws this design out the window and adopts a much more natural look.
There are plants, grass, small water channels, and an assortment of treated vine-like ropes and rubber trees to climb. The way in which the exhibit is presented is also different, it is like a donut. The observer can get between the halves of the environment and get a much closer look at the animals.
Although the exhibit is split , connecting rings on both sides of each enclosure allow the orangutans to climb between the tent-like modules. How spacious is this thing? It offers 6,000 square feet of open area for the main exhibit, in addition to another 1,920 square feet of indoor quarters according to the Zoos specifications found at www.losangeleszoo.com .
But enough about the exhibit, what about the apes?
Currently there are four orangutans in the exhibit, 3 females and 1 male, which is more than enough for the space given hard to believe. In the wild orangutans seldom socialize and lead predominantly solitary lives. However in this exhibit they have adapted to a gregarious environment quite well, and enjoy, or at least, do not mind each other s company.
Because of this concern, the exhibit allows each orangutan to find its own area because of its modular construction, and if the orangutans feel they need more privacy. They can retreat to their respective sleeping quarters.
Off-exhibit is a holding area that is climate-controlled for the orangutans to sleep in as well, serving also as an area for regular checkups by the veterinarians. As it stands, the exhibit is fully contained satisfying most of the needs of its ape occupants.
This exhibit and The Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains exhibit, another exhibit newly designed for chimpanzees, are the forerunners of this gradual transformation of the Los Angeles Zoo. Each exhibit is unique in its design and functionality, but identical in the purpose of offering mental relaxation to the animals so they can engage in more natural behavior.
However we must not forget the roles of these exhibits, educators for the conservation of species where they exist. Apes in particular suffer because it is hard to adapt when their habitat becomes destroyed since they are so dependant on it. So zoos must help by getting people to value their animal brethren.
As it stands now, there are an estimated paltry 10,000 to 20,000 orangutans left in daily decreasing forest, which inhabit secluded forests of southeast Asia.
If actions are not taken, orangutans will exist only in zoos, at which point zoos will have failed to carry out their primary purpose. In the meantime such improvements will help enlighten otherwise oblivious people to conservation so that we will never have to see that future of rain forests laid waste.

Albert Kim is a senior at North Hollywood High School L.A. Zoo Magnet