2010 ANNUAL REPORT Minnesota Zoo

Debuting a Permanent African Exhibit
In May 2010, the Minnesota Zoo opened its
first permanent African exhibit, celebrating
one of the greatest wilderness areas on Earth.
Representing tropical Central Africa, Faces of the African Forest
features rare and unusual animals never before seen at the
Minnesota Zoo. Showcasing a great diversity of color, behavior
and form, colobus monkeys, De Brazza’s monkeys, fruit bats,
dwarf crocodiles, red river hogs, rock hyraxes and cichlid fish
are now delighting Zoo guests in a new exhibit on the Tropics
Trail.
Minnesota Zoo 2010 ANNUAL REPORT
page 6
Built largely by talented in-house staff, this immersive exhibit
allows Zoo guests to go underneath a rootball to get an
underwater view of crocodiles and fish; crawl through a hollow
branch to see monkeys eye-to-eye; view animals from both cave
and treetop views; touch crocodile skull models; and directly
impact conservation efforts by recycling their old cell phones at
the Zoo. A series of graphics help explain Africa’s conservation
challenges. Nearly a quarter of animal species native to Africa’s
tropical forests are in danger of extinction due to habitat loss,
poaching, and demand for forest products.
Another feature of the exhibit is a giant fig tree. Fig trees are
an important lifeline for many fruit-eating, forest-dwelling
animals in Africa. Worldwide, over 1,200 species of mammals