CLEVELAND (WJW) — September marks one full year since the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo shut down the rainforest to break ground on its multi-phase Primate Forest. That also meant moving most of the 600 animals that always called the old rainforest home.
But not every species left. The zoo’s five orangutans and some of its reptiles stayed put, holding down the fort during construction.
Gharials are a critically endangered species of crocodiles. In fact, there are only about 30 in captivity in American zoos and two of them are right here in Cleveland. Moving them would have been a challenge.
“It’s hard to move a gharial,” said reptile and amphibian keeper Kristy Becka said. “You would have to wrangle it and move it and that’s very stressful, so we wanted to keep them here.”
“The gharial girls” have hardly noticed a change.
“They’ve become a little more nocturnal,” Becka said. “I see evidence they come out at night because they have access to their holding space 24/7.”
Their exhibit won’t change much. However, there’s a large, decorative tree made of concrete smack dab in the middle of their beach. Becka said, that must go.
“We’re going to cut this tree out and we’ll have all this beach space for training,” she said. “Right now, it’s tight quarters for two eight-foot crocodiles.”
Around the corner from the gharials are the orangutans. It’s a different story for them.
“This is a group of animals that definitely miss people,” said Executive Director Dr. Chris Kuhar.
The orangutans were used to interacting with visitors through the window of their exhibit and needed a little cheering up.
“They do still get interaction because we have volunteers come twice a week. Plus, with the construction going on, there’s always workers passing through,” said zookeeper Andrew Clark. “Normally when we’re open to the public, they’ve very interested and engaged.”
They were especially interested that Wednesday in January when renovations caused an exterior fire. The flames were quickly under control, and no humans or animals were hurt, but the orangutans knew something was up.
“They actually climbed up to the top of the tree [in their enclosure] to watch,” said Kuhar. “They peeked out to see what was going on.”
When it’s all said and done, the orangutans will have so much more space. Phase One of the Primate Forest includes both indoor and outdoor enclosures, plus a special “health management hub” where guests can watch zookeepers train and care for the animals.
Once complete, the will have three separate animal habitats: a tropical forest, an orangutan forest, and a two-story gorilla forest.
“Phase One” includes the orangutans. It’s scheduled to open next summer. The entire project is targeted to be completed by the zoo’s 150th anniversary in 2032.
Carrie Young
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