Anniversary Story

The Zoo that Started it All: 40 Years of N.C. Zoo

by Taylor Higgins

Nkosi "Nik", the male silver-back gorilla,
died just monthsafter the birth of
his two sons, Apolla and Bomassa.
Photo credit: N.C. Zoo

Birth, death and the circle of life.

The 40th year of the North Carolina Zoo can be summed up with those seven words.

The third largest tourist attraction in North Carolina, the Zoo has seen an anniversary year marked by the tragic passing of visitor favorites and by the joyous arrival of new lives.  The year has also been commemorated with the opening of new exhibits, attractions and special events in celebration of 40 years.

Richard Cooper, the first zoo employee, pets the zoo's
first animal, a Galapagos Tortoise.
Photo credit: N.C. Zoo

The N.C. Zoo, which is now home to 1,600 animals and 320 full-time employees, began humbly with an “interim zoo” and the donation of 1,371 acres in 1974. According to zoo public relations manager Rod Hackney, this significant donation played a pivotal role in the zoo’s future as one of the best in the world.

“We had the zoo authority tell us that the North Carolina Zoo would become the leader in natural habitat concept,” Hackney said. “It was just an idea starting to catch on in other zoos, but nobody had the land we had at this zoo site. It was the guiding force, and I think helped make the North Carolina Zoo important in those early days.”

The natural habitat concept, presenting animals and plants in exhibits that closely resemble the habitats in which they would be found in the wild, was pioneered by the NC Zoo, and became a gold standard for wildlife captivity and conservation around the world. In 1983, the zoo became the first total natural habitat park in the United States with the closing of the Interim Zoo.

Three orphaned cougar cubs arrived at the Zoo in
March from Oregon.
Photo credit: Shervin Hess, Oregon Zoo

Dr. Richard Bergl, curator of conservation and research, says that the zoo strives daily to recreate the actual living habitats of its animals as closely as possible. For example, each morning zookeepers hide the food of the lowland gorillas in challenging places throughout the exhibit in enrichment devices to simulate the natural foraging or gorillas in the wild.

It is in these habitats the zoo prides itself on successful breeding of endangered species. In the past year, the zoo has welcomed two baby lowland gorillas, three orphaned cougar cubs, an otter cub and a baby baboon born just this week.

But the zoo is no stranger to loss. In the same period of time, the zoo tragically said goodbye to Wilhelm “Willie,” a 28-year-old polar bear and zoo favorite, and  Nkosi “Nik," a 22-year-old silver-back gorilla and leader of the troupe. The gorillas also suffered a devastating loss when a baby gorilla died overnight last summer, just days after birth.

The Zoo's most popular animal, Willie, died in
December at the Milwaukee Zoo while awaiting
habitat renovations at N.C. Zoo
Photo credit: N.C. Zoo

In the wake of the recent CNN documentary “Blackfish,” which placed SeaWorld under the international spotlight for its treatment of captive orca wales, zoos and aquariums around the world have come under widespread scrutiny for raising wild animals in captivity and the death of so many animals could threaten to draw the public’s eye to the practices of zoology.

But zookeeper Aaron Jesue assures visitors that the zoo’s mission is conservation and education.

 “You go to a zoo and in every single exhibit there’s so much more of a story than what you see behind the glass.” Jesue said in a recent interview with Our State.  “The way animals interact with each other and with the keepers, the way the keepers have to work and do all these things you’ll never hear about—there’s so much more going on. You might only be taking those few seconds to see the animal and keep going, but if you focus, you’ll see so much more.”

Jane Goodall holds a baby chimp
with zoo keeper John Everhart.
Photo credit: N.C. Zoo

The NC zoo works in partnership with the wildlife conservation society in Nigeria, Cameroon, and West Africa to help to conserve the most endangered of all the gorilla subspecies. The zoo spearheads a program called UNITE, which is co-sponsored by the Jane Goodall Foundation, that is dedicated to the research and conservation of chimpanzees. The N.C. zoo has one of the largest troupes of chimps in the world, and Dr. Goodall attended the opening of the exhibit in the late 1980s.

As the N.C. Zoo looks forward to 40 more years of success, their mission of education and conservation through natural habitat recreation can be seen in all renovation, construction and expansion.

Later this year, the zoo will complete a polar bear exhibit expansion project which cost around $8.5 million. The project will provide additional viewing opportunities for visitors. A new exhibit area that simulates an alpine meadow will be added to the existing 10-foot-deep pool and rocky landscape. A maternity den is also included in the renovations, which may enable the zoo to create a breeding group of polar bears.