New at the Zoo: Madagascar!

Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) unveiled Madagascar! on June 19 at the Bronx Zoo, a spectacular immersion exhibit inside the restored historic Lion House. The exhibit offers guests a breathtaking view of the world’s fourth largest island off Africa’s eastern coast. Home to an amazing array of unique animals and plants, Madagascar is sometimes called “the eighth continent.”

As visitors explore the exhibit, they will see a 13.5-foot, 800-pound Nile crocodile lurking in a limestone cave; acrobatic ring-tailed lemurs leaping in a spiny forest; and more than 100,000 Madagascar hissing cockroaches crawling in a massive baobab tree. More than 150 other animals, representing nearly 30 species, will be featured in the 20,000-square-foot building.

“The Wildlife Conservation Society’s new exhibit featuring Madagascar is a window on our conservation of wildlife in that beautiful island country. The exhibit’s placement in the historic Lion House at the center of the Bronx Zoo symbolizes Madagascar’s importance to the world of wild nature,” said Dr. Steven E. Sanderson, WCS president and CEO. “Each visitor to Madagascar! will walk through a ‘green’ building that honors our mission in New York and around the world. We hope everyone will be moved to help save wildlife and wild places.”

Madagascar President Marc Ravolamanana, a long-time ally of WCS, has made his nation a global leader in conservation through the “Durban Vision,” which calls for tripling the area of the island set aside in protected areas.

WCS has worked to save Madagascar’s biodiversity since the early 1990s. Through its projects and partnerships, WCS helps to protects and manage the island’s wild places, including its largest remaining tract of rainforest, a quarter of its coastal forests, and its vast coral reefs—the third largest reef system in the world. Two of WCS’s most notable achievements in Madagascar have been the design, establishment, and management of Masoala National Park and the Makira Forest, which together make up Madagascar’s largest, contiguous protected area.

WCS and the government of Madagascar recently announced a landmark agreement, in which the government will offer for sale more than nine million tons of carbon offsets to help safeguard Makira Forest and fight climate change.

The rededication of the brilliant architectural legacy of the Bronx Zoo’s 1903 landmark Lion House breathes new life into the Beaux Arts jewel of Astor Court. This restoration is a major accomplishment of WCS’s $650 million Gateways to Conservation campaign. The building, once the home of the New York Aquarium and the Zoo’s big cats, will also include the Schiff Family Great Hall, a spacious community meeting and event area.

The building design adapts to the functional demands of the future and incorporates new advances in animal welfare, visitor experience, conservation awareness, and science education.

In 2006, the Lion House received the NYC Green Building Award from the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. Additionally, the Lion House carries the distinction of being the first landmark building in New York City anticipated to receive the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold rating. Some of the green technology includes extensive use of dynamic skylights to maximize daylight and modulate the temperature in the exhibit, geothermal heating and cooling systems to reduce consumption of fossil fuels, and technologies that result in a 57 percent savings in energy and a 59 percent savings in water consumption.

The restoration of the Lion House was supported by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, former City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone, Sr., former City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, New York City Council Bronx Delegation, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión, Jr., as well as the generosity of WCS public and private donors, including the New York State Power Authority, the Schiff family, Joan O.L. Tweedy, Jonathan L. Cohen, and others.

The complex design and building process of more than six years included participants from the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) and its office of sustainable design, FXFOWLE architects, and WCS’s designers, horticulturists, and animal curators.

Discover more about the exhibit and WCS work in Madagascar by visiting www.bronxzoo.com. 

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