BOISE — Get ready to experience the sights and sounds of native African wildlife right here in Boise.
"We built essentially a whole other zoo as part of this zoo," said director of Zoo Boise Jene Peacock, "Rachel has taught them very well if you jingle the padlock on the feeder they'll come running."
Nearly 150 new animals are making their home here in Boise in the new exhibit named after Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park. Some of the animals are already stretching their legs; others are just content enjoying a snack.
"The vultures, the hyenas, the African wild dogs," said Peacock, "we've covered it from tiny little animals, the assassin bugs which are about an inch long, all the way up to, we've got almost 400 lb male African warthog."
While the animals are the stars of the show, the architecture pays tribute to Gorongosa National Park as well
"The waterfall and the murals you'll see, are actually based on photos from Gorongosa National Park, it's not just a random rock work," said Peacock.
Their exhibits are specifically designed to let the animals go where they want
"They have access to the inside and outside exhibit," Peacock explained.
It also accommodates their activity levels.
"If we put the vultures in this big exhibit behind us, which is our hyena exhibit, they might use one little corner of it, and you'd waste all this other space. What the vultures want is to get up high," said Peacock.
The nine million dollar project, which is now just working on those finishing touches, serves the public as well as the local people and animals in Mozambique.
"6-700,000 alone of that 9 million went straight to conservation, said Peacock, "We've got a whole lot more exciting stuff to come.
The exhibit is open to public starting July 17.Full details here.
