A visitor at the @nyaquarium listens to an audio recording that describes the exhibits as she explores. June 12, 1957.

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In the 1960s, the Mammalogy Department at the Bronx Zoo invented an exhibit specially for housing nocturnal animals. The Red Light Room in the Small Mammal House opened in 1961, and it used Red Lights to help create a day cycle for the animals. Red light is bright for humans and dim for the animals, so the room allowed visitors to see the animals being active in their nighttime environment. White light at night simulated day time, when the animals sleep. This method was then implemented in the World of Darkness exhibit at the zoo that opened in 1969, which is featured in this photo.

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In the 1940s at the Bronx Zoo’s Children Zoo, guinea pigs experienced the life of medieval royalty. The guinea pigs had their very own castle, complete with a moat and drawbridge.

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William Beebe, the first curator of Ornithology at the Bronx Zoo and founder of WCS’s Department of Tropical Research, was born on this day in 1877. He’s photographed here in Venezuela where the DTR took part in three expeditions between 1945 and 1948.

We’re celebrating zoo keepers past and present for National Zookeeper Week! Bronx Zoo keeper Fred Martini and a California Sea Lion together in 1946.

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Happy World Snake Day! This Ball Python from 1925 made itself cozy inside a Bronx Zoo keeper’s hat.

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Gars and Sturgeon at the New York Aquarium in 1916 photographed by Elwin Sanborn, who was the staff photographer for WCS at the time.

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This week in 1999, the Congo Gorilla Forest opened at the Bronx Zoo. This illustration by Jack Unruh was on the invitation for the Opening Day ceremony. Since it opened, 7 million visitors have visited the exhibit, which allows zoo guests to donate their admission fees to WCS field conservation efforts in Central Africa. The exhibit has raised more than $10.6 million, which has gone directly to fund the conservation of Central Africa’s Congo Basin rainforest and wildlife. A happy 20 Year Anniversary to the exhibit! 

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In celebration of World Giraffe Day, here are an adult and a baby giraffe at the Bronx Zoo in 1982.

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Happy Father’s Day! Here are a lion and his cub hanging out at the African Plains exhibit at the Bronx Zoo in 1968.

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