A Venezuelan Frog [Instagram]

A frog sits perched on the branch of a plant in Venezuela. This frog was observed by WCS’s Department of Tropical Research, who spent time studying wildlife in Venezuela in the 1920s and 1940s.

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Red Light for Nocturnal Animals [Instagram]

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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William Beebe’s 142nd Birthday [Instagram]

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.

Congo Gorilla Forest Twenty Year Anniversary [Instagram]

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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