Into Darkness

Last week's annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade featured an elaborate float from the Wildlife Conservation Society.  Among the artificial animals and costumed performers on the float, sharp-eyed viewers may have spotted an interesting detail - a dark panel, resembling a hollow or a cave, from which a pair of glowing eyes peered out.  Rumors had abounded for a while, and this certainly seemed to be a tip, but now the rumors are confirmed.  After an absence of about fifteen years, the Bronx Zoo is reopening one of its most iconic exhibits - the World of Darkness!

World of Darkness was one of the first zoo nocturnal houses, a trend of exhibit which certainly isn't very common today either, and usually not on a large scale.  Opened in 1969, it closed forty years later due to budget cuts, being one of the more expensive zoo exhibits to operate.  Under reverse lighting, visitors were able to see a variety of nocturnal creatures, including lemurs, small carnivores, caimans, and, of course, bats.  I've been to the Bronx Zoo on several occasions, but only saw the exhibit once, the year before it closed.

Details about the new exhibit are sparse so far, but promotional materials on the zoo's website show sloth, caiman, bat, and, as a special highlight for the seekers of zoo rarities, aye-ayes!  Who knows what else will be inside?  The newly refurbished building will open next summer, in 2025.  New exhibits are always exciting by themselves.  The return of a classic, world-famous exhibit that I thought I'd never see again, though?  That's a special thrill!