We are still towards the bottom of the map. This and the next post will be slightly out of order. The Reptile house is in the middle of the primate area, but that will be in post 3 of 5.

At the south (lower) edge of the primate area, you can find Lemur Island, but you might not find any Lemurs. We did find a lot of turtles.

Right beside Lemur Island is Uncle Beasley. John remembers climbing on him as a kid when he was out in front of the Museum of Natural History. John might have gone a little overboard with Uncle Beasley pictures.

Outside the think tank, they have the outdoor areas for the Great Apes. They also have some little Allen’s Swamp Monkeys.

The Orangutans also have an outdoor area in the front with towers connected by ropes that lead to the Great Ape House. When we arrived, an Orangutan was climbing down the tower.

Next, we went inside the Think Tank. Yes, it is full of primate geniuses planning to take over the world, but they are not working for the government. They are not even Homo Sapiens. They are Orangutans!

Sadly, no one was working today. The indoor area was empty. The think tanks covers a few areas, including intelligence in animals, enrichment for the Orangutans, and primate conservation. We did not try it this time, but they have a double blind puzzle where one person builds something from flat shapes and tries to describe how to build it to the other person. Usually, it goes badly.

The think tank has a place to play tug of war with the Orangutans, but the apes always win. Their 7 ft arm span, low center of balance, and abundance of fast twitch muscle fibers ensures this. Spending their life hanging from trees and using their muscles instead of watching TV probably helps too.

They also cover intelligence in other animals. This guy has clearly solved more than enough of the world’s problems for one day.

Out front of the Think Tank, they have a “quiet space”. Given the few feet of bushes around the edge, it is not clear how it will keep out the noise of a thousand screaming children in the summer, but it is an interesting space. It has seven Chimpanzee sculptures called “The Troop”/

This was Kate’s idea, but John went all “Monkey See, Monkey Do.”

We checked out Gibbon Ridge, but some of the Gibbons were not out. The Siamangs were out, but they we squabbling like MacKie and Tinkerbell.

Just past Gibbon Ridge is the Great Ape House with the Orangutans and Gorillas. We are not sure what Honey Bees have to do with Great Apes, but the Honey Bee mural is quite nice.

This one is clearly thinking about world domination. Or taking a nap. It is hard to tell with Orangutans.

This one appears to have thought too much and broken his brain. It looks like it is chewing on a sock.

To be continued …