Monkey Island

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Postcard view of Monkey Island

Monkey Island was the first animal exhibit constructed for the Birmingham Zoo at Lane Park. It was the brainchild of Mayor Jimmy Morgan and was designed by Charles Snook of Charles McCauley Architects.

Labor to construct the exhibit was donated by local unions and materials, such as slag for concrete aggregate, were donated by industries. The exhibit was built in a pit and made to resemble an island with rocky outcrops and was surrounded by a 7-foot-wide shallow moat of water and ringed by a wrought-iron fence. The island was furnished with a playhouse, playground-style "monkey bars" and trapezes. The interior of the structure was a heated room covered in glazed tiles that could be hosed down every evening. A six-foot tall by six-foot wide tunnel connected the room to a building north of the exhibit.

The first monkeys to be exhibited at the zoo included "Alabama", donated by dancer LaBelle Carroll, Romeo, and four others donated by the Kent Animal Hospital. They were joined by about 30 newly-acquired rhesus monkeys as the attraction opened to the public on October 15, 1954.

In 1999, the spider monkeys then inhabiting the exhibit were moved to the zoo's primate building. Monkey Island was then reconfigured as a habitat for alligators and snapping turtles until 2002, at which time the alligators and turtles were moved out and a duck exhibit moved in. The ducks were moved to the zoo's general pond in 2009, just prior to demolition of the island. On September 25-26, 2009, the zoo held a special event as they dismantled the exhibit and gave visitors an opportunity to purchase pieces of the rocks that made the outcrops.

References

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