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Gorilla Tropics & Scripps Aviary

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Get sociable with our gorillas and bonobos

When you journey into Gorilla Tropics, you enter a remarkable simulation of an African rain forest, with several enclosures and an expansive aviary housing some of Africa's amazing wildlife.

The heart of Gorilla Tropics is the gorillas' habitat. With its natural landscape of cascading waterfalls, open meadow, and climbing areas, Gorilla Tropics provides these vegetarian giants with a healthy living environment that adds to their well-being. You'll observe from the many viewing areas how gorillas are members of a very complex social group, and that the unique living habitat of Gorilla Tropics greatly helps to encourage their natural behavior. Our younger apes love to tumble down the grassy slope into the large viewing area, and you'll usually find a gorilla or two seated next to the window, doing some people-watching!

Below the gorillas' lush habitat you'll find the spacious home of our bonobos, also known as pygmy chimpanzees. They are quite possibly the most intelligent primates on Earth (other than us humans, of course!). What you'll also notice is that these intelligent animals are a lot of fun to watch. Their enclosure is dominated by giant rock outcroppings and distinctive, twisted palms, on which the playful bonobos nimbly climb. Waterfalls and streams add to the African rain forest atmosphere. But the real show is the bonobos themselves—just a few minutes observing them in action and you'll realize how smart they really are!

Across the path from the bonobos you'll find impressive crowned eagles. Their treetop perches are at your eye level, which is a wonderful way to see these large birds of prey. Next door are Angolan colobus monkeys with their fringe of long white hair. And further down the path is Scripps Aviary, a lush African rain forest complete with rushing waterfalls and exotic plants. Look above and you might spot some of the more than 100 colorful African native birds, including bearded barbets, openbill storks, and gold-breasted starlings.

In the Scripps Aviary, the birds' free flight is easily accommodated. As you amble through Scripps Aviary, be sure to stop now and then to sit on the pathway benches. As you look around, you’ll get a good feel for the flora and fauna you’d see in an African forest—without the man-eating carnivores and poisonous snakes!

Gorilla Tropics also boasts the multilevel Treehouse complex. Designed like the colonial houses in Africa in the early 1900s, the facility has a two-level gift shop, three dining venues, plenty of patio space for outdoor dining and events, and a spacious meeting room with private patio, beautifully landscaped with a waterfall. Albert's Restaurant, named in honor of Albert, the Zoo's silverback gorilla and patriarch of the gorilla troop for many years, is an award-winning fine-dining restaurant with a picture window and outdoor patio looking out on a landscaped pool. Think about having your next party of business meeting in the midst of the jungle!

Fun facts

• Ellen Browning Scripps provided the funds to build the "world's greatest flying cage," the Scripps Aviary, in 1923. It was remodeled in 1958, and then again when it was incorporated into Gorilla Tropics in 1991.
• Many of the plants in Gorilla Tropics are native to Africa, including the African tulip tree, hibiscus, and giant bird-of-paradise.
• The San Diego Zoo was one of the first zoos to exhibit the highly endangered bonobos and we currently have the largest colony of bonobos in zoos.
• Kids can have fun climbing on four gorilla-sized statues just around the corner from the main gorilla viewing window.