Gars and Sturgeon at the New York Aquarium in 1916 photographed by Elwin Sanborn, who was the staff photographer for WCS at the time.

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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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In celebration of World Giraffe Day, here are an adult and a baby giraffe at the Bronx Zoo in 1982.

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Happy Father’s Day! Here are a lion and his cub hanging out at the African Plains exhibit at the Bronx Zoo in 1968.

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For today’s celebration with the National Hashtag Party theme of “Archives Pool Party,” we are jumping into the summer with these sea lions taking a dive into the Sea Lion Pool at the Bronx Zoo in 1937!

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For Endangered Species Day, we’re revisiting the story from 1905 when Bronx Zoo director William Hornaday formed the American Bison Society (ABS) to save the species from extinction. The Wildlife Conservation Society continues the fight to save wildlife and wild places.

Learn more about the work of the ABS in this Wild View post. For some information about bison at the Bronx Zoo today, look to this week’s Wild View post.

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Happy Mothers’ Day! Here is a South American Tapir with her young at the Bronx Zoo in 1941.

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To celebrate today’s Archives Hashtag Party theme, #ArchivesInBloom, here are the gardens at the Bronx Zoo in 1910 with a view of the former Bird House and Aviary. 

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To celebrate today’s 124th anniversary of WCS (founded as the New York Zoological Society), we held a blackout poetry contest using the first page of the Society’s First Annual Report during our staff Library & Archives Open House last week. Here are some selections of the poetry our creative staff came up with! 

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Happy Bat Appreciation Day! Here’s an Indian Fruit Bat, also known as an Indian Flying Fox, hanging out circa the 1900s.

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