I remember visiting this zoo in 1995. As a teenage...

I remember visiting this zoo in 1995. As a teenager, I was deeply impressed back then by the rain forest it featured and the modern outdoor facilities for the animals. Looking back at it after visiting again in 2017, this zoo is really not up to speed compared to its larger European siblings. Zurich Zoo has a 120 000sq foot rain forest where monkeys, bats, chameleons and other animals roam freely among the visitors, multiple extensive restaurants, modern facilities for almost all other kinds of animals including the large inhabitants of the African savanna. Unfortunately, Bronx Zoo has not managed to uphold the standard it set 20 years ago. We visited in December. Many larger mammals such as the lions were locked up as they are only on display in outdoor facilities, the giraffes and rhinos led a miserable existence in very small indoor housings. The gorillas, one of the main attractions with an entire compound including a theater dedicated to them and the destruction of their natural habitat, could only be seen through a tiny window of a very old fashioned indoor facility. The only restaurant served the same dismal cuisine you would get at a small town fast food joint. Overall, a very strange and disappointing experience for a seemingly major and over advertised institution.