Digital Collections

Denver Zoo Bear Mountain oral history

Details

SummaryBrian Aucone, Chief Conservation Officer for the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance, discusses the history and legacy of the zoo's Bear Mountain exhibit. Below is a transcript of the audio:

"So Bear Mountain came about because our organization started back in 1896 with a bear that came to, that was donated to the mayor of Denver. So it was a foundational piece for Denver Zoo. And as we were growing and, you know, determining that we needed better housing, uh, we were the first zoo in the United States to take on a naturalistic exhibit, which is what Bear Mountain is.

At the time, when, so Bear Mountain was built in 1919. And at the time, most exhibits were steel bars with a concrete floor, you know, tall enough that the animals couldn't get out. But there was no thought to kind of representing the place where those animals came from. It was just the idea was that people could come see the animals, but it was just about the animals themselves, not about the spaces that they occupied.

And so Bear Mountain was the first in the United States to say 'Hey, we actually want the space that the animals that you're viewing to look naturalistic as it would where they naturally occur.' Bear Mountain was the first of its kind, but it also laid this foundation for a lot of other zoos in the United States to start thinking about in designing exhibits.

So we don't have a record of if people came out and saw it, but other zoos were certainly aware of it through photos and such. And it did start a movement to, to move towards more naturalistic exhibits that continues to exist today. So when you come here to Denver Zoo today, a lot of what you see is still based in that naturalistic design that we did back in 1919."NotesThis audio file is available as part of Denver Public Library's exhibit, "Uplifting Inclusive Portrayals of American's Heritage," and will be available until March 2027.