Immersion exhibit

{{Short description|Zoo enclosure}}

File:Zooimmersió Bioparc València.jpg]]

An immersion exhibit is a naturalistic zoo environment that gives visitors the sense of being in the animals' habitats. Buildings and barriers are hidden. By recreating sights and other sensorial input from natural environments, immersion exhibits provide an indication about how animals live in the wild.{{cite web| title=What Is an Immersion Exhibit? (St. Louis Zoo definition)| url=http://www.stlzoo.org/yourvisit/thingstoseeanddo/riversedge/immersion.htm| access-date=2007-08-10| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927045920/http://www.stlzoo.org/yourvisit/thingstoseeanddo/riversedge/immersion.htm| archive-date=2007-09-27}}

The landscape immersion term and approach were developed in 1975 through the efforts of David Hancocks at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo.{{citation |last=Schaul |first=Jordan Carlton |title=A Critical Look at the Future of Zoos–An Interview with David Hancocks | newspaper=National Geographic |date=2012-03-13|url=http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/13/39842/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317005946/http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/13/39842/|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 17, 2012}} This led to the zoo's ground-breaking gorilla exhibit, which opened in 1978.{{cite web | title=Inside Out Cage|url=http://www.radiolab.org/2007/jun/04/inside-out-cage/| access-date=2011-03-06}}{{cite web | last = Coe | first = Jon Charles | last2 = Lee | first2 = Gary | title = One-Hundred Years of Evolution in Great Ape Facilities in American Zoos: 1896 - 1996 | url = http://www.joncoedesign.com/pub/PDFs/OneHundredYears1996.pdf | year = 1996 | access-date = 2007-08-10 | archive-date = 2007-10-25 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071025160527/http://www.joncoedesign.com/pub/PDFs/OneHundredYears1996.pdf | url-status = dead }} The concept became the industry standard by the 1980s, and has since gained widespread acceptance as the best practice for zoological exhibits.{{cite web| title=Immersion Design| url=http://www.joncoedesign.com/trends/exhibit_trends.htm#immersion| access-date=2007-08-10| archive-date=2007-09-15| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070915115304/http://www.joncoedesign.com/trends/exhibit_trends.htm#immersion| url-status=dead}}