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. The landscape immersion term and approach were developed in 1975 through the efforts of David Hancocks at

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

's Woodland Park Zoo. This led to the zoo's ground-breaking

gorilla Gorillas are primarily herbivorous, terrestrial great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five su ...

exhibit, which opened in 1978. The concept became the industry standard by the 1980s, and has since gained widespread acceptance as the best practice for zoological exhibits.

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