Tropics (Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium)

The building that houses Tropics is the oldest at the Kansas City Zoo. The city council approved a bird and animal house in 1909, built of fieldstone from the quarry in Swope Park, and the zoo was dedicated on 13 December 1909. Wikipedia places the structure's opening in summer 1909 and its cost at $32,000; it was then called the Bird and Carnivora House and held the zoo's entire collection.

The original roof was lost in 1969. According to Wikipedia, the badly deteriorated wooden framing forced its removal; the Kansas City Star instead speaks of a storm that destroyed it, leaving only the original walls. The building closed in the 1990s, reopened in 2002 after a light renovation, hosted a traveling reptile exhibit, then closed again in 2004. After extensive works it reopened in May 2009 as Tropics. The weekly The Pitch announced the opening on 30 April 2009, as part of the zoo's centennial celebrations.

What survives is the 1909 shell: walls of fieldstone from the park, which the Kansas City Star presents as the only original elements kept. Wikipedia recalls that the first roof, gabled, heavily ornamented with architectural terra cotta and pierced by a large arching window, was matched by carved stone bird heads (kingfishers, owls, parrots) on the gable ends and eaves. The Star adds that the building contained an indoor walkway and, along one side, outdoor cages.

For the present version, the same encyclopedia gives 13,000 square feet (1,200 m²) and mentions a vaulted glass roof that lets in natural light, alongside exotic plant species. The zoo's own site speaks only of lush tropical plants. In 2009 The Pitch spoke of 8,000 square feet of plants and animals, against the 13,000 square feet given by Wikipedia.

The zoo's website presents Tropics as a place for close views of primates, otters, birds and lush tropical plants. Wikipedia mentions exotic plant species without naming any, and The Pitch described a display of tropical plants and animals from South America, Asia and Africa.

On the animal side, Wikipedia lists species recorded after the opening: saki monkeys, golden lion tamarin, white-cheeked gibbon, blue monkey, mona monkey, small-clawed otter, capybara, two porcupines (prehensile-tailed and crested), crested screamer, green aracari and a freshwater stingray. The enclosure's first birth, a blue monkey, is dated 4 November 2009. At the opening The Pitch named the saki monkeys, golden lion tamarins and white-cheeked gibbons.

Tropics stands inside the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium, which covers 202 acres (82 ha) in Swope Park, Kansas City, Missouri. According to the OpenStreetMap map, the stone building sits beside the Helzberg Penguin Plaza and the zoo's carousel. The hall is part of the general route: it is visited with zoo admission, and the zoo is open every day except New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, according to its hours page. Because the exhibit is housed in a building, it also makes a possible stop when the weather outside is poor. It combines with the Sobela Ocean Aquarium, opened in 2023 on the same site.