"When I first saw one of the baby gorillas, my reaction was to hold out my arms because it got so close, you feel like you can pick the gorilla up," said Stockel. That was the reaction of staff and zookeepers when they got a preview of the experience, according to Andrew Stockel, business operations manager at the zoo and the person responsible for bringing the experience to Milwaukee. In fact, it feels impossible to not hold out your hand to try. Without giving spoilers, the story is interesting enough to hold the attention of people of all ages, and the high quality of the video makes you feel like you can reach out and touch the gorillas. The setting is the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda where primatologist Tara Stoinski of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund narrates the journey.Īlthough the video shows the real lives of a mountain gorilla family, there is a story involved, complete with conflict as silverback gorilla Zirikana tries to assert himself against the family's dominant silverback Charles. When the film starts, people can turn their heads to see everything going on around them. Viewers of the film enter a 40-person theater where they put on virtual reality headsets. “This one-of-a-kind experience is yet another means for us to engage guests to get interested and involved in the conservation of species and develop empathy for animals." “We are thrilled to partner with Immotion to offer this groundbreaking virtual-reality experience to our visitors,” zoo director Amos Morris said in a news release. Milwaukee is the first zoo in the country to have the Gorilla Trek Virtual Reality Experience, a 360-degree live action VR film with motion platform seating. Mountain gorillas - which are critically endangered, with only about 900 estimated to be left in the wild - aren't well-suited to being in human care so they're not in zoos, according to Jenny Diliberti-Shea, the public relations manager at the Milwaukee County Zoo.Īlthough most people will never be able to see the mountain gorillas in real life, visitors to Milwaukee's zoo are now able to do the next best thing - see them in virtual life. The odds are if you've never traveled to Rwanda, you've never seen a mountain gorilla in real life.
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