SEATTLE - Beginning March 1, Woodland Park Zoo will close the doors to its award-winning Tropical Rain Forest exhibit for seasonal cleaning. The outdoor portion of the exhibit, however, will remain open to the public. The zoo plans to reopen the interior portion on March 20.

This is the first time since its 1992 opening that the popular exhibit will undergo significant preventative maintenance. In addition to pest control, the zoo’s exhibits team will spruce up the building, including re-painting, re-fireproofing ceilings, replacing handrails and augmenting lighting to stimulate plant growth. The crew also will seize this opportunity to add various exhibit elements that otherwise are impossible with the presence of animals.

During the three-week closure, visitors may still enjoy the outdoor exhibits and encounter red ruffed and black and white ruffed lemurs, DeBrazza’s guenon monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, blue duikers and two western lowland gorilla groups, all native to Africa rain forests.

The Tropical Rain Forest boasts the greatest concentration of species diversity found anywhere at Woodland Park Zoo. Approximately 680 plant species and 50 animal species are displayed on the 2.5-acre site. Indoors, zoo-goers are transported to the rain forests of Asia and Central and South America, where three layers of habitat are portrayed: the forest floor, understory and canopy.

Zoo-goers still have other indoor options to escape the wind and rain. The indoor Night Exhibit, which provides a peek into nature’s night shift, has become a lot more visible. A new system, which uses fiber optic cables, more effectively distributes light without compromising the effect of artificial night. This means increased visibility of nocturnal creatures such as two-toed sloths, a variety of small primates, and Australian fruit bats and vampire bats. The adjoining, indoor Day Exhibit features a gallery of smaller-scale exhibits that mainly showcase amphibians and reptiles that have adapted to life in deserts or tropical forests. Particularly popular are the striking 18-foot reticulated python and rather disturbing display containing thousands of gigantic Brazilian cockroaches.