"The Islands", as it is known, is a re-creation of a South Pacific island village. The holding buildings and viewing buildings surrounding the three distinct habitats provide a unique zoo experience. It was the first exhibit of its kind, allowing animals to rotate through different habitats, keeping them alert and responsive to their environment. As a zoo patron, you never know what animal will be in which habitat, giving you too a different look and experience with each visit.

At the beginning of The Islands project, our zoo experiences had been the same as anyone's, that being from the outside looking in. What Whittenberg brought to this project was our experience in difficult construction. That, coupled with our focus on details, enabled us to quickly learn what goes on in the inside. Did you know that an orangutan is five to six times stronger than a man? How do you keep a 500-pound tapir that is used to a warm climate, comfortable in our winter climate? What type of construction is suitable for a Sumatran tiger? How do you keep one area of a building cold enough for penguins and another area of the same building warm enough for fruit bats, utilizing the same air system? These are but a few of the issues that have to be dealt with during zoo construction.

We mentioned the orangutan and how strong they are. Well, aside from being strong, they are very bright. On the strong side, a particular tan named Teak was taking bolts that were epoxy- grouted into solid CMU block walls and pulling them out. To counter his strength, we had to weld the nuts to the framing to prevent them from being pulled out.