'I love working in Africa," Tara Harris said. "It's an amazing place. You'd have at least one species of monkey in your front yard, and another in the back. In the morning you'd hear this 75-decibel 'WHA! WHA!' like a motorcycle engine revving, and they'd wake you up. But I'm so in love with them. They make me happy."

She wasn't working in Africa this week, but for the first time in her job as a conservation biologist at the Minnesota Zoo, the 32-year-old scientist at least has a reasonable replica: the "Faces of the African Forest" exhibit opening today, which features the charismatic black-and-white colobus monkey she studied in the African tropics.

The monkeys, known to leap from tree to tree with their spectacular white-streaked black fur flying gracefully behind them, are the showpiece of the zoo's latest addition, occupying one corner of the indoor Tropics Trail.

Forty years after the zoo's master plan envisioned a huge space devoted to the African tropics alone, the zoo has finally installed its first permanent exhibit devoted to the continent that holds the great classic zoo species.

No lions, giraffes, gorillas or zebras, mind you -- as a permanent feature, that sort of thing awaits in a misty future yet to be nailed down.

Instead, it has smaller species for a smaller space: dwarf crocodiles with fangs on the outsides of their jaws, as though they'd been drawn by cartoonists; multicolored bats, and an appealingly furry little critter called a rock hyrax.

All of them are displayed in ways the zoo has been pioneering in recent years. There are no mere boxes to walk by, but a log for kids to crawl through that makes them feel a part of the exhibit itself, and a way to sneak in under the crocodiles' pond and peer up from below.

A tropics building that started out with nothing but Asian species is gradually being converted into something more global.

Out with the old

The back story behind the exhibit -- for which the animals started arriving in Minnesota a year and a half before any visitor ever glimpsed them -- involves the kinds of calculations of science and showmanship that lie quietly behind any new zoo installation.

The problem that gave rise to the new exhibit, recalls the Tropics Trail's overseer, Tom Ness, was that the sun bear exhibit previously in that space was petering out.

"There isn't a very large population of them in U.S. zoos, probably 18 to 20," he said. "We had a 20-year-old female, and it wasn't looking very likely to find another sun bear for her to pair with to keep the exhibit going."

In Ness' old job at the zoo in Sioux Falls, S.D., visitors loved watching the colobus monkeys fly from branch to branch. And marketers love a signature species that can dominate a calendar or a billboard -- and a crowd-pleaser that performs, instead of just basking or sleeping.

"The colobus is a beautiful species, which is why we chose it," Ness said. "Very popular, nice lookin', a good public draw as well as a cool animal with a fuzzy, teddy bear quality. A cuteness factor, if you will, with a long tail that's white at the end. They're fun."

At the Sioux Falls zoo, they were paired with a type of African pig, the red river hog, that Minnesota Zoo director Lee Ehmke is convinced will also become a crowd favorite here, where the pairing is repeated.

Tenuous introduction

A couple of years ago, Harris' husband, whose family lives in the area, noticed a job opening at the zoo for a conservation biologist. Harris' doctoral work was with the black and white colobus in Africa.

"As scientists, we have access to areas abundant with wildlife but off-limits to tourists -- a wonderland of wildlife. You'd sit there at a water hole and there'd be 200 zebras, 18 elephants, 10 giraffes, warthogs, and a lioness, watching. You'd sit there for hours."

One afternoon last week, she was watching as the colobus and their new neighbors, the De Brazza's monkeys, were introduced into the same space for the first time.

"Look how they're staring at each other!" she cried out, smiling, as the two species began to cohabit an area supplied with a fake climbing tree.

Just as with pet owners who introduce a new animal to a home, this was no sudden blind date. Rather, there had been an extended period in which the colobus and De Brazza's monkeys first became aware of one another's sounds and smells, then could see one another from a safe and protected distance, and finally were permitted into the same space at the same time.

"When you open that door for the first time, it's always stressful," Ness said. "You never know what's going to happen. Just because species are OK together somewhere else, even though you talk to other zoos about what works, every individual is different and some are not compatible."

The two species remained standoffish, and even skirmished a bit in the tree limbs, as zoo members peeked in during special previews held last week. Keepers, however, are confident they'll soon adjust to each other.

David Peterson • 952-882-9023