title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: After 1970, the emphasis on Catholic concepts such as hell, the Devil, sin, divorce and remarriage, confession, the teaching of the catechism and receiving the eucharist rapidly disappeared, and these concepts are nowadays seldom or not at all found within contemporary Dutch Catholicism. In the 1980s and 1990s, the church became polarized between conservatives, whose main organization was the Contact Roman Catholics, and liberals, whose main organization was the Eighth of May Movement (Dutch: "Acht Mei-beweging"), which was founded in 1985. The latter organization had a difficult relationship with Church bishops and was disbanded in 2003. As of 2014, Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk, the Archbishop of Utrecht, is the highest Catholic authority.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: In December 2011, a report was published by Wim Deetman, a former Dutch minister, detailing widespread child abuse within the Catholic Church in the Netherlands. 1,800 incidents of abuse "by clergy or volunteers within Dutch Catholic dioceses" were reported to have occurred since 1945. According to the report, "The risk of experiencing unwanted sexual advances was twice as great for minors in institutions as the national average of 9.7%. This finding reveals no significant difference between Roman Catholic institutions and other institutions." In March 2012, however, it was revealed that cases of 10 children being chemically castrated after reporting being sexually abused to the police had come to light. It also emerged that in 1956 former prime minister Victor Marijnen, then chairman of a children's home in Gelderland, had covered up the sexual abuse of children. According to the "De Telegraaf" newspaper, he "intervened to have prison sentences dropped against several priests convicted of abusing children." The Commission rejected all the claims.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The number of Catholics is not only declining, but many people who identify themselves as Catholics also do not regularly attend Sunday Mass. 172,000 people, or 1% of the Dutch population, attend Mass on any given Sunday according to information by the Catholic Institute for Ecclesiastical Statistics (KASKI) in their 2010 statistical update of the Dutch Catholic Church. Most Catholics live in the southern provinces of North Brabant and Limburg, where they comprise a majority of the population in the diocese of Roermond in the province of Limburg, based on self-reported information by the Catholic Church.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: According to the church administration in 2010, the population of two dioceses, 's-Hertogenbosch and Roermond, were still majority Roman Catholic. However, based on the conflicting SILA numbers, the diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch had already lost its Catholic majority. The church administration only announced 's-Hertogenbosch losing a Catholic majority in 2014


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: A planned visit by Pope Francis to the Netherlands was blocked by cardinal Wim Eijk in 2014, allegedly because of the feared lack of interest in the Pope among the Dutch public. The vast majority of the Catholic population in the Netherlands is now largely irreligious in practice. Research among self-identified Catholics in the Netherlands, published in 2007, shows that only 27% of the Dutch Catholics can be regarded as a theist, 55% as an ietsist, deist or agnostic and 17% as atheist. In 2015 only 13% of self-identified Dutch Catholics believe in the existence of heaven, 17% in a personal God and fewer than half believe that Jesus was the Son of God or sent by God.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Notable Dutch Catholics include Pope Adrian VI, Ruud Lubbers, Henry of Gorkum, Cornelius Loos, Jakob Middendorp, Hadewijch, Hieronymus Bosch, Piet de Jong, Jan Harmenszoon Krul, Dries van Agt, Jan Steen, Casimir Ubaghs, Maxime Verhagen, and Joan Albert Ban.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The Protestant Church of the Netherlands (PKN) forms by far the largest Protestant denomination, with some 15.5% of the population in 2015, down from 60% in the early 20th century. According to the church itself, formal membership was 9.1% of the Dutch population in 2017.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The PKN was formed in 2004 as a merger of the two major strands of Calvinism: the Dutch Reformed Church (which then represented roughly 8.5% of the population) and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (then 3.7% of the population), plus a smaller Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (0.1%). Since the 1970s, these three churches had seen a major decline in adherents and had begun to work together. The PKN itself claims that 9.1% of the Dutch population is a member in 2016. About 4% of newborns were baptized within the PKN in 2014. The Church embraces religious pluralism. Research shows that 42% of the members of the PKN are non-theist. Furthermore, in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN) and several other smaller denominations of the Netherlands, 1 in 6 members of the clergy report being either agnostic or atheist.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The percentage of the Dutch population who are members decreases by about 2.5% per year. This is caused primarily by the conflux of older members dying off and little growth amongst the younger population.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: A large number of Protestant churches, mostly orthodox Calvinist splits and liberal churches, stayed out of the PKN. They represented some 4% of the population in 2004. Calvinism is the traditional faith of the Dutch Royal Family – a remnant of the church's historical dominance.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The Bible Belt ("De Bijbelgordel" in Dutch) is the name given to a strip of land in the Netherlands, after the Bible Belt of the United States. The belt is inhabited by a large number of conservative Protestants. The Bible Belt stretches from Zeeland, through the West-Betuwe and Veluwe, to the northern parts of the province Overijssel. However, some communities with strong conservative Protestant leanings are situated outside the belt. For example, Urk, considered by many as one of the most traditional communities in the country, and some municipalities of Friesland have characteristics typical of the Bible Belt. Other places in this area are Yerseke, Tholen, Ouddorp, Opheusden, Kesteren, Barneveld, Nunspeet, Elspeet and Staphorst. The three biggest cities regarded to be part of the Bible Belt are Ede, Veenendaal and Kampen.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: A 2015 study estimates some 4,500 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Islam is a relatively new religion in the Netherlands. 4.9% of the Dutch population were Muslims in 2015.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The majority of Muslims in the Netherlands belong to the Sunni denomination, with a sizeable Shia minority. Muslim numbers began to rise after the 1960s as the result of immigration. Some migrants from former Dutch colonies, such as Suriname and Indonesia, are Muslim. Migrant workers from Turkey and Morocco and their children make up the most substantial part of the Muslim population of the Netherlands.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: During the 1990s, the Netherlands received Muslim refugees from countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Of the immigrant ethnic groups, 100% of Bosniaks; 99% of Moroccans; 90% of Turks; 69% of Asians; 64% of other Africans, and 12% of Surinamese were Muslims. Muslims form a diverse group. Social tensions between native Dutch and migrant Muslims began to rise in the early 21st century. Politician Pim Fortuyn being murdered by militant animal rights activist Volkert van der Graaf in 2002 made his anti-Islamic opinions dominant. This was reinforced in 2004 by the murder of Theo van Gogh by extremist Muslim Mohammed Bouyeri, part of the Hofstad Network. After 2009, the Party for Freedom, with considerable electoral success, demanded a ban of the Quran, closure of all mosques and a forced remigration of those Muslims who had not assimilated into the Dutch culture.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: There has been criticism of governments of Muslim-majority countries financing mosques as this allegedly would slow integration in the Dutch society.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Religious Jews represent 0.1% of the Dutch population in 2015. Because of its social tolerance, the Dutch Republic formed a haven for Jews that were persecuted because of their beliefs throughout Europe. Prominent Dutch Jews include Baruch Spinoza, a 17th-century philosopher, Aletta Jacobs, a 19th-century feminist, and Henri Polak, who founded both the socialist party SDAP and the labor union NVV. The majority of Jews lived in Amsterdam, where they formed an eighth (90,000) of the population. During the Second World War, about 75% of Dutch Jews were deported and murdered in The Holocaust.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The Jewish Communities in the Netherlands, the Dutch Union for Progressive Judaism, and the Portuguese Israelite Religious Community are three organizations of Jews in the country.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Hinduism is a minority religion in the Netherlands, representing 0.6% of the Dutch population in 2015. Most of these are relatively recent first or second-generation Indo-Surinamese immigrants, South Asians who had been resident in the former Dutch colony of Suriname and traveled to the Netherlands in the 1970s and 1980s. There are also sizable populations of Hindu immigrants from India and Sri Lanka, as well as a smaller number of Western adherents of Hinduism-oriented new religious movements.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The first mentions of the Baháʼí Faith in the Netherlands were in 1852, when newspapers covered some of the events relating to the Bábí movement, which the Baháʼí Faith regards as a precursor religion. Circa 1904 Algemeen Handelsblad, an Amsterdam newspaper, sent a correspondent to investigate the Baháʼís in Persia. The first Baháʼís to settle in the Netherlands were a couple of families — the Tijssens and Greevens, both of whom left Germany for the Netherlands in 1937, as their business practices were affected by Nazi policies. Following World War II, the Baháʼís established a committee to oversee introducing the religion across Europe. The growth of the Baháʼí community in the Netherlands began as a result, with Baháʼí pioneers arriving in 1946. Following their arrival and the conversions of some citizens, the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly of Amsterdam was elected in 1948. In 1957, with 110 Baháʼís and nine spiritual assemblies, the Baháʼí community in the Netherlands first elected its own National Spiritual Assembly. In 2010 there were about 6,700 Baháʼís in the Netherlands. In 2005 the Netherlands had 34 local spiritual assemblies.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The following articles of the Constitution of the Netherlands are most important to the regulation of religion.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The exact necessity, scope and consequences of the constitutionally defined freedom of religion are subject to discussion. Critics argue it is superfluous to recognise 'freedom of religion' (primarily described in Article 6) as a separate fundamental right, because the freedom of conscience, thought, and expression (Article 7), the freedom of association (Article 8), and the freedom of assembly and demonstration (Article 9) are supposedly sufficient to guarantee all fundamental rights of religious people. Moreover, freedom of religion could be, or is allegedly being, used or abused to violate the rights of others, for example children's rights in the case of circumcision (potentially in contravention to the right to bodily integrity as recognised in Article 11) and religious 'indoctrination' of schoolchildren via religious education (further elaborated in Article 23 on the freedom of education, potentially in contravention to the freedom of conscience/thought/expression of children as recognised in Article 7), or animal rights by unstunned ritual slaughter (stunning is required for all slaughterhouses, except Jewish and Islamic ones, according to the 2018 Unstunned Slaughter According to Religious Rituals Covenant, potentially in contravention to the right to equal treatment as recognised in Article 1). Furthermore, it is argued that there is no need for an explicit, separate mention of 'religious belief' in Article 1 of the Constitution, considering that religious opinions should not receive special protection above other opinions of a non-religious kind.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: In general, religious organisations (called "kerkgenootschappen", literally 'church associations') and places of worship (called "gebedshuizen", literally 'houses of prayer', or "kerkgebouwen", literally 'church buildings') do not hold a special position in the Dutch tax system.


title: BelAZ 75710

text: The BelAZ 75710 is an ultra class haul truck manufactured in Belarus by BelAZ. As of 2013, it was the world's largest, highest payload capacity haul truck.


title: BelAZ 75710

text: The BelAZ 75710 has a conventional two-axle setup but the wheels are doubled, one to an axle, imitating the 1950s International Payhauler 350. For this reason it needs two 59/80R63 tires. It also has four-wheel drive and four-wheel hydraulic steering which is unusual. It has a turning radius of about .


title: BelAZ 75710

text: The 75710 is claimed to carry a load. With an empty weight of , it is much heavier than BelAZ's previous largest model, the 7560, which weighed when empty. It is long, high, and wide. The bed is relatively shallow, limiting the volume of material that can be carried.


title: BelAZ 75710

text: Instead of a single engine, the Siemens MMT 600 drive system is powered by two MTU 16-cylinder four stroke diesel engines, each with . These are coupled to two AC alternators and four AC traction motors (two in each axle.) Fuel consumption (according to company data) is , with the option to run on only one if carrying less than capacity loads. Maximum claimed speed is , and economy maximum speed (when fully loaded and on a 10% gradient) is .


title: BelAZ 75710

text: BelAZ produces the 75710 in a new facility constructed by Soligorsk Construction Trust No. 3. Overall, BelAZ has invested $954 million in increasing its total production capacity.


title: BelAZ 75710

text: Previously the world's largest haul trucks were the Bucyrus MT6300AC, Liebherr T 282B and Caterpillar 797F ultra-class trucks, with load capacities of .


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and is the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States by area, comprising of park lands and naturalistic habitats separated by the Bronx River. On average, the zoo has 2.15 million visitors each year . The zoo's original permanent buildings, known as Astor Court, were designed as a series of Beaux-Arts pavilions grouped around the large circular sea lion pool. The Rainey Memorial Gates were designed by sculptor Paul Manship in 1934 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The zoo opened on November 8, 1899, featuring 843 animals in 22 exhibits. Its first director was William Temple Hornaday, who served as director for 30 years. From its inception the zoo has played a vital role in animal conservation. In 1905, the American Bison Society was created in an attempt to save the American bison from extinction, which had been depleted from tens-of-millions of animals to only a few hundred. Two years later they were successfully reintroduced into the wild. In 2007, the zoo successfully reintroduced three Chinese alligators into the wild. The breeding was a milestone in the zoo's 10-year effort to reintroduce the species to the Yangtze River in China.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Today, the Bronx Zoo is world-renowned for its large and diverse animal collection, and its award-winning exhibitions. The zoo is part of an integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and it is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 1895, a group made up largely of members of the Boone and Crockett Club founded the New York Zoological Society (later renamed the Wildlife Conservation Society) for the purposes of founding a zoo, promoting the study of zoology, and preserving wildlife. Credit for this belonged chiefly to Club members Madison Grant and C. Grant LaFarge.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The zoo (sometimes called the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) opened its doors to the public on November 8, 1899, featuring 843 animals in 22 exhibits. Its first director was William Temple Hornaday, who had 30 years of service at the zoo.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Heins & LaFarge designed the original permanent buildings, known as Astor Court, as a series of Beaux-Arts pavilions grouped around the large circular sea lion pool. In 1934, the Rainey Memorial Gates, designed by sculptor Paul Manship, were dedicated as a memorial to noted big game hunter Paul James Rainey. The gates were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Rockefeller Fountain, which today adorns the gardens just inside the Fordham Road Gate, was once a landmark in Como, Italy. Originally built by Biagio Catella in 1872, it stood in the main square (Piazza Cavour) by the lakeside. Bought by William Rockefeller in 1902 for lire 3,500 (the estimated equivalent then of $637, and today of around $17,600), it was installed at the zoo in 1903. In 1968, the fountain was designated an official New York City landmark, and is one of the few local monuments to be honored in this way.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The New York Zoological Society's seal was designed by famed wildlife-artist Charles R. Knight. It depicted a ram's head and an eagle to reflect the society's interest in preserving North American wildlife. While no longer in use, the seal can still be found on the lawn in the center of Astor Court.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: On December 17, 1902, the zoo became one of the seven zoos outside of Australia, and one of only two in the United States, to ever hold the now-extinct thylacine. The first was a male obtained from German animal dealer Carl Hagenbeck. It died on August 15, 1908. The zoo received a second male on January 26, 1912, from the Beaumaris Zoo in Tasmania, who later died on November 20 of that year. The zoo received its final two animals from Sydney animal dealer Ellis S. Joseph. The first was an unsexed individual who arrived on November 7, 1916, in poor condition and died seven days later. The second and final animal was a female purchased from the Beaumaris Zoo by Joseph for £25 (~$35) and then was resold to the zoo, arriving on July 14, 1917. On a visit, the director of the Melbourne Zoo, Mr. Le Souef, said upon seeing the animal:


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In early 1903, the zoo was gifted a pair of Barbary lions, a subspecies which is extinct in the wild. The female was named Bedouin Maid and male Sultan, who went on to become one of the zoo's most popular animals. Displayed in the Lion House, Sultan was four years old at the time and described as being both "a perfect specimen" and "unusually good tempered". In May 1903, the pair produced three cubs, the first to be born at the zoo. On October 7, 1905, Charles R. Knight painted a portrait of Sultan and the animal went on to be the focus of many of the zoo's postcards. Sultan was also the model for the lion which sits atop the Rainey Memorial Gates.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 1926, the Bronx Zoo and the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoological Park simultaneously became the first in the country to exhibit shoebills.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The same year, W. Douglas Burden, F. J. Defosse, and Emmett Reid Dunn collected two live adult Komodo dragons—the first in America—for the zoo.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 1960, the zoo became the first in the world to keep a James's flamingo, a species which had been thought to be extinct until 1957. They were imported along with the similar Andean flamingo.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The zoo was one of the few in the world to exhibit proboscis monkeys outside of Southeast Asia and, in the 1976 "International Zoo Yearbook", the zoo reported having eight monkeys, seven of which were born at the zoo. As of March 1999, it only had two monkeys left, these two being the last members of their species kept in the United States. In 2003, the pair were sent to the Singapore Zoo.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: On June 6, 1990, the zoo received a female Sumatran rhinoceros named Rapunzel. At the time, the zoo was one of only three in North America to hold the critically endangered species, with the Cincinnati and San Diego Zoos being the others, holding one female each. The three institutions were a part of the Sumatran Rhino Trust's plan to start a captive breeding program for the species. Rapunzel was born in the wild in Sumatra and rescued from an area of rainforest that was slated to be cleared for a palm oil plantation in 1989. Though it's believed she bred in the wild, she never produced any calves in captivity. It was eventually determined that she was past reproductive age, at which point she was returned to the zoo in 2000, having been brought out for breeding purposes. She lived in the Zoo Center until her death in December 2005 in her 30s.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In November 2006, the zoo opened up brand-new eco-friendly restrooms outside the Bronx River Gate. According to Clivus Multrum, which built the composting toilets chosen by the zoo, these facilities can serve 500,000 people and save of water a year.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In March 2007, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Fordham University Graduate School of Education announced they would offer a joint program leading to a Master of Science degree in education and New York State initial teacher certification in adolescent science education (biology, grades 7–12). The program began the next year, and is the first joint degree program of its kind.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 2009, New York City cut funding for the state's 76 zoos, aquariums, and botanical gardens. The Wildlife Conservation Society as a whole suffered a $15-million deficit, and the zoo was forced to downsize its staff and animal collection. The budget cuts forced the buyouts of over 100 employees and layoffs of dozens more as well as the closure of four sections of the zoo: World of Darkness, Rare Animal Range, the Skyfari, and a small section of the overall still-open African Plains exhibit which featured endangered antelope. In the end, 186 staff positions (15%) were cut within the WCS. In 2012, Mayor Michael Bloomberg passed another budget cut that took $4.7-million from the funding of the zoo and the New York Aquarium, also run by the WCS. This cut represented more than half of what the collections were receiving. However, Bloomberg also passed an energy subsidy that brought the cuts down to $3.7-million.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In the summer of 2014, New York Representative Carolyn B. Maloney visited the Chengdu Panda Base in Sichuan, China and announced her plan to bring giant pandas to New York City. Initially, she aimed to exhibit them at the Central Park Zoo, though switched her attention to the Bronx after deciding the 6.5-acre zoo didn't have the resources to care for the animals. Maloney and her supporters, which included Maurice R. Greenberg, Newt Gingrich, and John A. Catsimatidis, were met with many obstacles throughout their campaign. Initially, the largest issues were the lack of support from Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Hall, and Chinese officials insisting that no more pandas be brought to the United States. However, in October 2015, Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai announced that his country was willing to enter preliminary talks with the city over the matter, and soon after de Blasio and City Hall signed a letter appealing to Chinese officials, drafted by Maloney in 2014. Despite her efforts, Maloney's campaign still has yet to overcome two critical steps in acquiring pandas: funding and the zoo's consent. Both de Blasio and the Wildlife Conservation Society refuse to fund the project, not wanting taxpayer or vital zoo money to go towards the highly expensive project. David Towne, chairman of the American-based Giant Panda Conservation Foundation, estimated that the cost of bringing pandas to the city would be around $50 million. The foundation has also said that the cost of keeping just one such animal is about $1 million a year, including food, trainers, and habitat upkeep. Additionally, China loans out their pandas for a hefty fee. A study published by "The Washington Post" in 2005 found that the four U.S. zoos holding pandas—the Memphis Zoo, the San Diego Zoo, the National Zoological Park (located in Washington, D.C, and Front Royal, Virginia) and Zoo Atlanta—had spent $33 million more on their animals than revenue made off of them between 2000 and 2003. Despite the figures, Maloney believes pandas in her city will do better since the city has a higher population than those four cities combined, and received a record-breaking 56.4-million visitors in 2014. Still, the WCS continues to steer away from bringing in these pandas. In 2014, a senior official from the WCS said Maloney's campaign had reached "a new level of absurdity" when it was announced she intended to bring a Chinese delegation to the Central Park Zoo. In November 2015, Jim Breheny, WCS Executive Vice President and Bronx Zoo Director, released a statement saying:


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The zoo has two types of displays: free exhibits accessible with a General Admission ticket, and premium exhibits which require additional fees.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: , the Bronx Zoo is home to more than 4,000 animals of 650 species, many of which are endangered or threatened. Some of its exhibits, such as World of Birds and World of Reptiles, are arranged by taxonomy, while others, such as African Plains and the Wild Asian Monorail, are arranged geographically.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Astor Court is an old section of the zoo that is home to many of the zoo's original buildings, designed by Heins & LaFarge. While most of the buildings are closed to the public, the former Lion House was reopened as the "Madagascar!" exhibit in 2008, and the Zoo Center still exhibits various species. The highlight of the area is the historic sea lion pool featuring California sea lions. Small aviaries featuring small bird species can be found nearby and white-headed capuchins can be seen behind the old Monkey House.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Astor Court's buildings as a city landmark in 2000, after a failed attempt to do so in 1966.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: African Plains allows visitors to walk past lions, African wild dogs, and Grévy's zebras, and see herds of nyalas, and slender-horned gazelles sharing their home with grey crowned cranes and hybrid giraffes (Baringo × reticulated giraffe). The exhibit originally opened in 1941 and was the first in the country to allow visitors to view predators and their prey in a naturalistic setting as well as allowing large predators such as lions to be exhibited cage-free. This success was achieved through the creation of a series of deep moats, a set-up which can still be found at the zoo today. The wild dogs, however, can be viewed close-up from a glass-fronted viewing pavilion. The zoo has bred their lions on multiple occasions, including one male and two females born in January 2010 and three males and one female born in August 2013. The zoo, in partnership with the "NY Daily News", held a contest to name the 2010 cubs, which made their public debut in April 2010. The winning names were Shani, Nala, and Adamma. The 2013 cubs were named Thulani, Ime, Bahata, and Amara and the three males can still be found on-exhibit at the zoo. The Carter Giraffe Building, a section of African Plains, features indoor/outdoor viewing of the zoo's giraffes and South African ostriches, and is also home to spotted hyenas, common dwarf mongooses and southern white-faced owls. In June 2009, two aardvarks imported from Tanzania joined the exhibit. In September 2010, the pair gave birth to a male named Hoover, the first to ever be born at the zoo.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Until 2009, the southwestern corner of African Plains was home to the endangered Arabian oryx and blesbok. Due to budget cuts and the unpopularity of the species with visitors, they were phased-out of the collection. This section of the exhibit remains empty. In 2017 they received two baby cheetahs from the San Diego Zoo. Cheetahs are now part of their animal encounter programs. They were replaced by the hyenas.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Baboon Reserve, opened in 1990, is a two-acre recreation of the Ethiopian highlands which, at the time of its opening, was the largest primate exhibit in the United States. The exhibit's main features revolve around the zoo's troop of geladas such as artificial rocks and earthbanks, and displays about life in the highlands and the side-by-side evolution of humans and geladas. Visitors can watch the geladas from multiple viewpoints along with Nubian ibex and rock hyrax, all of which are mixed together in the hilly enclosure. An African village-styled café overlooks the exhibit. Baboon Reserve won the AZA Exhibit Award in 1991. In the fall of 2014, a male gelada was born at the zoo, the first in over 13 years.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Big Bears features four bears, a male grizzly bear and three ABC Islands bears rescued as orphans from Baranof Island of Alaska.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Until 2015, two female grizzly bears named Betty and Veronica also lived in this exhibit, but moved to the Central Park Zoo where they died in 2020 and 2021.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The zoo also formerly housed polar bears until the last individual, a 26 year old male named Tundra died in December 2017. Three dholes from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park were added to the habitat in 2019.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Himalayan Highlands, which opened on June 27, 1986, recreates the Himalayas region of Asia. The exhibit is known for its highly naturalistic look and use of the hilly and rocky terrain found in that portion of the zoo. The stars of the exhibit are the zoo's multiple snow leopards. The exhibit also is home to red pandas and white-naped cranes. In 2006, the zoo brought in a male snow leopard named Leo from Pakistan after he was orphaned at around two months old. Leo sired a male cub on April 9, 2013. The cub is one of more than 70 snow leopards born at the zoo, which was the first U.S. zoo to exhibit the species in 1903. Leo later became a grandfather when his son sired a female cub in 2017.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Madagascar!, which opened on June 20, 2008, recreates various habitats found on the island of Madagascar and contains a variety of wildlife from the island, including lemurs, lesser hedgehog tenrecs, fossas, Nile crocodiles, radiated tortoises, greater vasa parrots and highly endangered cichlids. Ring-tailed lemurs, collared lemurs, red ruffed lemurs, crowned lemurs, and Coquerel's sifakas are the lemur species held in the exhibit. Madagascar! holds the first two ring-tailed mongoose in the United States and is home to over 100,000 Madagascar hissing cockroaches that can be named for $10 around Valentine's Day. The exhibit has multiple educational displays focusing on the many threats to the survival of these species as well as the WCS's conservation work in Madagascar. The building was converted from the former Lion House, which had opened in 1903 and closed by the late 1980s. The exhibit also has tomato frogs.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Mouse House is a small building home to various species of small mammals, particularly rodents. The building features both diurnal and nocturnal areas and a row of outdoor cages which, during the summer months, are home to a variety of small primates, many of which are former monkey house inhabitants. Species include short-eared elephant shrews, eastern spiny mice, western spotted skunks, fennec foxes, Senegal bushbabies, Damaraland mole-rats and long-tailed chinchillas.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The current Aquatic Bird House opened on September 24, 1964, on the foundation of the original house, which was opened on November 8, 1899, with the rest of the zoo. The building features a multitude of mostly open-fronted enclosures mainly focusing on coastal and wetland habitats and the species that rely on them. Scarlet ibises, roseate spoonbills, anhingas, boat-billed herons and Madagascar crested ibises are among the residents here. The exhibit also features an outdoor pond home to a flock of American flamingos and a large aviary home to greater and lesser adjutants. The zoo is one of only three zoos in North America working with the endangered storks and has bred them several times, including the hatching of two chicks on June 27 and August 15, 2015. The Aquatic Bird House is also home to another endangered stork species: the Storm's stork. The zoo is one of only two in the United States working with this species; the other being the San Diego Zoo. In May 2014, the zoo opened a new nocturnal enclosure for a North Island brown kiwi in the building, and in May 2015, a colony of Australian little penguins from the Taronga Zoo were added.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Russell B. Aitken Sea Bird Aviary, which opened on May 17, 1997, is a huge walk-through aviary designed to resemble the Patagonian coast. The aviary stands at 60-feet high, occupies 615,000 cubic feet, is supported by five steel arches, and netted with a stainless steel mesh. The aviary was built to replace the original De Jur Aviary that opened with the zoo in 1899 and collapsed in a snowstorm in February 1995. The exhibit's height and open space allows the residents to soar around above visitor's heads and the fake sea cliff walls allows for more natural nesting and roosting behavior. The aviary is home to about 100 birds, most being Inca terns, but also a small colony of Magellanic penguins, grey gulls, and brown pelicans. The aviary is also home to the last Guanay cormorant in captivity outside of South America. In April 2014, four Peruvian pelicans were added to the exhibit, and in January 2015, a pair of ruddy-headed geese were added.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Tiger Mountain, which opened on May 15, 2003, is a three-acre exhibit which features Amur tigers and occasionally Malayan tigers, who are usually kept off-exhibit. The exhibit has two enclosures with glass viewing, the second of which has a 10,000 gallon pool with underwater viewing. Outside of the tigers, the exhibit has multiple interactive displays designed to educate visitors on behavioral enrichment and on the zoo's/WCS' ex-situ and in-situ conservation. The exhibit won the AZA Exhibit Award in 2004. The zoo has had good breeding successful with both subspecies of tiger, having bred both in 2010. Another set of Siberian tiger cubs were born in 2012, and a pair of Malayan tiger cubs were born in 2016. A tiger called Nadia tested positive for COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. Across from the entrance to Tiger Mountain, a large herd of Père David's deer and a pair of whooper swans can be found.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: World of Birds, which originally opened in 1972, is an indoor bird house spanning two floors and featuring several walk-through aviaries. The building closed for repairs and upgrades in the summer of 2010, and reopened the following year. The exhibit has multiple educational displays focusing on deforestation and the illegal wildlife trade and their affects on wild bird populations. The most prominent residents of the exhibit include the maleos, a pair of knobbed hornbills, Andean cock-of-the-rock, Nicobar pigeons, southern bald ibises, ocellated turkeys Cuban amazons and white-throated bee-eaters. Emus can be found in an outdoor yard. In mid-2009, the zoo's hand-reared pair of great blue turacos successfully raised chicks, the first known instance of a hand-reared pair doing so. In March 2013, three maleo chicks hatched at the zoo, bringing their total number of birds to 12. The zoo, along with the WCS, works toward preserving this species in the wild as well.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: World of Reptiles has been an attraction at the zoo since it first opened. The building's first curator was Raymond Lee Ditmars, who had kept 45 snakes in his attic before being hired at the zoo. The exhibit is a long hall with various terrariums situated on both sides. The exhibit also features a nursery area, which exhibits newborn herptiles born at the zoo, as well as a window into the off-show breeding and caring facilities. In the building, the zoo breeds and exhibits a wide range of species, including American alligators, blue iguanas, Cuban crocodiles, dyeing poison dart frogs, eyelash vipers, Fly River turtles, giant musk turtles, green anacondas, hellbenders, king cobras and Philippine sailfin lizards. The building also is home to the zoo's breeding population of Kihansi spray toads, which the zoo saved from extinction. On March 25, 2011, an Egyptian cobra escaped from its off-show enclosure, during which time the exhibit was closed to the public. Six days later, the animal was found elsewhere in the building. The zoo named the cobra MIA (Missing In Action) and placed it on exhibit.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Pheasant Aviary is a long row of cages home to a large variety of bird species, particularly pheasants. Exhibited species include Elliot's pheasant, Lady Amherst's pheasant, Cabot's tragopan, blue eared-pheasant, mountain peacock-pheasant, Mérida helmeted curassow, Swinhoe's pheasant, Java peafowl, Indian peafowl, eastern loggerhead shrike ("Lanius ludovicianus migrans"), white-throated ground-dove, Lord Derby's parakeet, Montezuma oropendola and [[yellow-crested cockatoo.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Birds of Prey is a row of cages for multiple [[Birds of prey|raptor]] species. The exhibit is home to [[bald eagle]]s, [[golden eagle]]s, [[burrowing owl]]s, [[snowy owl]]s, an [[Andean condor]], [[cinereous vulture]]s and [[king vulture]]s. In February 2011, the zoo received two bald eagles rescued in [[Wyoming]]. Nearby is a small pond for [[black-necked swan]]s, [[American white pelican]]s and [[brown pelican]]s.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Zoo Center, built in 1908, is a one-story [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]] building located in Astor Court. The exhibit houses [[Blue Tree Monitor|blue tree monitors]], [[Mertens' water monitor]]s and [[spiny-tailed monitor]]s indoors and has both indoor and outdoor enclosures for [[Komodo dragon]]s, [[Aldabra giant tortoise]]s and [[southern white rhinoceros]]. The building's animal [[frieze]] was carved by [[A.P. Proctor]]. In 2000, the building was landmarked. The building is east of the Children's Zoo and south of Madagascar!.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The building was originally designed as the zoo's Elephant House and has held all three [[elephant]] species over its history. The building has also been home to various [[rhinoceros]] species, [[hippopotamus]], [[Bactrian camel]], [[Malayan tapir]] and [[North Sulawesi babirusa]]. The building also held Rapunzel, one of the few [[Sumatran rhino]]s held in U.S. zoos, until her death in 2005.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Bison Range is in the northeast corner of the zoo, and has been a feature of the zoo since its opening. The range initially served to breed [[Plains bison]], who were in danger of becoming [[Extinct species|extinct]] in the United States. Today, the exhibit continues to hold one of the few large herds of bison in U.S. zoos. In 1913, at the behest of the [[American Bison Society]], fourteen bison were transported from the range to [[Montana]]'s [[National Bison Range]], as well as to [[Wind Cave National Park]] in [[South Dakota]].


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Northern Ponds is a series of naturalistic ponds home to a variety of [[waterfowl]] and other aquatic birds both wild and captive. Captive residents include [[black-necked crane]]s, [[Red-breasted goose|red-breasted geese]], [[Lesser white-fronted goose|lesser white-fronted geese]], [[ruddy duck]]s, [[barnacle geese]], [[mute swan]]s and [[trumpeter swan]]. A wide variety of wild bird species can also be found in the ponds, including several native [[duck]]s such as [[mallard]]s and [[merganser]]s, as well as other birds such as [[black-crowned night heron|black-capped night-heron]]s.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Mitsubishi Riverwalk is a path that curves around the [[Bronx River]], on the opposite bank from the zoo. It opened in 2004 upon the completion of a cleanup project on the river. The walkway was funded by [[Mitsubishi]] International Corporation Foundation and protects of Bronx River [[Drainage basin|watershed]].


title: Bronx Zoo

text: One admission to a premium exhibit costs between $12 to 14 per person per exhibit if paid separately. The fee for unlimited admission grants the ticket holder free access to all attractions for that day. Family memberships include full access.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Treetop Adventure Climb and [[Zipline]] requires a different fee and is not part of the admission fee online. Thus, it is not included in the park ticket or in any membership.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Bug Carousel has seats shaped like [[insect]]s. Installed in 2005, it has an annual ridership of 540,000 as of 2014.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: This permanent structure is an indoor [[butterfly conservatory]] which lets visitors walk through gardens and meadows and watch the butterflies up close.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The original Children's Zoo in the Bronx Zoo opened in 1941 with a nursery-rhyme theme; in 1981, a new Children's Zoo opened, and was instantly successful, seeing almost 250,000 visitors in two months. It closed for renovations in 2013; it reopened on May 30, 2015, with new exhibits featuring [[giant anteaters]], [[pudú]]s, [[Linne's two-toed sloth]], [[American alligator]]s, [[squirrel monkeys]], [[Asian small-clawed otters]], [[prairie dog]]s, [[fennec foxes]], [[Nubian goats]], [[zebu]]s, [[alpaca]]s, [[sheep]], [[donkey]]s, [[chicken]]s, [[Domestic duck|duck]]s, [[pig]]s, [[Domestic goose|geese]] and [[domestic turkey]]s.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In the southwestern part of the zoo, Congo Gorilla Forest is a rainforest that is home to the 20 or so [[western lowland gorilla]]s in the zoo. [[Angolan colobus]], [[Wolf's mona monkey|Wolf's guenon]]s, [[pygmy marmoset]]s and [[mandrill]]s also call this area home. Visitors walk through the area and can also view it from treetop lookouts.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Congo Gorilla Forest was opened in 1999 and was visited 7,000,000 times . In one of the largest breeding groups of [[western lowland gorilla]]s in [[North America]], the exhibit has two troops of gorillas, for a total of 19 gorillas. Since 1999, 14 [[gorilla]]s, 23 [[red river hog]]s, 11 [[Wolf's guenon]]s, and four [[okapi]]s have been born in the exhibit. There is also an 8-minute film in the middle of the exhibit, as well as viewing points throughout. In total, there are about 400 animals from 55 species. Over $10.6 million for conservation of Central African habitats has been collected in donations since the exhibit's opening, and the exhibit has netted $12.5 million in exhibit fees .


title: Bronx Zoo

text: This exhibit is an indoor tropical jungle and home to nearly 800 species including [[Asian small-clawed otter]]s, [[Javan lutung]]s, [[silvery lutung]]s, [[northern white-cheeked gibbon]]s, [[Matschie's tree-kangaroo]]s, [[gharial]]s, [[Amur leopard]]s, [[pygmy slow loris]], [[greater mouse deer]] and [[Malayan tapir]]s, living in mangroves and on the beaches. Visitors can watch the gibbons swinging or singing and watch the otters play. The exhibit includes species that are usually on the jungle floor including [[stag beetle]]s, [[scorpion]]s and [[fire-bellied toad]]s, but behind glass. A pond with a waterfall lets visitors sit and observe [[gourami]] and [[Fly River turtle]]s.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Planning for JungleWorld, in the southeastern Wild Asia portion of the zoo, was started in 1977 and completed at a cost of $9.5 million in June 1985. $4.1 million in funds were donated by [[Enid A. Haupt]], a member of the [[New York Zoological Society]]'s board of trustees. The building is the largest at the zoo with an area of and a height of . There is a wooden path that meanders for . The building's design integrates its environment with the path, as no bars are present in the building; the walkway has no full-height barriers and short railings; and only by means of ravines, streams, or cliffs are most of the animals separated from people and each other. There is a [[volcano|volcanic]] [[scrub forest]], a [[mangrove]] [[swamp]], a [[lowland]] [[Evergreen forest|evergreen]] [[rain forest]] with giant trees which merges into a [[Temperate rainforest|mountain rain forest]] and five [[museum]]-like galleries connecting and explaining the habitats. The building was built to emphasize the fact that of rainforest is lost every minute.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The [[monorail]] was inaugurated in 1977 with the rest of the formerly underdeveloped Wild Asia section of the zoo. There are six 9-car monorails on this ride, originally built by [[Rohr, Inc.|Rohr]]; the ride was refurbished in 2007. Some animals in the zoo can only be seen on this ride such as [[tigers]], [[Przewalski's horse]], [[Indian rhinoceros]], [[Indian elephants]], [[red panda]]s, and a plethora of [[even-toed ungulate]]s such as [[axis deer]], [[barasingha]], [[Bactrian deer]], [[blackbuck]], [[gaur]]s, [[brow-antlered deer]], [[babirusa]]s, [[sambar deer]], [[nilgai]], [[red muntjac]]s, [[Indian hog deer]], [[Formosan sika deer]], [[tufted deer]], [[Himalayan tahr]]s and [[markhor]]s.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: This ride takes visitors through a area that recreates the mud wallows and pastures, forests and riverbanks of Asia. Visitors will see [[tiger]]s, [[Indian elephant]]s, [[Indian rhinoceros|rhinos]] and wild horses in their natural habitats. As the monorail travels along the Bronx River, visitors can see native animals including [[egret]]s, [[turtle]]s, and [[duck]]s. The monorail is accessible for wheelchairs up to 26 inches (66 cm) wide. Smaller chairs are available at the monorail platform for visitors with wider wheelchairs or motorized scooters.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Nature Trek opened on July 1, 2017, in the southeast portion of the park near Wild Asia. It consists of twelve [[Simple suspension bridge|covered rope bridges]] connecting small porches on the sides of towers. There are also elevated tunnels and a large [[overlook]], as well as several small challenges resembling "[[American Ninja Warrior]]" obstacles. On the ground is a play area with a sandbox, water sprinklers and structures, and branches. Nature Trek is partially wheelchair-accessible and contains ramps of varying difficulties. This attraction discourages visitors who are wearing footwear such as [[flip-flops]]; [[High-heeled footwear|high heels]] are prohibited. As part of a push for environmental sustainability, some parts of the attraction are made of [[black locust]], and the structures use existing trees within the forest.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Treetop Adventure section opened on July 7, 2017, in the northeast portion of the park near Bronx River Parking. It consists of seven different levels of rope courses: two each of beginner, intermediate, and advanced, and one expert course. There is also a [[zip-line]] course traversing the Bronx River in both directions. The attraction also contains [[Rope Bridge|rope]] and [[swinging bridge]]s, ladders and rolling and swinging objects. Separate from the rest of the zoo, it charges its own entry fee; the fee is only applied to those who are climbing on the objects or using the zip-line. Open year-round, the attraction prohibits riders who are less than 7 years old and less than , or more than .


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Dinosaur Safari takes visitors on a safari ride through a normally off-exhibit 2-acre wooded area and features [[Animatronics|animatronic]] [[dinosaur]]s from throughout time, starting at 300-million-years ago in the [[Permian Period]] and ending 235-million-years later in the [[Cretaceous Period]]. The ride lasts approximately 20 minutes. The "robo-saurs" are manufactured by Billings Productions, who lease them out to sites all over the world. The exhibit features more popular species such as the "[[Triceratops]]" and "[[Brachiosaurus]]", as well as less well-known species such as the "[[Pachycephalosaurus]]". The ride's "[[Dilophosaurus]]" spit water at visitors as a nod to the species' acid-spitting abilities in [[Steven Spielberg]]'s "[[Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park]]" film and [[Michael Crichton]]'s [[Jurassic Park (novel)|novel]], even though there is no reason to believe the living animal did so. The exhibit originally ran through the summers of 2013 and 2014 and returned for the 2019 season.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: World of Darkness opened in 1969 and was the world's first major exhibit designed specifically to introduce the public to [[nocturnal]] animals such as the Chinese [[leopard cat]] ("Prionailurus bengalensis chinensis"), [[bay duiker]], [[Pallas's long-tongued bat]], [[spiny mouse]], [[Gray mouse lemur|lesser mouse lemur]], [[Common genet|small spotted genet]], [[lesser spear-nosed bat]]s, [[spotted skunk]], [[fat-tailed lemur]]s [[Jamaican fruit bat]], [[Mohol bushbaby]], [[cloud rat]], [[Hoffman's two-toed sloth]], [[rock cavy]], [[pygmy slow loris]], [[New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat|short-tailed bat]]s, [[striped skunk]], [[Gray-bellied night monkey|grey-legged night monkey]], [[sand cat]], [[Rodriguez flying fox]], [[brush-tailed porcupine]], [[broad-snouted caiman]], [[Erycinae|sand boa]] and [[Cane toad|marine toad]]. Built by Morris Ketchum Jr. & Associates, the house was built where the zoo's Rocking Stone Restaurant stood until 1942. The exhibit used [[Safelight|red-lights]] to dimly illuminate the enclosures within the windowless building. Like all nocturnal exhibits, the house ran on a reversed lighting schedule, which simulated night and day at opposite times to allow visitors to view nocturnal animals in a more naturalistic setting. Due to budget cuts and the high cost of running the exhibit, it was closed in 2009.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Rare Animal Range was a trail which focused on highly endangered species. Featured species included [[guanaco]], [[Formosan sika deer]], [[black-and-white ruffed lemur|pied ruffed lemurs]] and [[blue-eyed black lemur]]s. The exhibit also had duplicate enclosures for the zoo's [[Arabian oryx]], [[blesbok]], [[Père David's deer]] and [[broad-snouted caiman]] as well as a large pond with a pair of small islands in the center which were home to a pair of [[golden-cheeked crested gibbon|golden-cheeked gibbons]]. Due to budget cuts and the unpopularity of many of the species, the zoo was forced to close the exhibit in 2009.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: While most of the species left the zoo when the exhibit closed, the Formosan sika deer were moved to the Wild Asia Monorail and the Père David's deer remained in their primary enclosure across from Tiger Mountain while the blue-eyed black lemurs were moved to Madagascar! where they are rotated with the Coquerel's sifakas. While no longer at the zoo, pied ruffed lemurs can still be seen at the zoo's partner institute, the [[Central Park Zoo]]. The zoo's popular Dinosaur Safari ran through a part of this area and the zoo's yearly Run for the Wild event runs through its entirety.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Skyfari was a popular [[gondola lift]] which transported visitors from the Zoo Center to the Asian Plaza, running over African Plains and several other popular exhibits at the zoo. The seasonal exhibit ran from April to October and rose feet in the air. With around 490,000 riders annually, the lift was the zoo's third most popular attraction after Congo Gorilla Forest and the Wild Asia Monorail. Despite its popularity, ticket sales for it were barely breaking-even and [[maintenance cost]]s led to a loss of profit. On July 8, 2008, high winds and heat led to one of the cars derailing, which trapped thirty-six passengers for up to five hours. Due to this, along with heavy budget cuts, the ride was permanently closed in January 2009, after 35 years of operation.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The Monkey House, which first opened in 1901 and was originally named the Primate House, closed in late February 2012 after 111 years of operation. At the time of closing, it was home to [[cotton-top tamarins]], [[white-faced saki]]s, [[Wied's marmoset]]s, [[moustached tamarin]]s, [[black-chinned emperor tamarin]]s, [[Goeldi's monkey]]s and [[gray-handed night monkey|grey-handed night-monkey]]s, as well as [[Brazilian porcupine]]s and [[Pallas's long-tongued bat]]s. This was the building where [[Ota Benga]] spent most of his time during his stay at the zoo.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Some of the primates that were in the now-closed exhibit have been moved to other parts of the zoo, such as the cotton-top tamarins now being found in World of Birds; others were sent to other New York City zoos, such as the sakis being moved to the [[Central Park Zoo]]. [[White-headed capuchin]]s can still be seen in an outdoor cage behind the building.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Amazing Amphibians was a short-lived exhibition which opened in the zoo's Zoo Center in June 2008 and only remained for a few years. The exhibit featured several educational displays on [[amphibian]] conservation as well as a few [[terrarium]]s containing several amphibian species. Highlight species included [[Cranwell's horned frog|Chacoan horned frog]], [[Puerto Rican crested toad]], [[smooth-sided toad]] and [[common mudpuppy]].


title: Bronx Zoo

text: While none of these species are currently on-exhibit at the zoo, the Puerto Rican crested toads can be seen at the [[Central Park Zoo]], which breeds this species for [[Species reintroduction|reintroduction]] back into [[Puerto Rico]].


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The 4-D Theater showed [[4-D film]]s with the help of [[3-D film]] and built-in sensory effects, including moving seats, wind, mist, and scents. Produced by [[SimEx-Iwerks]], the theater showed condensed versions of popular children's movies. The 4-D Theater previously showed "[[Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs]] ", one episode of "[[Dora the Explorer]]", "[[Rio (2011 film)|Rio]]" and "[[Storks (film)|Storks]]". It closed in 2019.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In April 2008, the zoo hosted the first Run for the Wild event. The event is a [[5k run]] ( long) organized by the Wildlife Conservation Society with the goal of raising money and awareness for their conservation programs of endangered species. Each year, there is a set entry fee for participants with varying prices depending on age; child (3–15), adult, and senior (65+). WCS Members get a discounted fee. Along with the entry fee, there is a $35 minimum donation per adult/senior participant. The event offers free prizes for donors, based on donation size, ranging from a Run for the Wild T-shirt to a special animal experience at the zoo. All donations are [[Tax deduction|tax-deductible]]. All participants are also offered free all-day entry to the zoo and its paid exhibits/attractions. The yearly event takes place at the end of April and originally began at 8 am for those wishing to actually run, and 8:45 for those who wish to simply walk or jog; the start times were changed to 7 am and 7:45 am in later years.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The event takes participants through the zoo before opening hours, starting at the Bronx River Parkway Entrance, through the Asian Plaza and African Plains, and ending by the Rockefeller Fountain near Astor Court. The trail also takes runners through the now-closed section of the zoo where the Rare Animal Range once stood. Each year, the event focuses on a specific endangered species or animal group to help raise funds for: 2009's run was for [[gorilla]]s, 2010 focused on [[tiger]]s, 2011 helped raise funds to protect the [[Punta Tombo]] peninsula of [[Argentina]] for [[Magellanic penguin]]s, 2012 focused on [[lion]]s, both 2013 and 2014 focused on [[elephant]]s, 2015 once again was for gorillas, and 2016's run will allow participants to run on behalf of their favorite animal.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 2011, another WCS institute, the [[New York Aquarium]], held its own Run for the Wild event for [[sea turtle]]s in early October. The 5k run began at the aquarium and led down the [[Riegelmann Boardwalk]] on [[Coney Island]]. The aquarium held a second run the following year for [[walrus]]es. The event has not returned to the aquarium since.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 1905, the zoo's first director, [[William Temple Hornaday|William T. Hornaday]], along with [[Theodore Roosevelt|President Theodore Roosevelt]] and other conservationists, created the [[American Bison Society]] (ABS) in an attempt to save the [[American bison]] from [[extinction]]. The bison had been depleted from tens-of-millions of animals to only a few hundred by the end of the 19th century due to [[United States territorial acquisitions|westward expansion]]. The society worked to breed the species in captivity as well as raise public awareness, raise money to create protected reserves, and [[Species reintroduction|reintroduce]] bison back into the wild. On October 11, 1907, the first reintroduction of bison began when the zoo sent six males and nine females, by rail, to the [[Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge]] in [[Oklahoma]]. Seven days later, the animals were successfully reintroduced to the park. By 1935, the society, who had successfully carried out several more reintroductions from bison kept in zoos and ranches, considered their work done and disbanded that year. In 2005, the Wildlife Conservation Society resurrected and re-purposed the ABS to, "help build the social and scientific foundations for the ecological restoration of bison", and, "restore bison ecologically, not just animals in pens but actual functioning animals in the larger landscape", (Keith Aune, WCS bison coordinator). According to a study published in 2012, virtually all wild and captive bison in the United States are [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrids]] with [[Domestic cattle|cattle]] genes, with the exception of the two distinct breeding populations within [[Yellowstone National Park]] and their descendants. The cattle genes entered the bison population due to private ranchers hybridizing their bison to make them more docile, with some of these animals being accidentally reintroduced by the ABS. In response, in the fall of 2011, the WCS arranged for a herd of female bison originating from the [[American Prairie Reserve]] to be sent to the [[Colorado State University|Colorado State University's]] Animal Reproduction & Biotechnology Laboratory to be used as [[Surrogacy|surrogates]] in an attempt to [[Embryo transfer|transfer]] the fertilized embryos of genetically pure bison. After an [[ultrasound]] showed one female to be pregnant, the herd was moved to the zoo where, on June 20, 2012, the calf was born. The herd is kept in an off-exhibit section of the zoo and the goal is to eventually create a breeding herd of genetically pure bison through embryo transfers with the surrogate hybrid bison.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 1981, the zoo successfully implanted a [[gaur]] embryo into a [[Holstein Friesian cattle|Holstein cow]] in an attempt to [[Clone (cell biology)|clone]] the endangered species.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 1990, the zoo experienced a pest problem with the [[Canada goose]]. The park had become so over-crowded with the geese, that the zoo had to take action to decrease their numbers. Apart from their presence, the geese were very aggressive towards other birds and occasionally carried diseases into the park. To cope with the problem, the zoo hired a [[sharpshooter]], who killed 19 geese. Zoo workers also destroyed 144 eggs found on the property. In 1991, the zoo employed a gentler method of sterilizing the birds.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 2005, the zoo sent the frozen sperm of a male [[Indian rhinoceros]] to the [[Cincinnati Zoo]] where, four years later in 2009, it was thawed out and used in the first successful [[artificial insemination]] of the species when a calf was born in late 2010. The calf did not survive long-term.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In August 2006, the zoo adopted an orphaned [[snow leopard]] cub, named Leo. The 13-month-old cub was found stuck in mud following a landslide in [[Naltar Valley]] in [[Pakistan]]. The landslide had killed the cub's mother. A Pakistani shepherd in the area found the cub with its female sibling, but the female had died a week later due to malnutrition. He then handed over the male cub to Pakistani authorities to care for him. Since there are no captive breeding programs or [[wildlife rehabilitation|rehabilitation centers]] for snow leopards in Pakistan, the authorities decided to send the cub to the Bronx Zoo. The cat will be returned to its place of birth following construction of a rehab facility in the Naltar Valley with cooperation from the United States. On April 9, 2013, Leo sired a cub. He was the first cub of Leo.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 2007, the zoo successfully reintroduced three [[Chinese alligator]]s into the wild. In July 2009, the zoo announced that the reintroduced alligators had begun breeding naturally in the wild, producing 15 hatchlings. The breeding was a milestone in the zoo's 10-year effort to [[Species reintroduction|reintroduce]] the species to the [[Yangtze River]] in China.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In January 2010, the zoo adopted four abandoned [[brown bear]] cubs. Three of the bears, two males and one female, were siblings born in 2009 and rescued from the [[ABC Islands (Alaska)|ABC Islands]] in Alaska. The cubs were named Kootz, Denali, and Sitka. The fourth cub, a [[grizzly bear]] born in 2008, was rescued from [[Glacier National Park (U.S.)|Glacier National Park]] in [[Montana]] and named Glacier after the park. In 2015, two other rescued grizzly bears, who had been at the zoo since 1995, were sent to one of the zoo's partner institutions, the [[Central Park Zoo]].


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The next month, an "assurance colony" of [[Kihansi spray toad]]s was placed in the zoo. The species disappeared in their native [[Tanzania]] home.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In February 2011, the zoo took in two [[bald eagle]]s that were rescued in [[Wyoming]]. The 5-year-old male was found in 2008 and was believed to have been hit by a car. The 3-year-old female was believed to have been injured during a storm. The birds were taken in by the [[U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]] and sent to the Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge in [[New Jersey]] for evaluation and care, where it was decided they were unable to survive in the wild.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In December 2012, five Chinese [[yellow-headed box turtle]]s, a critically endangered species, were born.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In December 2015, the zoo rescued a juvenile [[Indian cobra]] which had stowed away on a cargo ship destined for New Jersey. The snake was found in poor condition being [[dehydrated]], cold, and exposed to oil residue. The animal was brought to the zoo for recovery. It's unclear how the snake got onto the ship since it set out from Singapore, which is outside of the species' natural range.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: On July 29, 1985, two female Siberian tigers killed 24-year-old animal keeper Robin Silverman after she entered their enclosure with a volunteer aide. It was unclear why Silverman entered the enclosure; the zoo's general curator suspected a lapse in Silverman's concentration, while her family suspected a failure on the part of the zoo. It was the first fatality in the zoo's history.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In the early 2000s, the zoo added a troop of [[Javan lutung|Javan langurs]] to JungleWorld and mixed them with [[oriental small-clawed otter]]s. The otters had previously mixed with other [[primate]] species in the enclosure without any problems. However, the new langurs made a habit of constantly bothering and attacking the otters. In June 2007 a group of otters grabbed a langur that was sitting at the water's edge and proceeded to overpower, then drown it in full view of visitors. A keeper on the viewing deck attempted to break up the fight by whistling and yelling at the otters, to no avail. After killing the langur, the otters left the body floating in the pool. It was later removed by keepers. Part of the incident was recorded and uploaded to [[YouTube]].


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Soon after the incident, the otters were removed from the enclosure and given their own in the Children's Zoo and elsewhere in JungleWorld.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 2001, Peter Vitique, 32, climbed a 20-foot wall, entered the gorilla enclosure, and stripped down to his boxer shorts. He later told police that he wanted to be "one with the gorillas".


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 2004, a man stripped off his clothes in World of Darkness and jumped into the [[caiman]] enclosure. He was removed by zookeepers and police before he could sustain any injuries.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: On July 9, 2008, the Skyfari, a now defunct [[gondola lift]] used to transport guests from the Zoo Center to Asia Plaza, broke down when high winds and heat caused one of the gondola cars to derail. Three dozen guests, several of them children, were stranded for approximately five hours at heights ranging from in elevation. A crane was brought into the zoo to evacuate the three guests in the derailed car, who were safely rescued after three hours. The car was then repaired and operations resumed, allowing the remaining passengers to exit normally. No serious injuries occurred as a result of the incident, although one couple sued. They claimed the "psychological trauma" of being stuck for five hours "above fang-baring, flesh-eating baboons" put the woman's pregnancy at risk. In January 2009, the zoo removed the Skyfari due to high maintenance costs.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: On September 21, 2012, David Villalobos, 25, jumped off the Wild Asia Monorail and cleared the high perimeter fence around the area into the tiger exhibit. During the 10 minutes that he was in the enclosure, Villalobos was alone with an 11-year-old male [[Amur tiger]] named Bashuta, a three-year resident of the zoo at the time, before being mauled. Villalobos was attacked on his shoulder, arms, legs, and back, before he was rescued by zoo officials who used fire extinguishers to chase the tiger away and told Villalobos to escape by rolling under a wire. Villalobos was taken to an area hospital and reported in stable condition. He had petted the 400-pound animal and wanted to be "one with the tiger". The tiger was not euthanized as a result of the incident, since it was clearly provoked, and the mauling did not result in a fatality.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In the summer of 2013, [[New Jersey]] residents Heung Ju Yi and Kyung Hee brought their 3-year-old son, Ethan, to the zoo to visit the popular Dinosaur Safari exhibit. After buying their tickets, each member of the family was given a free souvenir [[Elongated coin|pressed penny]] as a gift promoting the exhibit. Soon afterward, Ethan swallowed the coin and began choking. His mother, Kyung, said she'd, "thought he'd died". Unsuccessful attempts to retrieve the coin from his throat were followed by rushing the boy to an emergency medical clinic, where [[X-ray]]s showed it had entered his stomach. The next day, further X-rays revealed that the coin was not passing naturally, and surgery was required to remove it. Two days later, Ethan was put under [[general anesthesia]], and the coin was removed via [[endoscopy]]. The surgery revealed that the [[zinc]] in the coin had reacted with his [[Gastric acid|stomach acid]] and begun to dissolve, creating jagged edges that cut the inside of his stomach. The family, which did not have health insurance, were charged over $50,000 for this. In early 2014, the family pressed charges against the zoo and the Wildlife Conservation Society for unspecified [[damages]]. They claimed the zoo endangered their son since the employee who handed them the coins handed Ethan's directly to him and gave no warning about the choking hazards of small coins.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In February 1995, the zoo's De Jur Aviary collapsed during a snowstorm with about 100 seabirds, including [[Inca tern]]s and [[gull]]s, inside. During the collapse, some of the residents flew off and escaped. In total, about 30 birds were lost.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: On March 26, 2011, the Bronx Zoo announced that World of Reptiles was closed after a venomous adolescent [[cobra]] was discovered missing from its off-exhibit enclosure on March 25. Zoo officials were confident the missing cobra would be found in the building and not outside, since the species is known to be uncomfortable in open areas. The missing snake quickly sparked a popular [[Twitter]] parody account, @BronxZoosCobra, which narrated the daily hijinks of the cobra. On March 31, zoo authorities found the snake in a non-public area of the reptile house.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: On September 11, 2011, a [[lesser kudu]] escaped from its enclosure for about half an hour and then returned to its enclosure once a zoo worker opened the gate.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In the early 1970s, seven [[Indian elephant]]s, named after the Seven Dwarfs from "[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White]]", were captured as calves in [[Thailand]] and dispersed among multiple U.S. zoos and [[circus]]es. Two of those calves, named Grumpy and Happy, were brought to the zoo in 1977. Over the next 25 years, the pair lived together, separated from the zoo's other elephants. In July 2002, the zoo attempted to mix the pair with two females, Patty and Maxine. However, the introduction failed when Patty and Maxine attacked the pair and injured Grumpy. Over the next several months, the elephant's injuries worsened and, in October of that year, the zoo was forced to [[Euthanasia|euthanize]] her. With her lifelong companion gone, Happy was paired with the zoo's younger female, Sammy, whose companion Tus had also died in 2002. The two got along very well until Sammy developed severe [[liver disease]] and was also euthanized in early 2006. This left Patty, Maxine, and Happy as the zoo's only remaining elephants.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Despite the fact that elephants are highly social animals, the zoo decided that making a second attempt at introducing Happy to the others was too risky, with there being too high a chance that she would be attacked. She has since lived without the company of other elephants. Due to this, the zoo has been criticized by multiple [[Animal rights movement|animal rights organizations]] for supposedly mistreating Happy. [[People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals]] (PETA) filed a formal complaint against the zoo with the [[Association of Zoos and Aquariums]] (AZA), calling for them to strip the zoo of its accreditation. In Defense of Animals (IDA) has named the zoo the "Hall of Shame Winner" on their 2015, 2016, and 2017 'Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants'. IDA listed the zoo fourth on their 2012 list, fifth on their 2013 and 2014 lists, and eighth on their 2009 list. The organizations, as well as many [[online petition]]s (some of which gain up to 200,000 supporters), have called on the zoo to send Happy to an [[Wildlife refuge|elephant sanctuary]]. However, the zoo said that moving her at this stage in her life might be potentially traumatizing for her, and that she has very strong bonds with her keepers and is well-adjusted to the zoo, where she has spent well over thirty years of her life.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 2012, a reporter for the "[[New York Post]]" wrote that she is kept inside all year and in [[solitary confinement]]. The zoo claims that she and the other two elephants have equal access to outdoor yards, and that the three elephants have limited interactions with each other and extensive interactions with zoo keepers. All three animals share the same barn, but Happy lives in separate stalls and yards. In late 2018, one of the zoo's other elephants, Maxine, was euthanized due to complications with her liver and kidneys.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: A lawsuit against the Bronx Zoo, stating that Happy was legally "a person with a right to be free", was dismissed in February 2020 by a judge of the Bronx County Supreme Court. However, in May 2021, the [[New York Court of Appeals]] agreed to hear the appeal, filed on behalf of Happy by the [[Nonhuman Rights Project]]. In June 2022, the Court of Appeals also ruled in favor of the zoo, saying in a 5-2 decision that the [[Habeas corpus|writ of habeas corpus]] did not apply to nonhuman animals.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 1906, a major controversy erupted when [[Ota Benga]], a [[Mbuti people|Mbuti]] [[Pygmy peoples|pygmy]], was brought to the zoo by the American businessman and explorer Samuel Phillips Verner, and displayed there as an exhibit; though he was allowed to roam the grounds freely. He became fond of an [[orangutan]] named Dohong, "the presiding genius of the Monkey House", who had been taught to perform tricks and imitate human behavior. The events leading to his "exhibition" alongside Dohong were gradual. Benga spent some of his time in the Monkey House exhibit, where the zoo encouraged him to hang his [[hammock]] and to shoot his bow and arrow at a target. On the first day of the exhibit, September 8, 1906, visitors found Benga in the Monkey House. Soon, a sign on the exhibit read:


title: Bronx Zoo

text: Hornaday considered the exhibit a valuable spectacle for visitors; he was supported by [[Madison Grant]], secretary of the [[New York Zoological Society]], who lobbied to put Benga on-display alongside apes at the zoo. A decade later, Grant became prominent nationally as a [[scientific racism|racial anthropologist]] and [[eugenics|eugenicist]].


title: Bronx Zoo

text: [[African-American]] clergymen immediately protested to zoo officials about the exhibit. James H. Gordon said, "Our race, we think, is depressed enough, without exhibiting one of us with the apes ... We think we are worthy of being considered human beings, with souls." Gordon also thought the exhibit was hostile to Christianity and a promotion of [[Darwinism]]: "The Darwinian theory is absolutely opposed to Christianity, and a public demonstration in its favor should not be permitted." A number of clergymen backed Gordon. In defense of the depiction of Benga as a lesser human, an editorial in "[[The New York Times]]" suggested:


title: Bronx Zoo

text: After the controversy, Benga was allowed to roam the grounds of the zoo. In response to the situation, as well as verbal and physical prods from the crowds, he became more mischievous and somewhat violent. Around this time, Rev. Dr. R. MacArthur of Calvary Baptist Church, was quoted in "The New York Times" saying: "It is too bad that there is not some society like the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. We send our missionaries to Africa to Christianize the people, and then we bring one here to brutalize him." Soon, the zoo removed Benga from the grounds. Benga committed [[suicide]] in 1916 at the age of 32. In 2020, WCS apologized for the zoo's treatment of Benga and promotion of eugenics.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: [[The Most Dangerous Animal in the World]] exhibit debuted at the Bronx Zoo on April 26, 1963. The exhibit was installed at the Great Apes House and it featured a statement about the danger humans pose.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: The words: "The Most Dangerous Animal in the World" were printed in red on top of a cage. Behind the bars of the cage there was a mirror. The exhibit was reportedly still at the zoo in 1981.


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In 2013, So What? Press published an issue of its comic series "[[Tales of the Night Watchman]]", entitled "The Night Collector", about a coven of vampires that takes over the bat exhibit at the Bronx Zoo. A zookeeper who specializes in bats is put at odds with his co-worker when it's discovered that the woman of their mutual affection has been turned into a vampire. It was written by Dave Kelly and illustrated by [[Molly Ostertag]].


title: Bronx Zoo

text: In March 2016, [[Animal Planet]] announced plans to produce a [[docu-series]] about the zoo, titled "The Zoo". The series premiered on February 18, 2017 and gained a second season in March 2018.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: The perpetual virginity of Mary is a Christian doctrine that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin before, during and after the birth of Christ. In Western Christianity, the Catholic Church adheres to the doctrine, as do some Lutherans, Anglicans, Reformed, and other Protestants. Shenouda III, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, affirmed the teaching, and Eastern Orthodox churches recognize Mary as Aeiparthenos, meaning "ever-virgin". It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Most modern nonconformist Protestants reject the doctrine.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: The tradition of the perpetual virginity of Mary first clearly appears in a late 2nd-century text called the Gospel of James. It was established as orthodoxy at the Council of Ephesus in 431, the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 gave her the title "Aeiparthenos", meaning Perpetual Virgin, and at the Lateran Synod of 649 Pope Martin I emphasized the threefold character of the perpetual virginity, before, during, and after the birth of Christ. The Lutheran Smalcald Articles (1537) and the Reformed Second Helvetic Confession (1562) codified the doctrine of perpetual virginity of Mary as well.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: The doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity has been challenged on the basis that the New Testament explicitly affirms her virginity only before the conception of Jesus and mentions the brothers ("adelphoi") of Jesus. This word only very rarely means other than a biological or spiritual sibling, and they may have been: (1) the sons of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph; (2) sons of the Mary named in Mark 15:40 as "mother of James and Joses", whom Jerome identified as a sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus; or (3) sons of Joseph by a former marriage.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: The Odes of Solomon have been interpreted as implying that Mary was a virgin even during childbirth because it states that Mary did not have pain during childbirth. However some have theorized that the Odist was referring to the story of the Exodus, where Jewish women had very quick childbirth, having been said to even have happened almost instantly, which is why the Egyptian midwives could not come fast enough. Similar statements exist in the Ascension of Isaiah.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Some have argued that Josephus in the first century believed James to be a biological brother of Jesus.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Mary's pre-birth virginity is attested in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, but there is no biblical basis for the idea of her perpetual virginity. The position is first addressed in a late 2nd-century text called the Protoevangelium of James, in which Mary remains a life-long virgin, Joseph is an old man who marries her without physical desire, and the brothers of Jesus are explained as Joseph's sons by an earlier marriage. The Protoevangelium seems to have been used to create the stories of Mary which are found in the Quran, but while Muslims agree with Christians that Mary was a virgin at the moment of the conception of Jesus, the idea of her perpetual virginity thereafter is contrary to the Islamic ideal of women as wives and mothers.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Origen also mentioned that the gospel of Peter affirmed the perpetual virginity of Mary, saying that the "brothers" of Jesus were from a previous marriage of Joseph.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: A quote attributed to Papias (70–163 AD) seems to support the view that the "brothers" of Jesus were cousins, however, this quote was likely falsely attributed to Papias and comes from another Papias who lived later in the 11th century.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Irenaeus and Justin Martyr, though mentioning the virgin birth nowhere clearly affirmed the view that Mary was a perpetual virgin. The Ebionites denied Mary's perpetual virginity and Hegesippus is thought to have possibly disputed it.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: In the 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome held that Mary was "ever-virgin", while Clement of Alexandria, writing soon after the Protoevangelium appeared, appealed to its incident of a midwife who examined Mary immediately after the birth ("after giving birth, she was examined by a midwife, who found her to be a virgin") and asserted that this was to be found in the Gospels ("These things are attested to by the Scriptures of the Lord"), though he was referring to an apocryphal Gospel as a fact. The 3rd century scholar Origen used the Protoevangelium's explanation of the brothers to uphold the perpetual virginity of Mary ("There is no child of Mary except Jesus, according to those who think correctly about her"). Tertullian, who came between Clement and Origen, denied Mary's virginity "in partu" to refute the docetist idea that the Son of God could not have assumed a human body ("although she was a virgin when she conceived, she was a wife when she brought forth her son").


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Helvidius also argued that Victorinus believed that Mary had other children. However Jerome claimed that he was misinterpreting Victorinus. Epiphanus invented a name "Antidicomarians" for a group of people who denied the perpetual virginity of Mary, which Epiphanus attacked, however they are also mentioned by Origen. They were active from the 3rd to the 5th century.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: According to Epiphanius the Antidicomarians claimed that Apollinaris of Laodicea or his disciples denied the perpetual virginity of Mary, though Epiphanus doubted the claim.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Early Christian theologians such as Hippolytus (170–235), Eusebius (260/265–339/340) and Epiphanius (c. 310/320–403) defended the perpetual virginity of Mary.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: By the early 4th century the spread of monasticism had promoted celibacy as the ideal state, and a moral hierarchy was established with marriage occupying the third rank below life-long virginity and widowhood Eastern theologians generally accepted Mary as "Aeiparthenos", but many in the Western church were less convinced. The theologian Helvidius objected to the devaluation of marriage inherent in this view and argued that the two states, of virginity and marriage, were equal. His contemporary Jerome, realising that this would lead to the Mother of God occupying a lower place in heaven than virgins and widows, defended her perpetual virginity in his immensely influential "Against Helvidius," issued c.383.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: In the 380s and 390s the monk Jovinian denied Mary's virginity "in partu" (virgin during childbirth), writing that if Jesus did not undergo a normal human birth, then his body was something other than a truly human one. As reported by Augustine, Jovinian "denied that the virginity of Mary, which existed when she conceived, remained while she gave birth." Augustine goes on to say that the reason for Jovinian's denial of Mary's virginity "in partu" was that the doctrine was too close to the Manichean view that Christ was simply a phantom. According to Ambrose, Jovinian maintained that Mary had conceived as a virgin, but she had not given birth as a virgin. Jerome wrote against Jovinian but failed to mention this aspect of his teaching, and most commentators believe that he did not find it offensive. Jovinian also found two monks in Milan, Sarmatio and Barbatian, who held similar views as Jovinian.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: The only important Christian intellectual to defend Mary's virginity "in partu" was Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, who was the chief target of the charge of Manicheism. For Ambrose, both the physical birth of Jesus by Mary and the baptismal birthing of Christians by the church had to be totally virginal, even "in partu", in order to cancel the stain of original sin, of which the pains of labor are the physical sign. It was due to Ambrose that "virginitas in partu" came to be included consistently in the thinking of subsequent theologians. Bonosus of Sardica also denied the perpetual virginity of Mary, for which he was declared a heretic. His followers would survive for many centuries, especially among the Goths. Additionally the perpetual virginity of Mary was denied by some Arians.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Jovinian was condemned as a heretic at a Synod of Milan under Ambrose's presidency in 390 and Mary's perpetual virginity was established as the only orthodox view, although it was not until the Council of Ephesus in 431 that a fully general consensus was established. Further developments were to follow when the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 formally gave her the title "Aeiparthenos", and at the Lateran Synod of 649 Pope Martin I emphasised the threefold character of the perpetual virginity, before, during, and after the birth of Christ.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Athanasius of Alexandria (d.393) declared Mary "Aeiparthenos", "ever-virgin", and the liturgy of James the brother of Jesus likewise required a declaration of Mary as ever-virgin. The view was also defended by Augustine, Hilary of Potiers, Didymus the Blind, Cyril of Alexandria among others.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: In the Middle Ages the perpetual virginity of Mary was commonly accepted, however the Paulicians denied her perpetual virginity, even saying that Christ denied her to be blessed.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: The Protestant Reformation saw a rejection of the special moral status of lifelong celibacy. As a result, marriage and parenthood were extolled, and Mary and Joseph were seen as a normal married couple. It also affirmed the Bible alone as the fundamental source of authority regarding God's word "(sola scriptura)." The reformers noted that while scripture records the virgin birth, it makes no mention of Mary's perpetual virginity following the birth of Christ. Mary's perpetual virginity was upheld by Martin Luther (who names her ever-virgin in the Smalcald Articles, a Lutheran confession of faith written in 1537), Huldrych Zwingli, Thomas Cranmer, Wollebius, Bullinger, John Wycliffe and later Protestant leaders including John Wesley, the co-founder of Methodism. Osiander denied the perpetual virginity of Mary, for which Melanchthon was scornful.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: John Calvin's view was more ambiguous, believing that knowing what happened to Mary after the birth of Jesus is impossible. However John Calvin argued that "Matthew 1:25", used by Helvidius to attack the perpetual virginity of Mary does not teach that Mary had other children. Other Calvinists affirmed Mary's perpetual virginity, including within the Second Helvetic Confession—stating that Mary was the "ever virgin Mary"—and in the notes of the Geneva Bible. Theodore Beza, a prominent early Calvinist, included the perpetual virginity of Mary in a list of agreements between Calvinism and the Catholic Church. Some reformers upheld the doctrine to counter more radical reformers who questioned the divinity of Christ; Mary's perpetual virginity guaranteed the Incarnation of Christ despite the challenges to its scriptural foundations. Modern Protestants have largely rejected the perpetual virginity of Mary on the basis of "sola scriptura," and it has rarely appeared explicitly in confessions or doctrinal statements, though the perpetual virginity of Mary is still a common belief in Anglicanism and Lutheranism.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Among the Anabaptists, Hubmaier never abandoned his belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary and continued to esteem Mary as theotokos ("mother of God"). These two doctrinal stances are addressed individually in Articles Nine and Ten, respectively, of Hubmaier's work, "Apologia".


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: The Second Council of Constantinople recognized Mary as "Aeiparthenos", meaning "ever-virgin". It remains axiomatic for the Eastern Orthodox Church that she remained virginal throughout her Earthly life, and Orthodoxy therefore understands the New Testament references to the brothers and sisters of Jesus as signifying his kin, but not the biological children of his mother.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: The Latin Church, known more commonly today as the Catholic Church, shared the Council of Constantinople with the theologians of the Greek or Orthodox communion, and therefore shares with them the title "Aeiparthenos" as accorded to Mary. The Catholic Church has gone further than the Orthodox in making the Perpetual Virginity one of the four Marian dogmas, meaning that it is held to be a truth divinely revealed, the denial of which is heresy. It declares her virginity before, during and after the birth of Jesus, or in the definition formulated by Pope Martin I at the Lateran Council of 649:The blessed ever-virginal and immaculate Mary conceived, without seed, by the Holy Spirit, and without loss of integrity brought him forth, and after his birth preserved her virginity inviolate.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Thomas Aquinas admitted that reason could not prove this, but argued that it must be accepted because it was "fitting", for as Jesus was the only-begotten son of God, so he should also be the only-begotten son of Mary, as a second and purely human conception would disrespect the sacred state of her holy womb. Symbolically, the perpetual virginity of Mary signifies a new creation and a fresh start in salvation history. It has been stated and argued repeatedly, most recently by the Second Vatican Council:


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception … then also at the birth of Our Lord, who did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it... ("Lumen Gentium", No.57)


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: A problem facing theologians wishing to maintain Mary's life-long virginity is that the Pauline epistles, the four gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, all mention the brothers ("adelphoi") of Jesus, with Mark and Matthew recording their names and Mark adding unnamed sisters. The "Gospel of James", followed a century later by Epiphanius, explained the "adelphoi" as Joseph's children by an earlier marriage, which is still the view of the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. Jerome, believing that Joseph, like Mary, must be a life-long virgin, argued that these "adelphoi" were the sons of "Mary, the mother of James and Joses" (), who he identified with the wife of Clopas and sister of the virgin Mary (John 19:25), which remains popular in the Western church. A modern proposal considers these "adelphoi" sons of "Mary, the mother of James and Joses" (not here identified with the Virgin Mary's sister), and Clopas, who according to Hegesippus was Joseph's brother.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Further scriptural difficulties were added by , which calls Jesus the "first-born" son of Mary, and , which adds that Joseph "did not know her until she had brought forth her firstborn son." Helvidius argued that first-born implies later births, and that the word "until" left open the way to sexual relations after the birth; Jerome, replying that even an only son will be a first-born and that "until" did not have the meaning Helvidius construed for it, painted a repulsive word-portrait of Joseph having intercourse with a blood-stained and exhausted Mary immediately after she has given birth—the implication, in his view, of Helvidius's arguments. Opinions on the quality of Jerome's rebuttal range from the view that it was masterful and well-argued to thin, rhetorical and sometimes tasteless.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Two other 4th century Fathers, Gregory of Nyssa, following "a certain apocryphal account", and Augustine, advanced a further argument by reading as a vow of perpetual virginity on Mary's part; this idea, first introduced in the Protoevangelium of James, has little scholarly support today, but it and the arguments advanced by Jerome and Ambrose were put forward by Pope John Paul II in his catechesis of August 28, 1996, as the four facts supporting the Catholic Church's ongoing faith in Mary's perpetual virginity.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: It has been argued from John 19, where Jesus entrusts Mary to the disciple John instead of his brothers, to support the view that Jesus had no brothers, however Protestants have generally argued in two ways against this passage, one by claiming that the brothers of Jesus were unbelievers or that they weren't present during the crucifixion.


title: Perpetual virginity of Mary

text: Some have argued that Mary and Joseph couldn't have had a normal marriage if Mary remained a perpetual virgin, however it has been argued by some Catholics that there is evidence that celibacy within marriage was already practiced by the Qumran community and other Jews at that time.


title: Super Meat Boy

text: Super Meat Boy is a 2010 platform game designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes under the collective name of "Team Meat". It was self-published as the successor to "Meat Boy", a 2008 flash game designed by McMillen and Jonathan McEntee. In the game, the player controls Meat Boy, a red, cube-shaped character, as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from the game's antagonist Dr. Fetus. The gameplay is characterized by fine control and split-second timing, as the player runs and jumps through over 300 hazardous levels while avoiding obstacles. The game also supports the creation of player-created levels. "Super Meat Boy" was first released on the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade in October 2010, and was later ported to Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, and the Nintendo Switch. A Wii version was in development, but ultimately cancelled.


title: Super Meat Boy

text: Development of the game began in early 2009. McMillen worked on level design and artwork, while Refenes coded it. The game's soundtrack was written by Danny Baranowsky, who had also worked on the original "Meat Boy". "Super Meat Boy" won several awards, and has been cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Critics lauded the game's controls, art, soundtrack, and challenging gameplay. The game was also a commercial success, selling over a million copies by January 2012. A sequel, "Super Meat Boy Forever", was released on December 23, 2020, without McMillen's involvement.


title: Super Meat Boy

text: "Super Meat Boy" is a platform game in which players control a small, dark red, cube-shaped character named Meat Boy, who must save his cube-shaped, heavily bandaged girlfriend Bandage Girl from the evil scientist Dr. Fetus. The game is divided into chapters, which together contain over 300 levels. Players attempt to reach the end of each level, represented by Bandage Girl, while avoiding crumbling blocks, saw blades, and various other fatal obstacles. The player can jump and run on platforms, and can jump off or slide down walls. The core gameplay requires fine control and split-second timing, and was compared to, regarding both gameplay and level of difficulty, traditional platform games such as "Super Mario Bros." and "Ghosts 'n Goblins".


title: Super Meat Boy

text: Levels in each chapter can be played in any order, but a certain number of levels need to be completed to access the boss stage, which unlocks the next chapter if cleared. The player has an unlimited number of attempts to complete each level. If Meat Boy is killed, he immediately restarts the level, though the ornamental red meat juice left behind on surfaces that the player has touched remains. A replay function, which may be accessed after a level is completed, simultaneously shows all the player's attempts to complete the level. Completing a level within a certain time earns an "A+" grade, which unlocks a harder alternate version of the level in the "dark world", an optional set of especially difficult levels. Hidden stages called warp zones are accessed by finding portals in specific levels. These warp zones feature bonus levels that have either the art style of older video games and a limit of three lives, or are patterned after another indie video game such as "Castle Crashers" or "Braid". The player may control characters other than Meat Boy, many of whom first appeared in other independent video games. Each character has different attributes, such as Commander Video's ability to momentarily float in midair. These characters can be unlocked by collecting bandage items placed throughout the game's levels or completing certain warp zones. Some bandages can only be collected by using certain characters. Some levels, such as warp zones and boss levels, can only be played with specific characters. The available characters vary depending on the version of the game played.


title: Super Meat Boy

text: The Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) version features an unlockable mode called "Teh Internets", which is updated with new, free, officially curated levels. The PC version has a "Super Meat World" section, which allows users to play and rate additional levels that players have created with a level editor. This editor was released in May 2011. Players can also access an unsupported developer mode inside the game to edit their own levels using the "rough" tools that Team Meat used to create the game.