Thursday, August 9, 2012 Page B1
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WhAT’s On? n Dining guiDe n WhAT’s cOOking? n ReAl esTATe n clAssifieD n seRvice guiDe n PROfessiOnAl DiRecTORy
Legos go wild at Bronx Zoo
Kids can hunt for the building blocks of life By Emma Penrod newsroom@riverdalepress.com
T
hey say imitation is the highest form of flattery. Well now some of the Bronx zoo’s most popular residents — tigers, zebras and gorillas — are being celebrated in a new exhibit in the form of life-sized Lego replicas. This is the second year Lego master builders have created animal replicas for the zoo’s Lego exhibit, which according to the zoo is dedicated to wildlife, childhood and Legos. Each required thousands of bricks and hundreds of hours to assemble before being shipped intact to the zoo. The Lego gorilla, for example, is comprised of 35,000 bricks, and required approximately 350 man-hours. While most sculptures are lifesized, the Kihansi Spray Toads, which are normally about the size of a penny, had to be enlarged and are on display beneath a Lego “magnifying glass.” The toads are extinct in the wild, but preserved for a breeding project at the Bronx zoo. Others Lego creatures on display included a flock of bright pink flamingos — nest included — a pair of baby rhinoceroses, and a hornbill roosting in a tree. “It’s very impressive,” said Leslie Ortiz, who had come from Albany to visit the zoo with her daughter, Alexandra Ortiz. Alexandra was especially impressed by the Lego tiger. “I like the details, with the stripes and teeth,” she said. Devin Vasilkioti, 6, said he planned to build his own Lego elephant when he got home. He and his mother, Molly Vasilkioti, came from Harrison, about 20 miles outside the city in Westchester County, to view the Lego exhibit after Ms. Vasilkioti’s sister came home from the zoo with photos of the exhibit. The exhibit features a hands-on Lego mural station, where kids can select a Lego tile, build a tiny Lego mosaic in color-by-number fashion, and add their section to one of two animal murals slowly being assembled by the zoo’s visitors. Two giant pictures with tiny, eight-millimeter Legos were set up behind tables where patrons could select a tile, flesh it out with Lego bricks and find where their square, a single piece of a much larger puzzle, belonged. One tiny brick at a time, the builders are unveiling portraits of tigers and giraffes. “You have to fill in the blocks to actually make the picture,” Joshua Altamirano, 10, explained. “And when it’s finished, it looks real.” His four-year-old sister, Gianalle Altamirano, also enjoyed the mural building, and begged her mother, Alicia Altamirano, more than once back to the table for “one more” tile. Campers from Our Savior Lutheran School and Church also made contribution to Friday’s mural effort, including 9-year-old Madison Genovino, who finished portions of the sky for one of the portraits and said she enjoyed puzzling over which blue brick belonged where. Others, such as Christian Dejesus, 9, took advantage of the free-play section off to the side. “I just like to build houses and stuff,” he said. In the spirit of the day, he built his own miniature giraffe.
THE ZEBRA took 370 hours to construct from Legos.
A TIGER made out of Legos is on view until Sept. 3, as part of the Bronx Zoo’s Wild Forest: A Lego Safari.
MICHAEL IGLESIAS, 6, Julio Gracia, 6, Jasmine Roman, 8, Christian Dejesus, 8, from Our Savior Lutheran Camp play with Legos on Aug. 3.
Riverdale Press photo illustration with photos by Marisol Díaz
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