Taronga Zoo Recent history of Taronga and developments etc

H

hodgey

Member
As a young boy in the late 90s and early 2000s Taronga was my favourite place on this whole earth, my nan used to take me at 9AM when the gates opened and we'd leave at closing time, however as I moved away I stopped going but still have so many fond memories from my childhood and questions relating to my recent visit on Monday.

As I walked in the first thing I noticed was that the path up to the alligators had been blocked which was quite saddening, did the two alligators die of old age, and I'm also interested in how long they've been there for and does anyone know what they're planning on doing with this exhibit now?

My next question is on the Komodo, he looked a hell of a lot smaller so I'm guessing he's a new bloke younger and the old fella passed away, when did this happen?

Next on the left there's a huge construction site however it looks as if they're building another centre there not exhibit for animals which made me a bit sad, what happened to the Orangutans which used to be in there? Has there exhibit been knocked down as well?

My next question is in relation to where everything from the big Cat ally has gone! The plans for the new tiger exhibits* looked amazing but is that all they're planning on having for that whole area? Surely there's room for more animals and does anyone know what's the go with any long term plans to do with that area, ie from the plans at the front of the zoo it showed three exhibits for tigers which will be amazing but does that mean they'll keep like 5/6 tigers?

Where did the zoo send there snow leopards and lions and do they not plan on keeping them anymore? The zoo felt a scarce bit more smaller without being able to go down there to see the big cats!

The Sun Bears being in the old kodiak enclosure was a bit weird to see but made sense, from memory the old sun bears used to be down the bottom where the Red Pands currently are, or were they black bears? I can scarcely remember them

I also recall there used to be camels in the corner down from the Chimps, how long ago did they pass and do they have any plans at all to utilise that space in that exhibit or na

Interesting to see only one Bongo? Do those animals usually reside in herds

How long ago did the Rhino move away? Interesting to see zebras there now

Do they have any plans for that old sun bear enclosure? Does it ever get used, why is the new enclosure better than the empty one (sun light, better view etc?

I noticed next to the gorillas there was like a smaller gorilla exhibit, does that ever get used? Or is just there incase of a fight amongst the group or something along those lines, it was well kept etc so just wondering

Seems so much wasted space at Taronga especially around the middle part of the zoo like near the old orang exhibit near the old seal and penguin pools and near the big croc exhibit where there's so much open space

What's with the Sharks and do people think it's a bit weird they only built three seal pools for the public to view (with only 2 with seals from what I sa) from memory with the old set up there was lots more (obviously much better for the seals now but just a thought) do they plan on rebuilding the middle part of the zoo back into more pools for the seals or something? The old
Croc exhibit down the bottom looked very outdated.

Thanks in advance! Felt a bit weird being there again and taking it all in with how much it's changed
 
a few answers:

hodgey said:
My next question is on the Komodo, he looked a hell of a lot smaller so I'm guessing he's a new bloke younger and the old fella passed away, when did this happen?
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the old male died last year. They have two new dragons, only one is kept on-show.

hodgey said:
My next question is in relation to where everything from the big Cat ally has gone! The plans for the new tiger exhibits* looked amazing but is that all they're planning on having for that whole area? Surely there's room for more animals and does anyone know what's the go with any long term plans to do with that area, ie from the plans at the front of the zoo it showed three exhibits for tigers which will be amazing but does that mean they'll keep like 5/6 tigers?

Where did the zoo send there snow leopards and lions and do they not plan on keeping them anymore? The zoo felt a scarce bit more smaller without being able to go down there to see the big cats!
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yes, it is just for Sumatran tigers. The snow leopards went to Billabong, and the lions went to Hunter Valley. Other animals went elsewhere. They will probably get the lions back at some point, but that'd be it.

hodgey said:
Interesting to see only one Bongo? Do those animals usually reside in herds
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there are only a handful of bongo in the country, and yes just one at Taronga currently.
 
Cool post Hodgey, it's always weird visiting a place from your childhood. I had a similar experience with the London Zoo, which I visited as a child, and then again as an adult. Mine was a positive one though, I think they've made a lot of improvements.

Just some extra info on the tigers....

The Taronga Zoo Sumatran Tigers are currently at Western Plains Zoo. They are a mother and three offspring called: Jumilah (F03), Sakti (M11), Kembali (M11) and Kartika (F11). All were born at Taronga Zoo and represent a family line of Sumatran Tigers dating back to the import of Nico (M76) and Meta (F75) in the late 70s. They produced several litters of cubs, including a male, Shiva, in 1985.

If you visited in the 1990s, you would probably remember seeing Shiva (M85) and his mate, Selatan (F90). They had two litters of cubs in 1994 and 1995. One of the males from the 1995 litter, Juara, is the father of Jumilah.

Since 2013, Sakti has been kept separate from his mother and two siblings. They're hoping to breed when Jumilah, Sakti, Kembali and Kartika return to Taronga Zoo next year. This will require three enclosures. One for Jumilah, Kembali and Kartika, one for Sakti, and one for the new breeding tiger.

In my opinion it makes sense to import a new female for breeding and breed her with Sakti, as this option wouldn't neccesitate a fourth exhibit in the short term. The new female and her cubs would occupy the third enclosure. There have been some minor fertility issues in Kartika's maternal line so assuming Sakti is not unusually aggressive, a mate for him seems like the best option.
 
Satu the male tiger went to Australia Zoo for breeding purposes - and as the others have said, the other 4 tigers went to Dubbo. Some of them will be coming back once the new exhibit is built, and there will be some new ones as well.

The lions, Bruiser, Kuchani, and Asali have gone to Hunter Valley Zoo (near Cessnock and worth the visit) - they are not coming back to Taronga. Taronga will get in new lions once they have built a new African area.

As far as I know there are no plans to get in any more Snow Leopards.

The Bongo was probably the adult male - they rotate him with the females and baby.

The Orangutans are currently off exhibit, and may be going to another zoo in due course - there are no plans to have those 2 back on exhibit at Taronga.

As far as I know, the Sun Bears will stay where they are.

The small area off the Gorilla exhibit is a spare area where they can move the gorillas if they are doing anything to the bigger area on the other side. When Kibali first arrived, he was housed there for introductions with females - first Kimya (now at Melbourne Zoo), and then Mbeli and Johari. They also renovated the larger area while the introductions were taking place.

No idea about the rest of your questions, but I'm sure someone will have the info you seek... *grin*

T.
 
tdierikx said:
The Bongo was probably the adult male - they rotate him with the females and baby.

The Orangutans are currently off exhibit, and may be going to another zoo in due course - there are no plans to have those 2 back on exhibit at Taronga.
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oh I was confusing Taronga with Melbourne with regards to the bongo wasn't I? Melbourne only has the one.

The orangutans are the two hybrids, aren't they? I think they were supposed to be going to Orana Park from memory (correct me if I'm wrong :D).
 
Originally the Orangs were to be going to Orana, but that has been replaced with other plans I believe... and yes, they are the hybrids.

T.
 
The Snow Leopard Mountain at Taronga now gone, opened on May 18, 1990 and apparently cost $550,000 dollars. Apparently the first pair were female Shimbu and male Mangar. Dont know the names of the cubs they had or where they went/stayed.
 
Apparently there was a $4 million funding for the zoo (Taronga) to make changes 1989-1990. Didnt know this until now but my own step mum wrote an article in Oct 89 for the SMH announcing the intended arrival of Shimbu and Mangar from Bronx Zoo as a gift. Does anyone know if the Tiger exhibits that housed Shiva, Seletan, Juara, Assiqua plus all their issue, Chester, the Lions, Clouded Leopard, Binturong, Indian Porcupine etc was that area built around 1990/1991 or 1992. I know there were big cat/bear pits in that area for decades and decades and read the information shared about how the walls are still the same and so forth. Was just wondering if the setup from around the time that Chester and Seletan arrived was when that double (or triple including small enclosure) exhibit opened the way it was until last year. In short im curious to know if that was part of the $4 million renovations across the zoo.
 
steveroberts said:
The Snow Leopard Mountain at Taronga now gone, opened on May 18, 1990 and apparently cost $550,000 dollars. Apparently the first pair were female Shimbu and male Mangar. Dont know the names of the cubs they had or where they went/stayed.
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Darrill Clements talked about them in her book, 'Postcards from the Zoo.' I believe it was published 2002. The original pair were never successful in breeding unfortunately.
 
steveroberts said:
Apparently there was a $4 million funding for the zoo (Taronga) to make changes 1989-1990. Didnt know this until now but my own step mum wrote an article in Oct 89 for the SMH announcing the intended arrival of Shimbu and Mangar from Bronx Zoo as a gift. Does anyone know if the Tiger exhibits that housed Shiva, Seletan, Juara, Assiqua plus all their issue, Chester, the Lions, Clouded Leopard, Binturong, Indian Porcupine etc was that area built around 1990/1991 or 1992. I know there were big cat/bear pits in that area for decades and decades and read the information shared about how the walls are still the same and so forth. Was just wondering if the setup from around the time that Chester and Seletan arrived was when that double (or triple including small enclosure) exhibit opened the way it was until last year. In short im curious to know if that was part of the $4 million renovations across the zoo.
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There's a thread here about zoo enclosures for the cats etc. in this thread:

Taronga Zoo - What happened to the xxxx enclosure/exhibit?

From what I can tell, and from what I've read in the book 'The Keepers and the Kept', the Sumatran tiger enclosure, and particularly the dens, underwent an upgrade following the fatal mauling of a keeper in December 1988. These would most likely be the upgrades in 1989/1990 you refer to. In the 2011, Wildlife at the Zoo did an episode on tiger breeding where the dens for introducing the tigers look very dated. I'd guess they were built many years prior to the upgrade in 1989/1990.

Selatan arrived in 1992 and produced two litters of cubs with her mate, Shiva, in 1994 and 1995. Shiva and Selatan got on very well and enjoyed each other's company. They could be kept together even when Selatan was not in season. Taronga Zoo tried to breed them again for many years but were unsuccessful. After Shiva's death in 2002, Juara and Assiqua were brought in to become the new breeding pair, resulting in three cubs being born in 2003.

Here's a photo of Shiva and Selatan taken 1998:

Stock Photo - Shiva (top) gives Selatan a gentle nudge in their Sumatran tigers enclosure at Sydney's Taronga Zoo. Taronga Zoo, as part of a world effort, will join with other Australian
 
Oh cool thanks. I should have put this all in the Taronga thread sorry everyone i sorta jumped the gun because this was a big cat related thread.

Its nice to hear that Seletan and Shiva got on well :) thanks for the info on that Darrill Clements book and that doco. I've searched for the book online and found a copy available in a library so will happily go try borrow it to read.
 
In the 1980's tigers were displayed in two areas of the zoo - in one of the pits that were part of the African Waterhole, and on the other side of the zoo in the Big Cat House, which became Jungle Cats (housing Fishing and Golden Cats) until being demolished in 2009 and rebuilt into the current Tasmanian Devil enclosures. It was these enclosures that were upgraded after the mauling of the keeper, and the upgrades were all behind the scenes (from what I remember).

The pits that made up the African Waterhole were built a long time ago, possibly as long ago as the 1920's or 1930's. Their night houses were built in a similar style, as was the keeper access corridors. They received upgrades and remodelling in the very early 1980's when the African Waterhole was developed. They received further modifications when viewing was brought down to eye-level behind glass. This was completed in the early 1990s so probably part of that funding mentioned above.

:p

Hix
 
wow thanks Hix :) hey that Jungle Cat exhibit would have been extremely small for Tigers right? it wouldnt meet todays standard size criteria hey, i never would have guessed anything bigger than Clouded Leopards, Binturongs, Golden and Fishing Cats would ever have been kept in that space. Surely that paved middle viewing section was part of the Tigers space instead of public when it was their exhibit? was that area where the Tree Shrews were in the middle an access point at one stage like how they say Meta was put in another pen when the mauling happened? cant say ive seen the Tassie Devil display yet would like to return next year once the new Tiger exhibit is opened.
 
It was a complete remodelling - not just an upgrade. The Big Cat house was originally several (four or five) large, rectangular display exhibits, all side by side. A couple of them - or it might have been only one of them - were then gutted and turned into the two Jungle Cat enclosures and the public viewing space in between and the Tree Shrews/Prevosts Squirrel enclosure.

When it held tigers it was large enough. But not an attractive exhibit.

:p

Hix
 
oh so were the Servals there in the very early 90? i first visited Taronga in 95 and remember the Golden Cat and Fishing Cat (seeing them both was originally how i became aware of the two species) :)

wow Prevosts Squirrels are so cool I cant recall seeing any which is dissapointing
 
The squirrels weren't there for very long.

And the servals were in another part of the zoo. If they were ever in the Jungle Cats enclosures, I don't remember them being there.

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
It was a complete remodelling - not just an upgrade. The Big Cat house was originally several (four or five) large,
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Hahaha I thought you wrote serval not several sorry im a bit scatter brained at times :)

I'm guessing the Tigers exhibit during the 90s/00s/until last year was probably completed with that upgrade era you mentioned by 1992 when Shiva and Seletan were there and when Chester was arriving hey. This probably means the Jungle Cat exhibit was renovated around this 92-93 time period also. I'm guessing the Golden Cat/s probably came from Melbourne zoo as they seem to have had a successful breeding program with them since 68 as mentioned on this site. I remember in 97 when the two Binturongs Mr & Mrs B were housed in the Golden Cats enclosure temporarily while there was a Red Panda in their roundabout exhibit. I seem to remember the Golden Cat was housed between the Fennecs and Dholes during that stage. If the info I saw it right then the original Sumatrans Nico and Meta came to Sydney in 1979 from Rotterdam on the same voyage as Ali the Jaguar from same zoo and (Nico and Meta) both died in 1990??
 
steveroberts said:
Hahaha I thought you wrote serval not several sorry im a bit scatter brained at times :)

I'm guessing the Tigers exhibit during the 90s/00s/until last year was probably completed with that upgrade era you mentioned by 1992 when Shiva and Seletan were there and when Chester was arriving hey. This probably means the Jungle Cat exhibit was renovated around this 92-93 time period also. I'm guessing the Golden Cat/s probably came from Melbourne zoo as they seem to have had a successful breeding program with them since 68 as mentioned on this site. I remember in 97 when the two Binturongs Mr & Mrs B were housed in the Golden Cats enclosure temporarily while there was a Red Panda in their roundabout exhibit. I seem to remember the Golden Cat was housed between the Fennecs and Dholes during that stage. If the info I saw it right then the original Sumatrans Nico and Meta came to Sydney in 1979 from Rotterdam on the same voyage as Ali the Jaguar from same zoo and (Nico and Meta) both died in 1990??
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Taronga Zoo's first Golden Cats arrived in December 1992 from Melbourne Zoo. They were called Hari and Nugi and were both born to the same parents in 1990 but in separate litters. After Hari's export to Auckland Zoo in 2000, a female named Mao was imported from Melbourne Zoo. She was born 1997 to the sister of Hari and Nugi. There were unsuccessful attempts to breed Nugi and Mao. After Nugi's death, a new male was imported but breeding was also unsuccessful with this pair.

Nico (born 1976) and Meta (born 1975) did indeed arrive in 1979. Their first litter was born in 1980; their last litter was born in 1988. Nico and Meta both died in 1992.

I'm glad you found a copy of Postcards from the Zoo. It's a fantastic book, but has a few errors regarding the primates. There's some good info on the big cats though which I enjoyed reading. There's info on Ali in the book, but from memory he sired two cubs in 1984 and 1987. The cub born in 1987 was a female named Maya and died 2008/2009 at Melbourne Zoo.
 
steveroberts said:
Oh cool thanks. I should have put this all in the Taronga thread sorry everyone i sorta jumped the gun because this was a big cat related thread.

Its nice to hear that Seletan and Shiva got on well :) thanks for the info on that Darrill Clements book and that doco. I've searched for the book online and found a copy available in a library so will happily go try borrow it to read.
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Shiva and Selatan were quite an extraordinary pair. Shiva was very laid back and relaxed, especially for a male tiger and got on very well with Selatan. Selatan was an especially beautiful tigeress and the pair were highly popular with visitors, not least when their cubs were born. Selatan has appeared in books and is the inspiration for the buisness 'Selatan.'

At the time of her death in June 2012, Selatan then aged 21 years and 7 months, was the oldest Sumatran tiger in the region and set a record for longevity only surpassed this year by her daughter, Kemiri, who turned 22 years old this month.

Selatan had many fans who had followed her from her early years at Taronga, through to motherhood and then retirement at the Western Plains Zoo but she got on particularly well with her son, Juara, who eventually joined her following his breeding days at Taronga. Selatan would often greet him affectionately at the mesh, even if it meant getting out of her den on a cold winter morning. Maybe he reminded her of Shiva, with whom she enjoyed so many years at Taronga.
 
Aw thats so beautiful and heartwarming :) its stories like that that show how amazing animal bonds are/can be. Hope their affectionate natures get past down the line to their descendants. Can understand why they must have been so popular, not just the fact that Tigers are automatically beautiful
 
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