Sydney Zoo $36 million zoo with roaming African animals planned for Blacktown

MRJ said:
Keep in mind this is a commercial operation. They are probably just happy to have animals in exhibits. Breeding animals is expensive and takes space, so is probably not a priority, at least initially.
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True, though as a commercial operation they are no doubt aware there is no better publicity than a baby animal. Taronga always experiences a huge surge in visitation following the birth of tiger cubs, elephant calves etc. Even the offspring of less high profile animals encourage visitors to pause longer at their exhibit and therefore spend more time at the zoo. Not to mention the merchandise sales.

Initially this won’t be an issue. This is a new zoo, opening with a decent species list and people will arrive in the droves; but two or certainly three years down the line, they will need something to draw the crowds and sustain the interest. All of the non breeding species they are acquiring have a life expectancy of at least a decade (some many more), so this is no short term scenario we’re talking about.
 
how would this new zoo compete with the ones that are already in Sydney? what makes it different from Taronga?
 
There is a "preview video" of Primate Boulevard on the Sydney Zoo Facebook page (hopefully the link I'll put below will go straight to the video, otherwise just have a look at their page to find it).

It is an aerial view showing the Chimp, Gorilla, and Orangutan enclosures (with pop-out bubbles to show which are the Chimp and Orang ones). They are literally just flat lawns with climbing frames and a couple of palm trees each, surrounded by water moats.

Right as the video starts, on the right of the screen you can see three enclosures which on the map have illustrations for monkey, baboon, and meerkat (pause the video as soon as it starts to get a good look at them). The meerkat one is the sand pile at the rear, with a rectangular pond in the background.

As the camera pans left, in the far back (beyond the ape lawns) can be seen the flat-lawn capybara enclosure (previously intended for water buffalo and, before that, hippo); and what will be the tiger enclosure (mostly hidden by the ape housing, and in the photo still dirt rather than lawn).


https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=392739674728122
 
Sydney Zoo has released another construction update mentioning that their first native animals have arrived (no specific species mentioned). Also, the nocturnal/reptile house is complete and the aquarium's tanks have been filled.
The video also shows a few of the other animal enclosures for the smaller species.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=467621277445666
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
Sydney Zoo has released another construction update mentioning that their first native animals have arrived (no specific species mentioned). Also, the nocturnal/reptile house is complete and the aquarium's tanks have been filled.
The video also shows a few of the other animal enclosures for the smaller species.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=467621277445666
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The reptile and aquarium tanks look nice in the video, but the zoo overall is pretty uninspiring. It is like a plan a kid would draw for a zoo, with the enclosures just backed against one another, separated by a wall or a visitor path. It's a series of squares and rectangles basically, with the intention (I'm supposing) being for the visitor to only look at what is in an enclosure and ignore anything to the left or right.
 
Chlidonias said:
The reptile and aquarium tanks look nice in the video, but the zoo overall is pretty uninspiring. It is like a plan a kid would draw for a zoo, with the enclosures just backed against one another, separated by a wall or a visitor path. It's a series of squares and rectangles basically, with the intention (I'm supposing) being for the visitor to only look at what is in an enclosure and ignore anything to the left or right.
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This is exactly what I was thinking. It looks very uninspiring with unimaginative and dull enclosures all lined up cramming multiple large species into a not especially huge site without any natural features or apparent variation of terrain like a playmobil zoo diorama or a children’s design. Hopefully I’ll see it for myself once it opens but I’m not especially excited by anything I have seen so far.
 
I’m starting to think this zoo was oversold to us:

“Sydney Zoo will be a world-class facility that redefines the visitor experience. With safari-like landscapes and cutting-edge technology for animal welfare, Sydney Zoo is set to become Australia’s most modern and progressive zoo.”

I agree with the comments regarding the basic layouts of the exhibits; they look like something somebody built during a half ars-d session on Zoo Tycoon.
 
Sydney Zoo has announced the arrival of five Geoffrey’s Spider Monkeys. The article also mentions that one of the thirteen baboons is pregnant. Also, their primate collection will include capuchins (a new import of the species would be ideal, however they will probably source them from within the region).
Also, Sydney Zoo originally imported 12 chimpanzees in April 2019, however one of the females, ‘Melli’ died after arrival from an undiagnosed heart condition.
https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www...round-ng-264ddd71131956c33b4b7d1ec67cb484.amp
 
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Chlidonias said:
I thought they were supposed to be thirteen males?
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I can’t find any sources that mention that the baboon group are all males.
When I contacted the zoo to ask, they said that additional information would be announced about the baboon group in the coming weeks, however it never was.
(Edit: I just saw your edited message).
 
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It's disappointing that another urban zoo in Australia will be housing elephants. With Melbourne and Perth both announcing that elephants will not maintained in their collection for much longer it was just Taronga that had to be convinced to move into the 21st century.
Now this. And it's private. :(
 
@toothlessjaws: I can't see why it is disappointing to keep elephants in a urban zoo PER SE. As long as there is enough room (don't know if this will be the case at Sydney Zoo though) and other needs are given, it doesn't make it worse in comparison with a "countryside" zoo.
And looking at the ecological/environmental points it could be probably even better. The ways for employees and suppliers/distributors are mostly shorter, the urban zoo is mostly better connected with public transport (while most people traveling by car to a zoo out in the bush. I don't know how the situation is now at Dubbo, but about 15 years ago, there was no train station near the park entrance).
 
zoomaniac said:
I don't know how the situation is now at Dubbo, but about 15 years ago, there was no train station near the park entrance
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Dubbo is a regional town with a population of less than 40,000 people. It doesn't have a local train service for the town - the town is not geographically big enough for one!

The train station in town is on the inter-city line that runs between Sydney and Broken Hill (and then on to Adelaide and Perth). The train trip from Sydney to Dubbo takes 6.5 hours.

There is a bus service that runs around the town, including to the zoo.

The point being that a visit to Dubbo Zoo from Sydney is not a day trip - it is in no way comparable to a visit to a zoo in the Sydney metropolitan area.

According to Wikipedia, Sydney Zoo has 41 acres (16.5 ha) of land. Taronga Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo has 741 acres (300 ha) of land - over 18 times as much space.

Sydney Zoo is surrounded by industrial areas and motorways (with a small parklands buffer around it). Tagona Western Plains Zoo is in a rural area on the edge of the town of Dubbo in central NSW.

I think the point that was trying to be made was that a small urban zoo is never going to be as good as a large open range zoo for a large species such as an elephant.
 
zoomaniac said:
@toothlessjaws: I can't see why it is disappointing to keep elephants in a urban zoo PER SE. As long as there is enough room (don't know if this will be the case at Sydney Zoo though) and other needs are given, it doesn't make it worse in comparison with a "countryside" zoo.
And looking at the ecological/environmental points it could be probably even better. The ways for employees and suppliers/distributors are mostly shorter, the urban zoo is mostly better connected with public transport (while most people traveling by car to a zoo out in the bush. I don't know how the situation is now at Dubbo, but about 15 years ago, there was no train station near the park entrance).
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Speaking to a person who was in a position to know, Taronga received a constant stream of complaints about their elephants while Dubbo received none. There is a term "social licence" which is perhaps apt in this situation. The "social licence" for elephants in urban zoos appears to be running out, at least in Australia.
 
Simon Hampel said:
According to Wikipedia, Sydney Zoo has 41 acres (16.5 ha) of land. Taronga Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo has 741 acres (300 ha) of land - over 18 times as much space.

Sydney Zoo is surrounded by industrial areas and motorways (with a small parklands buffer around it). Tagona Western Plains Zoo is in a rural area on the edge of the town of Dubbo in central NSW.

I think the point that was trying to be made was that a small urban zoo is never going to be as good as a large open range zoo for a large species such as an elephant.
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The unfortunate thing is that it didn't *need* to be such a constrained site. The Western Sydney Parklands are, in total, more than 15 times the size of Central Park. I wonder if they couldn't have secured a slightly more spacious location.
 
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