Sydney Aquarium Dugongs at Sydney Aquarium?

december 19

the new exhibit it due to open on december 19, i can confirm that the seals will no longer be at sydney aquarium, they have been rehomed at sea world. :D:D:D the inhabitants of the new exhibit are still pretty hush hush for now
 
not that hush, or maybe they are. a google search of dugongs/sydney aquarium brings up a tantalising hint...but the link has been removed............i think that the seals going to seaworld was a swap for something better
 
hush

yeh i saw a few links were put up. i actually work for the company n we are all sworn to secrecy about the new exhibit but also very excited! :D:D:D
 
i reckon it will be exciting to see dugong in sydney.
though, the whole transfer makes me glad village roadshow didnt get its hands on weribee zoo.
i love dugongs, and i cant wait to see them. but one would think that if your company held the only two dugong in australia in a marine-park almost within the species' rnage state and was genuinely commited to conservation than a display there might have more of an impact.
anyway, dugongs are fascinating so it'd be good to see them
 
I was at sea world on friday and was hoping that they would still be in queensland but it looks like they have already left.
 
No dugong in Sydney from what I can see. Glyn what impact are you wanting? Do you know whether conservation work will not be carried out and what educational aspects this exhibit may have? What of research?

The aquarium has traditionally been used as an off-loading seal site. Animals that were old, unwanted or could not be trained by staff in other institutions often ended up there.

In response to leopard seals, a look back at records suggests this species does not do well in captivity. I find it hard to believe Taronga would not be interested in the flip flop of baby leopard seal flippers.
 
taronga zoo is really interested in the flip-flop of leopard seal flippers, for now anyway. a taronga zoo employee who is a member on this site has made this point abundantly clear elsewhere in the thread.
educational impact of dugong display. ok, well considering that the major threats to dugongs directly are boat injuries and sea-grass die-off; both of which are direct human impacts i feel if seaworld was interested in the conservation-education of this species and having maximum impact than they would be better off keeping them in their range state.
of course they are not. sea-world is owned by village roadshow, and with a premier seal facility over the harbour VR probably saw an opportunity to gain a unique new attraction at its sydney investment.
 
Taronga has always been interested in breeding leopard seals. Certainly nothing new there. Zoo Worker wrote : "at taronga we keep the pair of leopard seals without any plans for breeding them." I don't see an abundantly clear message that Taronga plans on breeding, however what keepers want and what management/marketing want are often two separate things. Given their generally poor prospects in captivity (you could perhaps exclude Napier and Coffs Harbour), one hopes they don't breed.

The major threats to dugongs are hunting, entanglement and impacts on their food supplies. Boating has some impacts but nothing like what happens with manatees.

Whether GSO is a "premier seal facility" is a matter of opinion (and often poorly-hidden bias). The fact that leopard seals are kept at this so-called premier facility and not in their range state says...??? Leopard seals are vagrants to NSW, as are dugongs. With global warming upon us, dugongs may no doubt extend their natural range further south.

Sea World has been directly involved in in-situ and ex-situ research on dugongs. One assumes this will continue with the animals at Sydney Aquarium. The fact VR owns both institutions should have no impact on the continuation of this research, or the educational content of its display.

If the conservation and education value of an exhibited animal were reliant on it being within its range state, zoos would be somewhat less interesting than they are today. In fact having a species outside of its natural range obviously has greater educational benefits by influencing those who not familiar with the animals and making them more aware of threats and conservation.
 
glyn said:
taronga zoo is really interested in the flip-flop of leopard seal flippers, for now anyway. a taronga zoo employee who is a member on this site has made this point abundantly clear elsewhere in the thread.
Click to expand...

Actually, what has been made abundantly clear elsewhere in this thread by a Taronga Zoo employee is that Taronga is NOT interested in the flip flop of little leopard seal flippers.

:)

Hix
 
Hix said:
Actually, what has been made abundantly clear elsewhere in this thread by a Taronga Zoo employee is that Taronga is NOT interested in the flip flop of little leopard seal flippers.

:)

Hix
Click to expand...

Correct - Taronga has no interest at all in breeding leopard seals - what on earth would be the point?
 
i think i made a typing error guys. should have read not interested. sorry for the confusion.
i would love to see dugongs in every aquarium in australia; they are fascinating and beautiful creatures, i just feel that if you had the only two of them in the country that dispalying them in QLD would be optimal.
 
I thought this thread was about dugongs but seems it is more about leopard seal? Would be nice to see some more facts about these dugongs and get away from personel opinions that everyone seems to be giving regarding leopard seals, taronga and the aquarium. Forget about breeding leopard seals, should you question whether they should even be kept in captivty at all unless they are properly managed. I was at Taronga six months ago and was told they do not do well in captivity and Taronga has very poor success keeping them due to the temperatures. Was also told that their new enclosure did not have chilling. Hard to call the new area a premier exhibit keeping a species that has specific needs that are not met, and friends I was with were dissapointed that each pool seemed so sterile with no life in the water except the odd seal. Would be nice if taronga kept fish in with the seals and penguins and had more rock work and movement in the water like some of the exhibits overseas.

As for what on earth would be the point in breeding leopard seals, well there are many many points, i guess just as many as keeping leopard seals or keeping a male and female....why not keep a pair of females if there is never a desire to breed.

Just my opinion but that seems to be what others are doing here rather than sticking to the facts. Everyone will have a different view and thats mine.

So back to the facts......

I dont know if it would be good seeing dugongs in sydney as from my understanding they are not that easy to keep. I know manatees require heating and if the aquarium cant heat what seems to be a big exhibit then the management of dugongs in sydney is not much better than leopard seals at taronga. Both species are well outside their natural temperature range, seem to be difficult to keep in captivity so it will be a shame if the aquarium gets the animals and does not provide what they need.
 
juma said:
I thought this thread was about dugongs but seems it is more about leopard seal? Would be nice to see some more facts about these dugongs and get away from personel opinions that everyone seems to be giving regarding leopard seals, taronga and the aquarium. Forget about breeding leopard seals, should you question whether they should even be kept in captivty at all unless they are properly managed. I was at Taronga six months ago and was told they do not do well in captivity and Taronga has very poor success keeping them due to the temperatures. Was also told that their new enclosure did not have chilling. Hard to call the new area a premier exhibit keeping a species that has specific needs that are not met, and friends I was with were dissapointed that each pool seemed so sterile with no life in the water except the odd seal. Would be nice if taronga kept fish in with the seals and penguins and had more rock work and movement in the water like some of the exhibits overseas.

As for what on earth would be the point in breeding leopard seals, well there are many many points, i guess just as many as keeping leopard seals or keeping a male and female....why not keep a pair of females if there is never a desire to breed.
Click to expand...

Just for the record Taronga's leopard seals are both rescue cases that cannot be returned to the wild due to laws forbidding it hence they cant just keep a pair of females or a pair of males as no one has any say on what gender seal is going to wash up on a beach somewhere.
 
Taronga has previously released leopard seals to the wild (albeit off Sydney). They even released a southern elephant seal. It is interesting that perfectly healthy Sub-antarctic fur seals have been euthanased whilst marginal leopard seals have been chosen and kept.

The leopard seal exhibit at GSO was originally to be chilled. This didn't happen. It would appear that the dugong exhibit at Sydney Aquarium will be heated... (You can indeed find almost anything on the internet!)

http://www.shfa.nsw.gov.au/content/library/documents/BC4F8210-F264-C6A6-44DFCD21378BACE4.pdf

Not sure about the shadecloth roof, but at least they have a Sydney summer to see how it works.

Let's hope they manage something better than fake star fish on mock rock :D
 
torie said:
Just for the record Taronga's leopard seals are both rescue cases that cannot be returned to the wild due to laws forbidding it hence they cant just keep a pair of females or a pair of males as no one has any say on what gender seal is going to wash up on a beach somewhere.
Click to expand...


Your right, no one can tell whether males or females wash up on a beach but there is the choice whether to take the animals in knowing they wont be released, can always check when they are assessed and take the sex they want. So if a male washed up on a beach tomorrow would taronga take it? I guess not as two males and one female would not be a good mix. So at some point Leopard seals on a beach would taken or rejected based on what management at Taronga wants and not what is the best for the animal....that is reality.

I wonder if seaworld will now consider helping with stranded dugongs now that they wont be having them anymore and it seems they have not been successful in releasing them. Again reality says why help a stranded dugong knowing that they cant be released and would only take up space and time for something that wont have any benefit to a commercial operation. Maybe Sydney aquarium will now help with stranded dugongs?

I found some youtube video on seaworld dugongs and the tank looks pretty small, at least with heating and space they might be managed better in sydney. Any idea when they are coming?
 
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