Visit to Darling Downs Zoo– 27/12/2020:
It had been approaching six months since I last visited Darling Downs Zoo so I decided to visit today. I always seem to coincide my visits after a good amount of rainfall so the zoo was looking great. Some observations from my trip today (brace yourselves there is quite a bit of news):
*the zoo recently received a male Sumatran Tiger - Auckland-born
Jalur - from Tasmania Zoo. He was in with their resident female
Rani all day and they seemed to be interacting positively. The tigers are currently in the enclosure that the maned wolves lived in for a while (future leopard exhibit). I only caught a brief glimpse of the tigers during the keeper talk. On the topic of felids, the new lion (
Mal) is gradually being introduced to two tawny females. They currently have visual contact but are still separated. One of the other tawny females is also now living in the enclosure next door with their original white lion (
Shaka). Up the hill, their pair of Cheetah were sharing the one enclosure.
*two young Dingoes are now on display in the former tiger enclosure. They made for a very active exhibit with all their antics and play fighting. They almost looked like dholes for a split second to me with their reddish colouration and the lush backdrop of their enclosure.
*a new set of enclosures has been constructed near the guanaco/llama enclosure and behind the cheetah complex, up the hill. The map indicates that it’s the new home for the maned wolves.
*Capybara is back at the zoo! I saw a lone individual in with the mara and tapir sitting in a shady spot. Nearby, the Radiated Tortoises are now on-display which is truly excellent news. They live in a new fenced enclosure constructed next to the tapirs. It’s nice and shady with a good coverage of trees. I counted seven Radiated Tortoises and three Aldabra Giant Tortoises sharing the space.
*a Common Ringtail Possum is on display in the bustard/frogmouth/kookaburra aviary near the entrance. A Lace Monitor is now where a Perentie once lived. Also, there was also no sign of any squirrel monkeys today and their signage didn’t seem to be up.
*birds, birds and more birds today. There has been a bit of reshuffling with some of the species – Bush Budgerigars and Cockatiels are now in the aviary near the dingoes, Ruddy Shelduck moved into the main waterbird aviary and Noisy Pitta are now in at least three aviaries which is fantastic. Two new species are also now in the Australian bird aviary near the entrance - Australasian Figbird and a species I heard a visitor call “tree penguins.” I had to think about that one.
They turned out to be a pair of White-breasted Woodswallows. The avian highlight of the day however was watching a male Regent Bowerbird in full colour using the birdbath -a wonderful spectacle to watch.
*the recent zebra foal and giraffe calf were out and about with their respective groups; they were clearly very much crowd favourites with the general public. I have seen quite a few giraffe calves in my time but there is something special about seeing a privately-owned zoo experience their first ever breeding success with giraffe. I also counted twelve addax in with the giraffe and noted a very young calf.
*finally, the juvenile Komodo Dragon was in full view in the small reptile house where the Green Iguanas formerly lived. It was nice to see such a relatively small Komodo and it will be great to see him grow into the huge animal he will become. The last Yellow Anaconda is still hanging on and was very active as usual.
I will be writing a full species list for Darling Downs Zoo in the coming day or so. More photos of the new arrivals and exhibits can be seen here:
Darling Downs Zoo - ZooChat
