Perth Zoo Perth Zoo Masterplan

J

Jabiru96

Well-Known Member
 
The masterplan (and annual report) are readily available on the zoo's website, and I've looked at both before. Much like most masterplans there is a sense of ambition, and Perth Zoo has included everything from a new nocturnal house to gorillas to an open-range facility in their 20/20 vision. I'd be intrigued to know what the chances are that most of the plan will actually be implemented, as it has already been the better part of a decade since it was published. One thing that I find interesting is that there is a constant reference within the masterplan, and on the zoo's website, to the fact that it is a "small zoo", and since Adelaide advertises itself in the same format does that mean that the world's 6th largest nation only has 2 major, urban zoos? Taronga and Melbourne are the biggest zoos down under, but Adelaide and Perth take a few hours to see and there are of course some open-range establishments and innumerable smaller captive wildlife facilities.
 
Australia might be the world's sixth largest nation but in terms of population, which is what counts when it comes to being able to sustain large zoos, it is 52nd. And Western Australia has a population of less than 3 million.

Melbourne and Sydney are a lot bigger than Perth and Adelaide and have larger conurbations/surrounding cities too so it makes sense that they will have bigger zoos.

Adelaide and Perth still do pretty well for smaller zoos, with excellent landscaping and major exhibits such as the giant pandas at Adelaide, for example.

It always interests me that Brisbane, the third largest city in Australia, lacks a government owned large scale zoo like those found in the other major state capital cities.
 
Personally, I would say there are 4 major zoos in Australia. Adelaide is the smallest, and Perth is just coming in second (in land area), but both collections are quite large and are definitely up there in collection size with Melbourne and Sydney. Adelaide currently has around 2400 animals from nearly 300 species (from 2010/11 annual report). Perth has around 1250 animals from around 160 species. Sydney has around 2600 animals from 340 species. Melbourne has around 320 species of animal.

Sure Perth's collection is a bi smaller than the others, but Adelaide nearly has the same amount of animals on just 8 hectares. So I definitely would say there are 4 major zoos in Australia.
 
I would also add that a small zoo can still be a major zoo. It's not just about what you've got, it's also about what you do with it.
 
Shirokuma said:
I would also add that a small zoo can still be a major zoo. It's not just about what you've got, it's also about what you do with it.
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"That's what she said." :p

Shirokuma's earlier post about Australia being a medium-sized country, not the world's sixth largest, is important. It's not about land, folks, it's about population. Australia has 23m and two-thirds of us are crammed into only five conurbations. Within 50 kilometres of those population centres we have four excellent urban zoos, two solid open-range zoos, two excellent native wildlife parks, a world-class aquarium in Sydney and a world class marine mammal/aquarium/theme park hybrid on the Gold Coast. So I think we stack up pretty well against any group of five American cities with comparable populations that you chose to throw together (unless you include San Diego, but that's almost cheating).

Brisbane lags behind because of historical political factors (unlike the other capitals, it has never dominated its state's population, and for many decades political power was in the hands of an only quasi-democratically elected rural-based party that cared little about the capital). That led to its urban institutions being less well-established than other cities. I've been to Brisbane and it's not just a major public zoo that is lacking - there are fewer major cultural institutions all up.
 
Hey the two islands in the main lake (according to rough estimates i tried with a satellite map) seem to be roughly 20m by 10m in size (per island). Is this an outdated space size for Gibbons, Monkeys and or Lemurs in this day and age?
 
So I did some rough calculations of the 2018 Master Plan layout sketches and starting with the plans for expanding the Sumatran Tigers habitat.

The main exhibit will be expanded it seems by creating a visitors path that is lower but the same length as the current one; allowing for expanding their main exhibit by demolishing the current two viewing bays that have stood since 1984. All in all it appears that the new exhibit should allow for a space of about approx 2,475 sq m (approx 75m long and 33m wide). Will be great obviously if my very rough calculations come up too short and the completed exhibits are hopefully even bigger.

Also the additional roughly 1,770-1,800 sq m for the Tigers to access with the abouve mesh tunnels split into three areas one overlapping the area of the current 'Bukit Station' building to the left of the current Tiger exhibits, and two over the uphill path to the east near the Sun Bears, Red Pandas and Gibbon aviaries. These additional accessible areas appear to be planned in size to be at least 965 sq m, 482 sq m and 322 sq m. So overall the Sumatran Tigers will have a future exhibit space of approximately 4,226 sq m (maybe hopefully more) which is similar in size to the two Tiger exhibits at Western Plain combined and similar size to the current White Lion exhibits at Mogo.
 
The plans for the Savannah look good with the rotating species access to certain exhibits and the expanded size taking in the space currently used by the Tricia, Permai and Putra Mas the Asian Elephants (though I'll be very sorry to see them depart in the future, have a lot of love for the three of them). It will be good for the Savannah animals to have an expanded area of use in the future, i am dissapointed that Cheetah's dont seem to be making a comeback but obviously required space would be an issue.

Glad some species for example Sun Bears, Hunting Dogs and Spotted Hyena seem to be guarenteed a future at PZ and it makes sense to turn the Orangs, Lesser Primates, 'Amazonia' and current Nocturnal House (the latter now over 43 years old) into a 'Primates Precinct' but I would rather see the re-introduction of the Australian Farm/Harmony Farm be scrapped and the Homestead demolished to make more room for the Asian Rainforest precinct. Plus the 'Future Commercial Area' spot that is in the area formerly made up the western and central part of the 'World of Birds' area I would rather see that be used as a future area for animal exhibits too instead.
 
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steveroberts said:
Oh yeah of course, sorry here's the link: https://perthzoo.wa.gov.au/perthzoowebsite/media/perthzoo/7111-Master-Plan-2018_V19_web.pdf

There's also this one too i just came across: https://perthzoo.wa.gov.au/PerthZooWebsite/media/PerthZoo/All PDFs/Perth-Zoo-Strategic-Plan.pdf
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I’m especially excited about plans for overhead cables for the orangutans. This is currently being implemented at Auckland Zoo and will be great for the orangutans. Sumatran orangutan are supposed to be even more aboreal than the Bornean species, so they will surely find it highly enriching.

Bornean Orangutan/Siamang Climbing Towers

Bornean Orangutan/Siamang Climbing Towers

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steveroberts said:
Yeah thats awesome, I didnt know that Sumatran Orangutans were more arboreal than Bornean.
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Yeah, it’s believed to have evolved in response to the presence of ground dwelling predators (tigers) on the island of Sumatra. Females of both species are more aboreal than the males, due to being lighter; so it was a highlight to see Charlie (Auckland’s Bornean male) making use of the ropes on my last visit - something he never did in the old exhibit.

Bornean Orangutan Exhibit

Bornean Orangutan Exhibit

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Pertinax said:
Sumatran males also deemed more tolerant/family orientated to females with young for the same reason (presence of tigers). One reason they are often regarded as being safer with newborn infants than Borneans.
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If that's the case, Auckland Zoo were really playing with fire by rotating two adult males between the female and infants group they had back in the day. There was never any issue, so it must be a case of the personalities and individuals involved.

Sumatran orangutan are supposed to be more social, though I have seen little evidence of this - especially at Perth Zoo.

The adult female Borneans at Auckland generally disliked each other; though there were some friendships between the younger animals - Dara (1977) and Indra (1980) arrived together as juveniles in 1983 and had a close relationship up until Dara's death in 2000; while Melur (1988) and Gangsa (1989) initially got on well with each other, and Isim (1994), when they arrived as adolescents in 2001.
 
Zoofan15 said:
If that's the case, Auckland Zoo were really playing with fire by rotating two adult males between the female and infants group they had back in the day. There was never any issue, so it must be a case of the personalities and individuals involved.

Sumatran orangutan are supposed to be more social, though I have seen little evidence of this - especially at Perth Zoo.

The adult female Borneans at Auckland generally disliked each other; though there were some friendships between the younger animals - Dara (1977) and Indra (1980) arrived together as juveniles in 1983 and had a close relationship up until Dara's death in 2000; while Melur (1988) and Gangsa (1989) initially got on well with each other, and Isim (1994), when they arrived as adolescents in 2001.
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I think the danger is with Bornean males and newborns, most zoos don't risk keeping an adult male nowadays with a female and newborn, though in the UK there have been two incidents even in recent years, where infants have died as a result of rough treatment by a male( the father). What happens often is the male tries to forcibly mate the female soon after birth and in the ensuing scuffle, the young gets injured, sometimes fatally. He does not usually deliberately attack the baby. That's not to say Sumatran males have not done the same( they have) but incidents are rarer I think and on the whole they seem more receptive to living with a partner and offspring more harmoniously.

As to Perth, they seem to keep all their Orangutans almost singly, from what I remember. Whether that is just a husbandry thing I don't know, Zoos like Chester and some in Europe keep their Sumatrans almost in a family group situation.
 
Pertinax said:
As to Perth, they seem to keep all their Orangutans almost singly, from what I remember.
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Yes, the adult orangutans at Perth all live singly. Only the mothers and their offspring (Sekara and Sungai; and Pulang and Lestari) share. The females are apparently territorial of their pods; though Hsing Hsing and Utama had a close bond up until his death and would happily share an exhibit.
 
@Zoofan15 Oh that makes a lot of sense about Sumatran Orangutans living on an island with Tigers unlike Borneo (and i guess Sunda Clouded Leopards in Borneo would be not be a threat to Bornean Orangs).

From the interesting points above I guess the best approach to Orangutan housing is solitary older males, younger male bachelor groups and related female small family groups (perhaps two adult females and their young) and allowing the 7-8 year gap to pass before the female Orangutan (who has had its last baby become independent) the interaction with the adult male(s) again {i'm sure this is what happens already for a long time in places like PZ, just ruminating).

P.Z has done well with for its Orang-utans upgrades over the last 20 years. So if a network of access ropes and tunnels is created between the 5(?) current exhibits this will be great for the Orangs. The Lesser Primates exhibit enclosures have been in there for 35 years now so it will be exciting to see the other primate species get future revamps which considering the new space will take over the current Nocturnal House site and 'Amazonia' circuit, the obvious size expansion will be great. Would love PZ to consider returning to housing and keeping group/troop of Sulawesi Crested Macaques.
 
I believe Perths orang numbers are well down on what they had in the past also appears to be breeding far fewer off spring than they did in the past.
Its a shame Australia zoo after showing so much interest in Orangs never added them to the collection, the idea just seemed to have gone now!
 
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