A video about these Giant Burrowing Frogs at Melbourne Zoo.
Source: Zoos Victoria's Facebook page
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Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo News 2021
- Thread starter WhistlingKite24
- Start date
Source: Zoos Victoria's Facebook page
A fascinating radio program about the more unusual animal noises at Melbourne Zoo interviewing several keepers across different departments. A small nugget of information at 03:42 confirmed that the Australasian region is indeed down to only three Collared Peccaries now. The keeper mentions they all around 8-10 years old so they should be around for a few more years. It will be sad day when inevitably the last of this trio passes.
In the butterfly house, Melbourne Zoo are currently breeding Blue Tigers (Tiramula hamata) and Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) off-display as they more sensitive to disease/the cold compared to other species. They also have several Cairns Birdwing (Ornithoptera euphorion) caterpillars currently which are almost ready to pupate.
Full radio program: A tiger, a tortoise and sounds of the zoo
In the butterfly house, Melbourne Zoo are currently breeding Blue Tigers (Tiramula hamata) and Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) off-display as they more sensitive to disease/the cold compared to other species. They also have several Cairns Birdwing (Ornithoptera euphorion) caterpillars currently which are almost ready to pupate.
Full radio program: A tiger, a tortoise and sounds of the zoo
Binjai, the zoo’s elderly female Sumatran Tiger has been euthanised: Log into Facebook | Facebook
Zoos Victoria (which runs Melbourne Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary and Werribee Zoo) have a new board. Quite a few new members. Their backgrounds are:
New Board For Zoos Victoria | Mirage News
- Two local government CEO's.
- A State government politician.
- A industrial relations lawyer/practitioner.
- An academic in the field of cultural diversity and education.
- An accountant and business man who is chairman of a number of sporting organizations.
- A former Vet who currently works with NFP primarily in the indigenous area.
- A vet and academic with an impressive CV.
New Board For Zoos Victoria | Mirage News
So there’s *one*. https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/819795-anna-meredith
Better than nothing, but I suspect not nearly enough to arrest Zoos Victoria’s contempt for the institutions it runs.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there has been another Hamadryas Baboon birth at Melbourne Zoo even though Quilton was supposed to be the last infant for several years with all females being on contraceptive according to the Mega Zoo series. It seems like a recent birth due to he/her's strong attachment to his/her's mum, the mother's protectiveness of the baby and the black fur, pink skin. I visited yesterday, and here are some pics:
Attachments
Yes, you are correct. I checked with the zoo and an additional Hamadryas Baboon was born in early 2021: "a baby baboon was born earlier this year."
I guess they left the contraception on the baboons a bit too late.
They will probably make an announcement in the coming weeks. 
Melbourne Zoo's Reticulated Pythons and Blood Pythons have finally moved into their new exhibit. They now share their enclosure with fish [the video shows Silver Shark, Balantiocheilos melanopterus, Kissing Gourami, Helostoma temminckii and Pearl Gourami, Trichopodus leerii ] and butterflies [video shows Orange Lacewing, Cethosia penthesilea] . Love the sound of this new enclosure; something a bit different!
"Melbourne Zoo's longest residents have moved into a brand new home with some very small housemates! Two Reticulated Pythons, which are almost five metres long and growing, have moved into a climate-controlled habitat featuring a 15,000 litre water body and tree branches for exploring! The pythons will be sharing their space with a variety of small fish and butterflies, to mimic the environment they would encounter in the wild. Yay for multi-species habitats!"
Facebook link: Log into Facebook | Facebook
Additional article from the zoo's website: Melbourne Zoo Housewarming for Two Reptilian Giants
"Melbourne Zoo's longest residents have moved into a brand new home with some very small housemates! Two Reticulated Pythons, which are almost five metres long and growing, have moved into a climate-controlled habitat featuring a 15,000 litre water body and tree branches for exploring! The pythons will be sharing their space with a variety of small fish and butterflies, to mimic the environment they would encounter in the wild. Yay for multi-species habitats!"
Facebook link: Log into Facebook | Facebook
Additional article from the zoo's website: Melbourne Zoo Housewarming for Two Reptilian Giants
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This sounds really nice. A well thought out mix of species. Where in the zoo is it? I'm guessing not in the reptile house.
I believe it’s along the Carnivores Trail in the former female Philippine Crocodile enclosure.
The Giant borrowing frog-tadpoles are doing fine :
Tadpoles growing in captivity provide hope for Victoria’s threatened giant burrowing frog
:Tadpoles growing in captivity provide hope for Victoria’s threatened giant burrowing frog
Transferring some of the key information from Melbourne Zoo’s inventory report [Melbourne Zoo Inventory Report 2020-2021 [Melbourne Zoo]] into the news thread especially due to the limited amount of news recently reported as a result of lockdowns etc., here are some notable births/hatchings and transfers involving Melbourne’s collection over the past 12 months from July 2020 to June 2021.
Notable Births/Hatchings:
Notable Arrivals:
Notable Births/Hatchings:
- 72.89 Blue Tiger
- 0.0.13 Orange Lacewing
- 0.0.731 Lord Howe Island Stick Insect
- 3.6.178 Australian Giant Mantis
- 0.0.114 Pot-bellied Seahorse
- 0.0.98 Baw Baw Frog
- 0.0.5 Southern Corroboree Frog
- 0.0.4 Fijian Crested Iguana
- 0.0.2 Striped Legless Lizard
- 0.0.2 Gila Monster
- 4.5.26 Lined Earless Dragon
- 1.2 Regent Honeyeater
- 0.1.2 Pied Stilt
- 0.0.4 Buff-banded Rail
- 0.0.6 Blue-billed Duck
- 1.0 Eastern Barred Bandicoot
- 1.0 Black-handed Spider Monkey
- 0.1 Hamadryas Baboon
Notable Arrivals:
- 0.4 Golden Orb Weaver
- 0.3 Water Spider
- 0.0.20 Clown Loach
- 0.0.5 Kissing Gourami
- 0.0.1 Gulf Saratoga
- Silver Shark [unspecified amount]
- Tiger Snake [unspecified amount]
- Chameleon Gecko [unspecified amount]
- 0.0.2 Central Bearded Dragon
- 0.0.3 Merten’s Water Monitor
- 2.0.2 Southern Pilbara Rock Monitor
- 1.0 Black-faced Cormorant
- 0.2 Barn Owl
- 1.2 Sugar Glider
- 0.2 Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur
- 1.1 Dingo
I was interested to learn that there were four deaths of female Hamadryas baboons this year. With the troop now comprising of 41% males and a number of the males from the last cohort of births now in adolescence, I’d imagine a couple of the deaths were of female infants - in addition to one or two of the older females.
I too had assumed the birth of the female infant this year was unplanned, but the zoo has likely allowed at least a couple of the females to breed in response to the deaths.
New births will give the troop a more balanced age demographic - as opposed to the population boom and bust structure seen previously at Wellington, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. It will also socialise the adolescents to infants, which is vital to future reproductive success.
Male Snow leopard (Sikari) has been sent to Tasmania Zoo:
From social media:
He’s all grown up, and the time has come to bid a fond farewell to Melbourne Zoo’s Snow Leopard cub Sikari. Sikari arrived safety at Tasmania Zoo last week and is already exploring his new home.
At 18 months old, Sikari and his sisters Asha and Manju are at the age when wild Snow Leopard cubs also leave their mothers to establish a new territory. Sikari is now doing that as part of the international breeding program that preserves an insurance population for this beautiful species, which sadly is classified as Vulnerable in the wild.
Sikari’s sisters Asha and Manju remain at Melbourne Zoo, but it’s expected they will also move to a new home sometime next year as part of the international program.
From social media:
He’s all grown up, and the time has come to bid a fond farewell to Melbourne Zoo’s Snow Leopard cub Sikari. Sikari arrived safety at Tasmania Zoo last week and is already exploring his new home.
At 18 months old, Sikari and his sisters Asha and Manju are at the age when wild Snow Leopard cubs also leave their mothers to establish a new territory. Sikari is now doing that as part of the international breeding program that preserves an insurance population for this beautiful species, which sadly is classified as Vulnerable in the wild.
Sikari’s sisters Asha and Manju remain at Melbourne Zoo, but it’s expected they will also move to a new home sometime next year as part of the international program.
A few construction updates from the recent annual report:
- general maintenance projects that occurred: "Melbourne Zoo completed more than 75 exhibit upgrades, including the Orang Tunnel, meerkat habitats, tiger feedline, Ibis Island clearing, deep cleaning and filter replacement at Wild Sea. Staff upgraded the gardens along the main drive and labelled special plant species at Melbourne Zoo. The ‘Golden Elephant’ roundabout has become ‘The Meeting Place’ for our visitors. Our horticultural team removed the existing grassland beds around the roundabout, and opened it up with turfed areas for people to sit and eat, large rocks for elevated seating and redefined the tree and garden bed areas highlighted by raised, rustic steel garden edging. The gardeners labelled 100 plants and trees as part of Stage 1; Stage 2 will highlight some of our more iconic plantings across the site with an added touch of history and personal connection."
- the reptile house underwent a renovation: "We renovated the Reptile House at Melbourne Zoo, with a public gallery ceiling replacement, digital animal ID signage installation, re-mock rocking, pond sealing of the two crocodile habitats and upgrade of the foyer and entrance area."
Six nine-year-old Aldabra giant tortoises have arrived at Melbourne Zoo! I suppose this would be Melbourne zoo's first new giant tortoise arrivals in quite a long time, as the other resident giant tortoises are much older.
via 7 NEWS Melbourne
"Long-term residents have just moved in to Melbourne Zoo. The six Aldabra giant tortoises came from a nature park in Mauritius. They're expected to live at Parkville for around 100 years. The giant tortoises are still small - around a third of the size of an adult female. They’re around nine-years-old and weigh about 30kgs each."
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVt3icKJrLZ/
via 7 NEWS Melbourne
"Long-term residents have just moved in to Melbourne Zoo. The six Aldabra giant tortoises came from a nature park in Mauritius. They're expected to live at Parkville for around 100 years. The giant tortoises are still small - around a third of the size of an adult female. They’re around nine-years-old and weigh about 30kgs each."
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVt3icKJrLZ/