Darling Downs Zoo Darling Downs Zoo News 2022
- Thread starter WhistlingKite24
- Start date
Yeah, aside from DDZ’s herd there’s 0.1 at Hamilton Zoo; 2.0 at Gibb’s Farm; and 3.2 at ZooDoo Tasmania.
Auckland and Hamilton Zoo previously had all purebred herds - which descended from a 1963 import by Auckland Zoo. Their last purebreds were born in 2005 and 2003 respectively, with both receiving generic zebras in the years that followed. This was seen as preferable to continuing to inbreed the related Grant’s zebra they had.
Darling Downs Zoo's website has been updated with lots of new images and detail now present (it looks great!: Darling Downs Zoo - Queensland). There are now several notable nuggets of information up on their site:
- the zoo have imported male Yellow Anacondas to be paired with their only female who prior to the import was the only one of her species in an Australasian zoo. The males are still too small to be introduced to the female but they are hoping they will grow fast: Reptiles - Darling Downs Zoo
- the new baboon exhibit is progressing well. There are also images of the Pygmy Marmoset infants on the website now: Primates - Darling Downs Zoo
- Chestnut Rail and North West Island Feral Fowl are now pictured in their gallery for birds: Birds - Darling Downs Zoo
- new tapir and lemur encounters are now available: Encounters - Darling Downs Zoo
- the zoo is currently seeking fundraising to build a new enclosure for their Komodo Dragon. They have been notified that they will be receiving another young Komodo next year. The new Komodo habitat will allow the dragons to be separated when required with temperature-controlled indoor housing along with outdoor exhibits with pools. The zoo has decided this species will be one of their preservation priority species: END OF FINANCIAL YEAR SUPPORT FOR WILDLIFE PRESERVATION - Darling Downs Zoo
I’m really impressed by their website - especially the detail on what species they hold and the background information on many of them. Other zoos could learn about how to build an informative website from DDZ - namely those who give only the vaguest indication of what species they hold.
The zoos dedication and professionalism is fast becoming their trademark
A quick response to a couple of preceding posts.
* The Zebra mare that was spotted by @Zorro is not a Grants. She was spotted at a distance by Zorro and I probably did not clarify to him that she was a bit of an outcast at Mogo so, although not a Grants, was transferred to DDZ to join our juvenile herd here on welfare grounds. She has fitted in very well here and, although we have not bred from her yet, we will probably have to do so eventually due to the regional scarcity of pure bred Grants.
* Thanks for the kind comments about our new website. It has taken a long while to get it to this stage but it is still a work in progress and needs quite a bit of updating and fleshing out yet. Any thoughts as to how to improve it further will be gratefully received and considered!
* A "scoop" for ZooChat - DDZ has imported two pairs of pure Javan sub-species Binturong. A first for Australia. They have now finished their post-arrival quarantine and will shortly go on display - one pair here and the other at Tasmania Zoo. We are very grateful to our good friends at Hamerton Zoo Park for this opportunity.
* In other news, our two Sri Lankan Leopard cubs are slowly becoming accustomed to the great outdoors. They are still quite shy and often retreat to their den if there are too many visitors on hand so we are giving them all the time that they need to build up their confidence.
* New 5 acre paddocks for our Red Kangaroo mob and our Blackbuck herd have been completed and are awaiting government authorisation for the animals to use them.
* An 8 acre paddock for our expanding Addax herd is due to be commissioned next week - weather permitting.
Does DDZ keep chickens descended/captured from the feral population found on North West Island in the Barrier Reef?
Correct. One of only three holders in Queensland.
@Steve Robinson Did the Ostrich move with the Zebra to the 20 acre paddock?
Yes - Ben has made the move and is still waiting for some girlfriends.
Suitable ladies for him are a bit scarce at the moment. Don't know why.
Is Ben named after a former employee?
lol. Indeed he is!
Although it should be clarified that former employee/continuing friend Ben has had no scarcity of lady friends over the years and now has a great partner and two wonderful children.
Ostrich Ben has a bit of catching up to do!!
From the zoo's social media page:
Darling Downs Zoo Turning 20 in 2025 - What project would you like us to undertake to celebrate our milestone?
Thank you for giving us this opportunity @Steve Robinson.
I must say I’m struggling with regards to thinking of a new species as the zoo already has almost every species I’d want to see there - and the handful that aren’t are unrealistic e.g. Jaguar, Temminck’s golden cat, Leopard cat etc.
Rest assured I will be giving this the thought it deserves over the next few days however and I speak for all of us when I say we can’t wait to see what you run with.
Thank you for giving us this opportunity @Steve Robinson.
I must say I’m struggling with regards to thinking of a new species as the zoo already has almost every species I’d want to see there - and the handful that aren’t are unrealistic e.g. Jaguar, Temminck’s golden cat, Leopard cat etc.
Rest assured I will be giving this the thought it deserves over the next few days however and I speak for all of us when I say we can’t wait to see what you run with.
Thanks @Zoofan15. Thoughts from ZooChatters are very welcome and I note that a number of you have already commented on our FB page.
We would like to emphasise that this call for ideas is not only about new animals species - although a number that have been mentioned have been on our radar for some time.
We are acutely aware that our attention to visitor amenities has not always kept pace with our attention to the diversity of our animal collection. This has been reflected in many comments today on FB. Our paths are our weakest point now that toilets and all weather picnic facilities have been addressed. We will have to weather proof our paths in sections as resources permit.
Quotes in the vicinity of $750,000 have been received to bitumen the main paths and concreting them is totally out of the question.
Shade in summer is also a bugbear for some and our preference has always been to provide natural vegetation for shade. With that in mind we have planted thousands of trees over the past twenty years. The drought killed many of them and now dozens have drowned since the rains have returned! Planting is still a work in progress though with over a thousand young trees and shrubs in the nursery and more than 200 planted out in the last week alone.
It will be interesting for us to see how responses to this survey progress.
We would like to emphasise that this call for ideas is not only about new animals species - although a number that have been mentioned have been on our radar for some time.
We are acutely aware that our attention to visitor amenities has not always kept pace with our attention to the diversity of our animal collection. This has been reflected in many comments today on FB. Our paths are our weakest point now that toilets and all weather picnic facilities have been addressed. We will have to weather proof our paths in sections as resources permit.
Quotes in the vicinity of $750,000 have been received to bitumen the main paths and concreting them is totally out of the question.
Shade in summer is also a bugbear for some and our preference has always been to provide natural vegetation for shade. With that in mind we have planted thousands of trees over the past twenty years. The drought killed many of them and now dozens have drowned since the rains have returned! Planting is still a work in progress though with over a thousand young trees and shrubs in the nursery and more than 200 planted out in the last week alone.
It will be interesting for us to see how responses to this survey progress.
I think it’s great that a zoo is asking the public what they would like to see. I haven’t had the privilege of visiting yet, but would certainly travel up from Victoria to see some different canine species not seen in Australia. Bush dogs, raccoon dogs or any of the wolf species/subspecies would certainly be high on my list.
A couple of ideas:
Clouded leopard:
With the WCCC in NSW importing two pairs of Clouded leopard and Hamilton Zoo also expressing an interest in this species, it’s not hard to imagine this species becoming the next big thing in Australasia.
Since the first few holders usually breed the species and the follow up holders exhibit non breeding animals, it’d be nice for DDZ to get in on the ground floor - especially given their success with breeding small felids.
Common chimpanzee:
Long term, it’d be nice to see a great ape species at DDZ. There’s a limited availability of both gorillas and orangutans within the region; but there’s several options for sourcing chimpanzee regionally.
The infrastructure needed to house them would be necessarily have to be anything too extravagant for a small troop. Rockhampton Zoo are an example of this and have done well with this species.
As a high profile and long lived species, chimpanzees would be an iconic addition to the zoo in the anniversary year.
Clouded leopard:
With the WCCC in NSW importing two pairs of Clouded leopard and Hamilton Zoo also expressing an interest in this species, it’s not hard to imagine this species becoming the next big thing in Australasia.
Since the first few holders usually breed the species and the follow up holders exhibit non breeding animals, it’d be nice for DDZ to get in on the ground floor - especially given their success with breeding small felids.
Common chimpanzee:
Long term, it’d be nice to see a great ape species at DDZ. There’s a limited availability of both gorillas and orangutans within the region; but there’s several options for sourcing chimpanzee regionally.
The infrastructure needed to house them would be necessarily have to be anything too extravagant for a small troop. Rockhampton Zoo are an example of this and have done well with this species.
As a high profile and long lived species, chimpanzees would be an iconic addition to the zoo in the anniversary year.
The zoo has a really nice cat collection, Also it is quite strong with primates with quite a few species being held. The bird collection is impressive and seems to get better all the time.
The zoos reptile collection is getting more impressive all the time with a very large tortoise groups, but if I ever won the lotto I would likely help in the building of a bigger reptile house. but all in all there is no visible weak area that I can see. I believe a lot of the focus is currently on the endangered Africa and I hope this is an area that can expand even more in the future with the newly added 122 acres!
The zoos reptile collection is getting more impressive all the time with a very large tortoise groups, but if I ever won the lotto I would likely help in the building of a bigger reptile house. but all in all there is no visible weak area that I can see. I believe a lot of the focus is currently on the endangered Africa and I hope this is an area that can expand even more in the future with the newly added 122 acres!
News
Shared with permission of @Steve Robinson:
Eight young Ostriches have arrived to keep the zoo’s solo male (Ben) company.
Three sets of Red-handed tamarin twins were born in the last three weeks - an exciting development as Darling Downs Zoo and Hunter Valley Zoo are currently the only regional holders.
One Ring-tail lemur born (as yet unsexed) to a first time mother. All going well.
I’ve also created a thread to discuss future developments of the zoo here: Darling Downs Zoo - Developments (News and Discussion) [Darling Downs Zoo]
Shared with permission of @Steve Robinson:
Eight young Ostriches have arrived to keep the zoo’s solo male (Ben) company.
Three sets of Red-handed tamarin twins were born in the last three weeks - an exciting development as Darling Downs Zoo and Hunter Valley Zoo are currently the only regional holders.
One Ring-tail lemur born (as yet unsexed) to a first time mother. All going well.
I’ve also created a thread to discuss future developments of the zoo here: Darling Downs Zoo - Developments (News and Discussion) [Darling Downs Zoo]