Melbourne Zoo Future of Melbourne Zoo 2023 (Speculation / Fantasy)

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Having had a wonderful time watching the Pygmy marmosets from the cafe at Wellington Zoo yesterday (their enclosure looks into the cafe - like the meerkat enclosure does at WORZ), and having had a look at the Exotic Mammals in Australian Zoos thread, I really think MZ just needs to get Pygmy marmosets asap:

They are small, engaging, easy to get and would cost very little to house. They are also the smallest monkey in the world. Virtually every medium size zoo and every big zoo in the country (not including the open range zoos) has them - so I really think they are now a “must have” for MZ.

They would easily fit in that last enclosure in the treetop primates area (the ones which previously had tree shrews, lovebirds etc), however I think a purpose built enclosure adjoining one of the cafe areas would be even better.

While I’m not in favour of obtaining new species for the sake of it, this is one species MZ really should get - in fact I can’t think of any sensible reason not to get them.

The strange thing though is that I can never ever remember MZ ever having them in the 4 decades I’ve been going there. Did we ever have them?
 
Grant Rhino said:
Having had a wonderful time watching the Pygmy marmosets from the cafe at Wellington Zoo yesterday (their enclosure looks into the cafe - like the meerkat enclosure does at WORZ), and having had a look at the Exotic Mammals in Australian Zoos thread, I really think MZ just needs to get Pygmy marmosets asap:

They are small, engaging, easy to get and would cost very little to house. They are also the smallest monkey in the world. Virtually every medium size zoo and every big zoo in the country (not including the open range zoos) has them - so I really think they are now a “must have” for MZ.

They would easily fit in that last enclosure in the treetop primates area (the ones which previously had tree shrews, lovebirds etc), however I think a purpose built enclosure adjoining one of the cafe areas would be even better.

While I’m not in favour of obtaining new species for the sake of it, this is one species MZ really should get - in fact I can’t think of any sensible reason not to get them.

The strange thing though is that I can never ever remember MZ ever having them in the 4 decades I’ve been going there. Did we ever have them?
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Pygmy markets were at the zoo in 2009 according to @CGSwans.

I agree they make for a fascinating exhibit and believe more and more city zoos and wildlife parks will acquire them due to space efficiency.
 
Grant Rhino said:
The strange thing though is that I can never ever remember MZ ever having them in the 4 decades I’ve been going there. Did we ever have them?
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Melbourne did; I believe they were in the Tamarin row at one point in the early 2010's.

Pygmy Marmosets would easily fit the last enclosure in the Treetop Trail; but Melbourne would be limited to a non breeding pair (just space wise).

Another place for them would be in Growing Wild. The Kookaburra Aviary could serve as a walkthrough potentially?
 
Zoofan15 said:
Pygmy markets were at the zoo in 2009 according to @CGSwans.

I agree they make for a fascinating exhibit and believe more and more city zoos and wildlife parks will acquire them due to space efficiency.
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Took me a moment to process what "pygmy markets" referred to. :p

Yes, they were present at the zoo around that time. They had an aviary-style enclosure near the start of the gorilla rainforest trail (and were the first non-African species in that now thoroughly-unthemed zone, that I can recall). Viewing was often difficult because they installed heavy plastic screens over the aviary to combat the cold.

Like virtually everything else at Melbourne Zoo, one day the aviary was just empty, and a year or two later it disappeared entirely, never to be seen again.
 
CGSwans said:
Took me a moment to process what "pygmy markets" referred to. :p

Yes, they were present at the zoo around that time. They had an aviary-style enclosure near the start of the gorilla rainforest trail (and were the first non-African species in that now thoroughly-unthemed zone, that I can recall). Viewing was often difficult because they installed heavy plastic screens over the aviary to combat the cold.

Like virtually everything else at Melbourne Zoo, one day the aviary was just empty, and a year or two later it disappeared entirely, never to be seen again.
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Was this just after the gorilla grottoes? If so, I seem to remember that small cage. I had always thought it held Emperor Tamarins, but my memory may be playing up when if they were actually Pygmy Marmosets.
 
Here's a masterplan I've come up with. Underneath the name of each precinct/area I've written my changes & then done a species list. & this is what I would want MZ to do, I'm not saying they'll do any of this.
Bold = change/new species

Gorilla Rainforest
Changes
* Malagasy birds & tortoises added to the lemur-walkthrough as well as two terrariums for Malagasy reptiles
* gorilla troop expanded
* pygmy hippo paired & geese added to exhibit
* exhibit renovated & cassowary replaced by Mandrill
* Treetop Apes & Monkeys roster moved around
* conures mixed with tamarins
* White-Faced Saki imported & mixed with spider-monkeys
* spider-monkeys & colobus-monkeys get two exhibits connected by an aerial walkway
* De Brazza's Monkey imported & mixed with colobus-monkeys
* Common Tree-Shrew imported & added to final exhibit
Species List
1. Ring-Tailed Lemur, Radiated Tortoise, Grey-Headed Lovebird & Red Fody
2. Madagascan Giant Day-Gecko
3. Dumeril's Boa
4. Black-and-White Ruffed-Lemur
5. Western Lowland-Gorilla
6. Pygmy Hippopotamus & Egyptian Goose
7. Mandrill
8. Cotton-Top Tamarin & Sun Conure
9. & 10. Geoffroy's Spider-Monkey & White-Faced Saki
11. Emperor Tamarin
12. & 13. Monkeys (Black-and-White Colobus- & De Brazza's)
14. Common Tree-Shrew
Expedition Asia (Trail of the Elephants)
Changes
* Aussie birds replaced by Asian birds
* no changes to Butterfly House
* elephants sent elsewhere, exhibit renovated & split in two
* vegetation & shade added to first part of exhibit for Malayan Tapir & shelducks
* second part of exhibit based on Indian savanna for rhinos, antelope & deer
* reptile exhibit species changed
* squirrel-monkeys replaced by Binturong
Species List
1. Asian Small-Clawed Otter
2. Sumatran Tiger
3. Plum-Headed Parakeet, Nicobar Pigeon & Red-Whiskered Bulbul
4. Java Sparrow, White-Rumped Shama, Mandarin Duck & Luzon Bleeding-Heart Dove
5. Butterfly House
6. Malayan Tapir & Ruddy Shelduck
7. Indian Rhinoceros, Blackbuck & Chital Deer
8. Fijian Crested-Iguana & Indian Star-Tortoise
9. Australian Leaf-Insect
10. Tokay Gecko
11. Binturong
12. Sumatran Orangutan & Siamang
Australian Bush
Changes
* exhibit renovated & koala replaced by Quokka
* koala, echidna & cassowary exhibits added to inside Great Flight Aviary
* more bird species added to Great Flight Aviary
* new exhibit constructed for Dingo
* wallabies added to kangaroo-walkthrough
* three native aviaries constructed next to previous two aviaries & new species added
* aviary species roster changed & each aviary is based around a threatened species, the habitat it lives in & other species which native to that habitat
* the five aviaries are based on outback (Red-Lored Whistler), savanna & wetland (Golden-Shouldered Parrot), mallee (Malleefowl & Black-Eared Miner), rainforest (Black-Breasted Button-Quail) & bush (Orange-Bellied Parrot & Swift Parrot).
Species List
1. Quokka
2. Koala & Short-Beaked Echidna (Great Flight Aviary)
3. Southern Cassowary
4. Black-Necked Stork, Royal Spoonbill, Glossy Ibis, Herons (Pied & White-Faced), Cattle Egret, Black-Winged Stilt, Little Pied Cormorant, Black Swan, Ducks (Freckled, Blue-Billed & Plumed Whistling-), Buff-Banded Rail, Blue-Faced Honeyeater, Pigeons (Pied Imperial-, Wonga & White-Headed), Satin Bowerbird, Black-Cockatoos (Yellow-Tailed, Red-Tailed), Lorikeets (Red-Collared & Rainbow), Parrots (Eclectus & Australian King-), Radjah Shelduck, Bush Stone-Curlew, Blue-Winged Kookaburra, Tawny Frogmouth, Australasian Figbird, Doves (Bar-Shouldered & Brown Cuckoo-), Eastern Whipbird, Apostlebird, Cockatoos (Sulphur-Crested & Major Mitchell's), Australian Brush-Turkey & Green Catbird
5. Squatter Pigeon, Diamond Firetail, White-Browed Woodswallow, Little Lorikeet, Honeyeaters (Yellow-Tufted & Regent), Australian Bustard, Black-Throated Finch & Gang-Gang Cockatoo
6. Lace Monitor
7. Tasmanian Devil
8. Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombat
9. Dingo
10. Western Grey-Kangaroo, Emu & Wallabies (Red-Necked & Swamp)
11. Budgerigar, Diamond Dove, Finches (Zebra & Painted), Banded Lapwing, Spinifex Pigeon, Red-Lored Whistler & Inland Dotterel
12. Finches (Gouldian & Crimson), Green Pygmy-Goose, Comb-Crested Jacana, Shining Flycatcher, Golden-Shouldered Parrot & Sacred Kingfisher
13. Chiming Wedgebill, Hooded Robin, Malleefowl, Australian Ringneck, Crested Bellbird & Black-Eared Miner
14. Noisy Pitta, Doves (Pacific Emerald- & Rose-Crowned Fruit-), Regent Bowerbird, Blue-Faced Parrot-Finch, Double-Eyed Fig-Parrot, Metallic Starling & Black-Breasted Button-Quail
15. Parrots (Orange-Bellied & Swift), Brush Bronzewing, Superb Fairywren, Silvereye & Eastern Spinebill
Wild Africa (new)
Changes
* middle portion of the zoo (giraffe & zebra, baboons, tapir & peccary exhibits) turned into the Wild Africa precinct
* ostrich added to giraffe & zebra exhibit
* tapir & peccary exhibits turned into three seperate exhibits for small african animals
* aviary constructed for mainly african waxbills
Species List
1. Giraffe, Plains Zebra, Helmeted Guineafowl & Common Ostrich
2. Hamadryas Baboon
3. Fennec Fox & Leopard Tortoise
4. Cape Porcupine & Meerkat
5. Caracal
6. Namaqua Dove, Chukar Partridge, African Grey-Parrot, Common Waxbill, Red-Cheeked Cordon-Bleu, Pin-Tailed Whydah, Southern Red-Bishop, Fan-Tailed Widowbird & Sudan Golden-Sparrow
Carnivores Trail
Changes
* exhibit renovated & coati replaced by Clouded Leopard
* tiger replaced by Sun Bear
* tassy devil replaced by Komodo Dragon
* dingo replaced by Maned Wolf
Species List
1. African Lion
2. Reticulated Python, Kissing Gourami & Clown Loach
3. Clouded Leopard
4. Snow Leopard
5. Sun Bear
6. Komodo Dragon
7. Maned Wolf
The Amazon (Growing Wild)
Changes
* Growing Wild precinct turned into The Amazon precinct
* meerkat exhibit demolished
* exhibit renovated & giant-tortoise replaced by Capybara & mara
* exhibit constructed for coati
* kookaburra replaced by a mix of squirrel-monkey & agouti
* exhibit constructed for a mix of tamarins & marmosets
Species List
1. Galapagos Giant-Tortoise
2. Capybara & Patagonian Mara
3. South American Coatimundi
4. Black-Capped Squirrel-Monkey & Red-Rumped Agouti
5. Golden Lion-Tamarin & Pygmy Marmoset
Other
Changes
* flamingos imported & exhibit constructed near Reptile House
* more birds added to Amazon Aviary
* gibbons moved to Japanese Garden island
* Reptile House & Wild Sea remain with little changes
Species List
1. Platypus
2. Aldabra Giant-Tortoise
3. Greater Flamingo
4. Macaws (Green-Winged, Red-Fronted, Great Green & Blue-and-Yellow), Blue-Fronted Amazon-Parrot & Caiques (Black-Capped & White-Bellied)
5. Red Panda
6. Northern White-Cheeked Gibbon
 
Jambo said:
Was this just after the gorilla grottoes? If so, I seem to remember that small cage. I had always thought it held Emperor Tamarins, but my memory may be playing up when if they were actually Pygmy Marmosets.
Click to expand...

From memory the emperor tamarin cage was just outside the gorilla rainforest. Prior to that, they had been on the opposite side of the zoo in the area that was bulldozed in favour of the Growing Wild wasteland.
 
austrlain zoo gower said:
Of corse you can Oskar GC
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Here it is...
Bold = new species to zoo

Gorilla Rainforest
1. Ring-Tailed Lemur
2. Black-and-White Ruffed-Lemur
3. Western Lowland-Gorilla
4. Pygmy Hippopotamus
5. Mandrill
6. Cotton-Top Tamarin
7. & 8. Geoffroy's Spider-Monkey
9. Emperor Tamarin
10. & 11. Black-and-White Colobus-Monkey
12. Goodfellow's Tree-Kangaroo or White-Faced Saki
13. Common Tree-Shrew or Pygmy Marmoset
Journey Through Asia (Trail of the Elephants)
1. Asian Small-Clawed Otter
2. Sumatran Tiger
3. Butterfly House
4. Malayan Tapir
5. Indian Rhinoceros, Chital Deer & Blackbuck
6. Binturong
7. Siamang & Sumatran Orangutan
Australian Bush
1. Koala
2. Southern Cassowary (Great Flight Aviary)
3. Lace Monitor
4. Tasmanian Devil
5. Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombat
6. Emu, Western Grey-Kangaroo & Red-Necked Wallaby
Heart of Africa
1. Giraffe, Plains Zebra & Nyala
2. Hamadryas Baboon
Small but Mighty
1. Fennec Fox & Leopard Tortoise
2. Cape Porcupine & Meerkat
3. Bat-Eared Fox
Carnivores Trail
1. African Lion
2. Clouded Leopard
3. Snow Leopard
4. Sun Bear
5. Komodo Dragon
6. Maned Wolf
South America (Growing Wild)
1. Capybara
2. Black-Capped Squirrel-Monkey or Golden Lion-Tamarin
3. Hoffmann's Two-Toed Sloth
4. Greater Flamingo
Other
1. Platypus
2. Aldabra Giant-Tortoise
3. Galapagos Giant-Tortoise
4. Red Panda
5. Northern White-Cheeked Gibbon (Japanese Garden)
* Amazon Aviary, Reptile House & Wild Sea
 
Is it viable to have an Okapi and a Bongo in the same exhibit, where the old bongo one was? Neither species are overly aggressive and live in the same habitat. And if they are indeed compatible, is there enough space. Last thing, I am headed to Werribee tomorrow, so are there any questions you want me to ask the Keepers, maybe about the Nyala, Hyena or Indian Rhino?
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Is it viable to have an Okapi and a Bongo in the same exhibit, where the old bongo one was? Neither species are overly aggressive and live in the same habitat. And if they are indeed compatible, is there enough space. Last thing, I am headed to Werribee tomorrow, so are there any questions you want me to ask the Keepers, maybe about the Nyala, Hyena or Indian Rhino?
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I’m not aware of any zoo that houses Okapi and Eastern bongo together. I wouldn’t anticipate any issue on the bongo end - even the males aren’t territorial; but Okapi are a solitary species and prefer to live alone. Zoos routinely house a bull in one exhibit and a cow in another, which is what I’d expect to see at Melbourne Zoo if they were to be imported.

Eastern bongo may well have a future at Werribee Open Range, where a reasonable size herd could be established, but Melbourne Zoo phased them out a decade ago and I doubt this is a decision they’d go back on.

You may not get an answer, but any comments on the likelihood of Werribee receiving Perth’s bull elephant would be appreciated. Staff at Melbourne are doubtful of them receiving the cow (or Auckland’s cow), but the transfer of Perth’s bull is highly advisable (and likely) imo.
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Is it viable to have an Okapi and a Bongo in the same exhibit, where the old bongo one was? Neither species are overly aggressive and live in the same habitat. And if they are indeed compatible, is there enough space. Last thing, I am headed to Werribee tomorrow, so are there any questions you want me to ask the Keepers, maybe about the Nyala, Hyena or Indian Rhino?
Click to expand...

The old Bongo exhibit is now partially gone, so that's not a viable option. There wouldn't be enough space either way; even if the enclosure still existed. Okapi's are highly secretive and would need a reasonable amount of space away from the Bongo. Such a mix hasn't been trialed in captivity to my knowledge.

Could you ask if Werribee are considering Indian Rhinos down the line; hopefully that might shed some info on whether Melbourne's considering them.
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Will do. Should I mention the bongos, and maybe just get some information on the waterhole?
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Yes, that would be wonderful thanks! :) It'll be interesting to see what species will be featured in the Waterhole precinct, so any info is welcomed.
 
I think we have all heard that Melbourne Might be importing Indian Rhino, Malaysian Tapir and Bongo, these animals might be replacing the asian elephants, thanks to PaddyRickMFZ. This info was shared to him via a keeper so hopefully is true so, the asian elephant could be replaced by a breeding pare of Indian rhinos, breeding pare of Malyan tapirs. As PaddyRickMFZ said Melbourne are looking to import 10 but these are almost definably mot just for them, I think meblorne will acted as the hub for the species and divide them up for Adelaide, Taronga and possibly Perth, Also a bongo import is very much needed for the region, hopefully this all comes true and thanks PaddyRickMFZ for sharing this info with us
 
austrlain zoo gower said:
I think we have all heard that Melbourne Might be importing Indian Rhino, Malaysian Tapir and Bongo, these animals might be replacing the asian elephants, thanks to PaddyRickMFZ. This info was shared to him via a keeper so hopefully is true so, the asian elephant could be replaced by a breeding pare of Indian rhinos, breeding pare of Malyan tapirs. As PaddyRickMFZ said Melbourne are looking to import 10 but these are almost definably mot just for them, I think meblorne will acted as the hub for the species and divide them up for Adelaide, Taronga and possibly Perth, Also a bongo import is very much needed for the region, hopefully this all comes true and thanks PaddyRickMFZ for sharing this info with us
Click to expand...
This could be all speculation
 
Zorro said:
This could be all speculation
Click to expand...

This is ABSOLUTELY all speculation. I realise that PaddyRickMFZ spoke to a keeper and was told what he was told, but it doesn't mean that those things will happen.

As I've mentioned before, I am a volunteer at WORZ, and hence I have access to a bit more info than most people. I've asked specifically about the elephant replacement and have been told (by reliable sources) that no decision has been made - though a lot of ideas have been bandied around.

The only thing I've been told that is definite, is that the elephants will be replaced by animals - not by a hotel.

Personally, I'd be absolutely amazed if MZ imported 10 Malayan tapirs - but then I've learned throughout my life not to be surprised by too many things...
 
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