Taronga Zoo Taronga visit

[Hix]

Visited Taronga yesterday. Now the school holidays have finished, it's safe to go back. And the schools haven't had time to organise excursions, so there are no school groups there. Still lots of visitors, but mostly adults and very small kids.

The multistory carpark is progressing well and looks like it will be three levels. It's also quite long - the second shot is of the entrance to the staff carpark and deliveries on Whiting Beach Rd; the carpark structure appears to extend right down into the staff carpark area. This will greatly enhance the number of cars that can be parked at the zoo. Don't know where buses and coaches will be parked though. New ticket boxes at each entrance.

http://www.zoochat.com/34/carpark-construction-bradley-s-head-rd-65434/

http://www.zoochat.com/34/carpark-construction-whiting-beach-rd-staff-65435/

The area in front of the main entrance is also being revamped. The flower gardens on either side of the entrance have been removed, as have the gardens and trees in the turning circle. The only thing remaining is the bus shelter (which is Heritage listed, of course).

http://www.zoochat.com/34/main-entrance-redevelopment-65439/

Inside the zoo itself, the redevelopment of the old Koala Encounters site between the Platypus House and Kangaroo Walkthrough is also progressing, with a hell-of-a-lot of steel erected. The construction site starts in the walkthrough and now goes all the way down to the Platypus House Entrance. The Platypus House itself is closed for renovations.

The new Cassowary Exhibit has been uncovered although there are no animals on display yet, it looks like there may be some more work to be done to the keeper side of things.

http://www.zoochat.com/34/cassowary-exhibit-65321/

Part of this area used to be a penguin pool more than 20 years ago, then bacame a duck pond for a short time before being filled in and planted. It hasn't been used since. The vegetation in the back of the enclosure, I think, hasn't been disturbed since the construction of the Rainforest Walkthrough Aviary in the 70's. Very heavily shaded and a nice rainforesty replica for the cassowaries.

I do have some concerns about the fencing, using horizontal cables between posts. When emus (in the wild) run at fences they often manage to go straight through them, and I'd be worried about cassowaries doing the same thing. However, I've been out of the zoo industry for many years now and I'm not up on the latest developments and innovations - maybe this design is known to be ratite proof.

New Bull Elephant facility - there is now grass growing throughout the enclosures and - with the rain we've had lately - there's also mud puddles.
Gardens in the moats have been planted, but although there are moats, the entire facility is surrounded by steel poles and cables - there is no viewing area with uninterrupted viewing. This is not a criticism, more an observation, as I know that bull elephants can be a real handful at times, and Taronga has had instances in the past where one elephant would push another into the moat. Plus these moats are shallower and narrower, I think to give that extra little bit of exhibit space. There is a new structure in front of the Elephant House, some poles with wire netting on top and some camouflage netting thrown onto that, presumably for shade.
I tried to take pics from the same places as previously so you can view the changes since last December.

http://www.zoochat.com/34/new-bull-elephant-house-65438/

http://www.zoochat.com/34/elephant-exhibit-redevelopment-65436/

http://www.zoochat.com/34/elephant-exhibit-redevelopment-65437/


The old Big Cat cages (next to Backyard to Bush) have a sign up saying a new Tassie Devil Conservation and Breeding facility will be built there.

The new Red Panda enclosures at the bottom of the zoo (the former Bear Canyon) look the same as they were back in December. They look ready to go, but no animals yet. Maybe they're waiting for the trees to grow a bit more.

The Sun Bear enclosure now has one of the female dholes in it for part of the day (not at the same time as the bears), in order to provide both species with olfactory enrichment.

There appears to have been some gardening work done at different places throughout the zoo, thinning out vegetation. In the waterhole the dense bushes opposite the Pygmy hippos have been cleaned out, and now the back of the night-time housing that was originally built for Dora is visible from the path. There also appears to have been some thinning of the undergrowth in the Palm Aviary - it appeared to be not as dark as usual and more birds were visible. There are several Bleeding Heart Pigeons in the aviary now, and at least two male Superb Fruit Doves which were both booming. There are also King Quail in the aviary now, but the White-breasted Ground Doves were conspicuous by their absence. I've only ever seen one Pekin Robin in this aviary, and on this visit he looked rather bedraggled. And a pair of Red Lories are either going through a complete moult, or they have severe feather plucking issues.

http://www.zoochat.com/34/superb-fruit-pigeon-male-booming-65421/

http://www.zoochat.com/34/pekin-robin-65420/

http://www.zoochat.com/34/king-quail-male-65416/

http://www.zoochat.com/34/bleeding-heart-pigeon-65310/

Fennec Fox enclosure is undergoing some renovations too.

And that's about it. A nice sunny day, after a week of rain, and then it rained again last night and today. About 40 pics have been uplaoded into the Taronga gallery.

http://www.zoochat.com/34/scaly-breasted-lorikeet-pair-inspecting-hole-65430/

http://www.zoochat.com/34/snow-leopard-yawn-65432/



Hix

 

[snowleopard]

@Hix: I love to read your comprehensive, informative reviews from Sydney, and the attention to detail is fantastic. It seems as if the Taronga Zoo has been perpetually under construction for about a decade now, but the great zoos are the ones that are ever evolving and thinking of the future. The car park looks to be absolutely enormous, and that will be a huge boost for visitors who wish to drive. I wonder how much parking will be? I still am not sold on the bull elephant exhibit, as the house is like a massive block of lego and the new shade structure over part of the paddock is all steel and mesh. However, the cassowary habitat appears to be lush and well shaded, and it could turn out to be a terrific exhibit.

 

[MARK]

Thanks for the review and photos Hix

 

[Trevor]

Great overview of the developments and great photos too. Must visit the zoo again next time we visit our son Sim' (the administrator of this site) who lives a few suburbs away.

 

[torie]

The new Cassowary Exhibit has been uncovered although there are no animals on display yet, it looks like there may be some more work to be done to the keeper side of things.

The new Red Panda enclosures at the bottom of the zoo (the former Bear Canyon) look the same as they were back in December. They look ready to go, but no animals yet. Maybe they're waiting for the trees to grow

the division that looks after the Cassowarys - Birds has recently undergone an amalgimation with aus mammals to create a better keeping environment. I imagine that this change and the need to bring bird keepers up to date on aus mammal practices and vice versa may have pushed back the cassowary move for a short time but shouldnt be too long now.

the Red panda on the left side whose name i have forgotten is being crate traned at the moment so once thats finished expect to see pandas down the bottom.

 

[Hix]

However, the cassowary habitat appears to be lush and well shaded, and it could turn out to be a terrific exhibit.

It will be even more lush once the Cassowaries start fertilising it!



Hix

 

[Ara]

Hey Hix, when you refer to the Palm Aviary, is that the one next to the elephants (Asian birds)?
I was at Taronga this morning and there are now at least 8 young golden pheasants in there (uncoloured as yet.) Ridiculously tame bleeding-heart pigeons - virtually walk between your feet. Couldn't see the Pekin robin (a shame - I love those birds and there are not many in Aust.)

Next door the elephants were being given an activity session; passing objects to one another, fielding a small ball and throwing it back to their keepers (we should give them a go in the Aussie cricket team), and kicking a soccer ball around with much enjoyment. The four cows were doing that - Gung was down in the lower paddock.

Below the elephant enclosure at GSO the two leopard seals had hauled out at the opposite ends of their pool and keepers were working with them too, making them roll onto their backs while being touched on the belly and tail areas, something which would require a lot of trust by both leopard seals and keepers. Then both into the pool for a session of leaping, diving and swimming, with commands emphasised by a pole with a red tape on the end and lots of fishy rewards. The young male in particular was able to rocket right up out of the water. Interesting to watch.

I was also interested to see that the Helmore Parrot Aviary (just around the corner from the orangs and up from the old seal pool) which formerly held Australian parrots has been given over to Taronga's collection of Neotropical birds, and now contains macaws, conures (lots of them) and the old razor-billed curassow. The stand-out bird for me was a red-bellied macaw, possibly the only one in Australia, which someone had attempted to import and which had been seized by customs. I gather that was the source of many of the conures, too. It's pleasing that such birds have not simply been destroyed.

No cassowaries in the new enclosure yet, but it looks nice and rainforesty. It will be interesting to see if they get through the fence. I wouldn't like to be there if they do; many years ago a keeper was killed by a cass. at Taronga.

 

[Hix]

Hey Hix, when you refer to the Palm Aviary, is that the one next to the elephants (Asian birds)?
I was at Taronga this morning and there are now at least 8 young golden pheasants in there (uncoloured as yet.) Ridiculously tame bleeding-heart pigeons - virtually walk between your feet.

Yeah, thats the aviary. I didn't see the chicks, but I did see female Golden Pheasants in there for the first time.

The stand-out bird for me was a red-bellied macaw, possibly the only one in Australia, which someone had attempted to import and which had been seized by customs. I gather that was the source of many of the conures, too. It's pleasing that such birds have not simply been destroyed.

They would have been seized years ago. These days they would be euthanased within 24 hours.

... many years ago a keeper was killed by a cass. at Taronga.

Actually, that's a myth. I discovered recently that neither keeper nor egg thief had been killed, although they certainly are capable.



Hix

 

[Ara]

Hmmm - the subject of keeper deaths is not very pleasant, but interesting all the same:
Many years ago a keeper was killed at Melbourne Zoo by a rutting red deer stag.
Also, at one time Taronga had on display the puff adder which had killed the Curator of Reptiles at Salt Lake City, a guy called De Bary.

 

[Hix]

Hmmm - the subject of keeper deaths is not very pleasant, but interesting all the same:
Many years ago a keeper was killed at Melbourne Zoo by a rutting red deer stag.

Back in the '70s I was told that red deer stags kill more keepers worldwide than any other species. Not sure how true it was, and I imagine it has changed anyway.



Hix

 

[Jet]

These days they would be euthanased within 24 hours.

Hix

That's true for new imports. For other illegally held animals such as macaws that got into the country years ago or bred within Australia they are sometimes seized and held 'in situ' for awhile rather than being destroyed i.e. held at the existing owner's premises under court order until a decision can be made on what to do about them such as finding them a home at a zoo. Taronga agreed to take on several birds like that last year (which is a really great thing to save them from destruction and give them a home at their expense). A similar thing happened with the alligator found at Pambula Beach late last year i.e. rather than being destroyed, Mogo Zoo came to the rescue and gave it a home at their expense.

 

[Hix]

Popped into the zoo today to catch up with a few friends. Quick update:

The Cassowary's are still not on display, but it looks very close. There are labels on the fence identifying it as electrified.

The new Bull Elephant facility is looking close to completion. I noticed six hotwires strung with the cables in the fence.

The demolished aviaries opposite the elephants have been cleaned up and planted out.

http://www.zoochat.com/34/old-aviary-opposite-new-elephant-facility-68827/
http://www.zoochat.com/34/old-aviary-opposite-new-elephant-facility-68826/

The penguin pool has been filled with sand, but the crater where the Seal Theatre used to be is still an ugly eyesore.

The old seal pools have another (third) fountain, this one in the old Leopard Seal pool.

And Monifa came out at 1:15 to have a swim (which she obviously enjoyed). Very popular with the public. And Monifa sometimes swims upside down, the same way Timmy - her father - does.

http://www.zoochat.com/34/monifa-68828/
http://www.zoochat.com/34/monifa-68829/



Hix

 

[Ara]

Pygmy hippos in zoos are usually anything from grumpy to downright vicious.
It will be interesting to see whether the large amount of keeper interaction that Monifa is receiving will result in a little hippo with a sweeter disposition.

 

[Coquinguy]

Gung, Taronga Zoo's breeding male Asian Elephant moved into his new enclosure this week as reported by todays Telegraph.
Cant wait to see him in-situ monday week

 

[torie]

because of he heavy rain sydney has had the thing is a mudbowl and gung is LOVING it i was there sat and sun and he was running around in the mud and squelching in under foot. he has also been using the side of the old ele temple as a scratching post so its coated in mud too! all good fun!