Adelaide Zoo Adelaide Zoo Species List - 18/07/2024

That Aussie Guy

That Aussie Guy

Well-Known Member
I visited Adelaide Zoo on the 18/07/2024, and made note of every species I saw, or that was signed. I likely missed a few species due to not spending a huge amount of time at every enclosure/aviary, so I do apologise for that. Also, this is my first attempt at posting a species list, so please do correct me if I missed anything/you have any tips on how to improve for next time :)

There was an unsigned tortoise species in the "nursery" near the old petting zoo. If anyone knows what it is, please let me know, and I'll update the list.

Not seen
Unsigned

Mammals

1. African Lion
2. Asian Small-Clawed Otter
3. Australian Sea Lion
4. Binturong
5. Black and White Colobus
6. Black-Footed Tree Rat
7. Bolivian Squirrel Monkey
8. Brazilian Tapir
9. Brush-Tailed Bettong
10. Cape Porcupine
11. Cotton-Top Tamarin
12. Dingo
13. Domestic Goat
14. Domestic Guinea Pig
15. Domestic Rabbit
16. Dusky Langur
17. Emperor Tamarin
18. Fat-Tailed Dunnart
19. Fennec Fox
20. Giant Panda
21. Giraffe
22. Golden Lion Tamarin
23. Greater Bilby
24. Greater Stick-Nest Rat
25. Hamadryas Baboon
26. Kangaroo Island Kangaroo
27. Long-Nosed Potoroo
28. Malayan Tapir
29. Mandrill
30. Maned Wolf
31. Meerkat
32. Patagonian Mara
33. Pygmy Hippopotamus
34. Quokka
35. Red Kangaroo
36. Red Panda
37. Ring-Tailed Lemur
38. Ring-Tailed Possum
39. Serval
40. Short-Beaked Echidna
41. Siamang
42. South American Coati
43. Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombat
44. Spinifex Hopping-Mouse
45. Squirrel Glider
46. Sumatran Orangutan
47. Sumatran Tiger
48. Tammar Wallaby
49. Tasmanian Devil
50. White-Cheeked Gibbon
51. Yellow-Footed Rock Wallaby

Birds

1. African Grey Parrot
2. Australian Figbird
3. Australian Pelican
4. Banded Lapwing
5. Barking Owl
6. Black Lory
7. Black-Breasted Buzzard
8. Black-Capped Caique
9. Black-Capped Lory
10. Black-Necked Stork
11. Black-Winged Stilt
12. Blue and Gold Macaw
13. Blue-Winged Kookaburra
14. Brown-Throated Conure
15. Buff-Banded Rail
16. Bush-Stone Curlew
17. Cape Barren Goose
18. Channel-Billed Cuckoo
19. Chattering Lory
20. Cockatiel
21. Crested Bellbird
22. Crimson-Bellied Conure
23. Diamond Dove
24. Diamond Firetail
25. Dollarbird
26. Dusky Lory
27. Eclectus Parrot
28. Elegant Parrot
29. Emerald Dove
30. Gang-Gang Cockatoo
31. Glossy Ibis
32. Gouldian Finch
33. Helmeted Guineafowl
34. Illiger’s Macaw
35. Indian Peafowl
36. Java Sparrow
37. King Parrot
38. Lady Amherst’s Pheasant
39. Little Egret
40. Little Penguin
41. Little Pied Cormorant
42. Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo
43. Malabar Parakeet
44. Mandarin Duck
45. Nankeen Kestrel
46. Nicobar Pigeon
47. Noisy Pitta
48. Orange-Bellied Parrot
49. Painted Finch
50. Palm Cockatoo
51. Pied Imperial Pigeon
52. Plum-Headed Parakeet
53. Radjah Shelduck
54. Red Lory
55. Red-Headed Parrot Finch
56. Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo
57. Regent Bowerbird
58. Regent Honeyeater
59. Regent Parrot
60. Rose-Crowned Fruit Dove
61. Royal Spoonbill
62. Sacred Kingfisher
63. Satin Bowerbird
64. Scarlet Macaw
65. Silkie Chicken
66. Southern Cassowary
67. Striped Honeyeater
68. Sun Conure
69. Superb Fairy-Wren
70. Superb Lyrebird
71. Swift Parrot
72. Tawny Frogmouth
73. Wandering Whistling Duck
74. White-Bellied Caique
75. White-Breasted Ground Dove
76. White-Browed Woodswallow
77. White-Headed Pigeon
78. Wonga Pigeon
79. Yellow-Crowned Amazon
80. Yellow-Naped Amazon
81. Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo
82. Zebra Finch

Reptiles

1. African Spurred Tortoise
2. Aldabra Giant Tortoise
3. American Alligator
4. Aruba Island Rattlesnake
5. Boyd’s Forest Dragon
6. Broad-Headed Snake
7. Central Netted Dragon
8. Centralian Knob-Tailed Gecko
9. Corn Snake
10. Gila Monster
11. Green Anaconda
12. Hosmer’s Skink
13. Inland Taipan
14. Komodo Dragon
15. Murray River Turtle
16. Northern Spiny-Tailed Gecko
17. Olive Python
18. Pig-Nosed Turtle
19. Pygmy Blue-Tongued Lizard
20. Red-Bellied Black Snake
21. Rhinoceros Iguana
22. Rough-Scaled Python
23. Southern Angle-Headed Dragon
24. Southern Death Adder
25. Spur-Thighed Tortoise
26. Tortoise species near nursery?? (perhaps elongated tortoise?)
27. Woma Python

Amphibians

1. Australian Red-Eyed Tree Frog
2. Cane Toad
3. Magnificent Tree Frog

Fish

1. Banded Archerfish
2. Yellow Seahorse

Invertebrates

1. Australian Tarantula
2. Blistered Pyrgomorph
3. Children’s Stick Insect
4. Egyptian Beetle
5. Golden Orb-Weaver
6. Goliath Stick Insect
7. Grass Mantis
8. Rainforest Millipede
9. Rainforest Scorpion
10. Rainforest Snail
11. Spiny Leaf Insect
12. Tiger Huntsman
13. Wolf Spider

Total Species Count: 178
 
Thanks for the great list. For a mid-sized, historic 1883 zoo on 20 acres/8 hectares, to have 51 mammal species, 82 bird species, 30 reptile/amphibian species and 15 fish/invertebrate species is not too shabby at all.
 
steveroberts said:
@That Aussie Guy

Thanks for the list

Hey out of big curiosity would you be able to say which of those reptile species were in the reptile house (something have long wanted to know about Adelaide Zoo)
Click to expand...

Of course!

Species in the Reptile House

1. Central Netted Dragon
2. Southern Angle-Headed Dragon
3. Broad-Headed Snake
4. Centralian Knob-Tailed Gecko
5. Hosmer's Skink
6. Corn Snake
7. Woma Python
8. Green Anaconda
9. Pygmy Blue-Tongued Lizard
10. Aruba Island Rattlesnake
11. Gila Monster
12. Southern Death Adder
13. Inland Taipan
14. Boyd's Forest Dragon
15. Red-Bellied Black Snake
16. Aldabra Giant Tortoise (One juvenile)

I think the Reptile House is definitely due for an upgrade, and I believe in the Adelaide Zoo Masterplan (due to be finished by 2035 apparently) it does indeed get an upgrade, and becomes a joint Nocturnal House, Small Aquarium, and Reptile House. From the Masterplan - "Remove existing Nocturnal House and expand/replace existing Reptile House to serve as a multi-purpose indoor centre displaying nocturnal, reptilian and aquatic species." However, the extension shown on the original masterplan seems to be gone in the addendum, so they may have ultimately decided against that for the time being.

Even an internal renovation I think would better the current setup, with some more theming, and possibly some windows for more natural light (and more light in general).
 
@That Aussie Guy

Thankyou heaps. Been a long time interested in knowing the specific residents of the zoo's reptile house as knew like all big city zoos even with seeing the reptile species (and amphibian) inventory for the zoo (and changing inventory over the years) since yet to visit the zoo (or Adelaide) that it would of course be a number of those species in the reptile building but roughly half to a quarter of elsewhere in the zoo like the general setup of the bigger zoos.

Re: the nocturnal house; when first saw a schematic map in the gallery on ZC of the noc' house by a fellow Zoochat amigo of ours who's put together a lot of great self-made maps/schematics of many noc' and mammal houses including in Europe and Nth America, was very surprised how small the noc' house at Adelaide Zoo actually is (the surprise was kinda reinforced by finding out on the various threads on here about the impressive former inhabitants of the noc' house over the last fifty years like the very cute and missed and impressively long-lived Ms C the Hoffman's sloth and her companions, bushbabys, slender lorises, springhaas etc).

I like the sound of your excellent idea about even some minimalist renovations to the existing building bringing more natural light in and perhaps theming the individual terrarium setups a bit would work good as an interim upgrade until they decide whether or not to still go with the idea they laid out in the initial masterplan for the current few decades (the idea sounds like though conjecture on my end zero notion if was how they came to consider it: the setup that Sydney Zoo Blacktown has with the multi-zoned building they have that includes their noc' house, reptile house and aquarium).

I think from memory ZooFan15 or Jambo told me but wasn't Adelaide's reptile house designed architecturally as like a smaller scale version of Melbourne's design?

It does sound like the muti-purpouse building complex idea is put on the 'backburner' for now sort of like the Congo precinct plans for Taronga.
 
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steveroberts said:
@That Aussie Guy

Thankyou heaps. Been a long time interested in knowing the specific residents of the zoo's reptile house as knew like all big city zoos even with seeing the reptile species (and amphibian) inventory for the zoo (and changing inventory over the years) since yet to visit the zoo (or Adelaide) that it would of course be a number of those species in the reptile building but roughly half to a quarter of elsewhere in the zoo like the general setup of the bigger zoos.

Re: the nocturnal house; when first saw a schematic map in the gallery on ZC of the noc' house by a fellow Zoochat amigo of ours who's put together a lot of great self-made maps/schematics of many noc' and mammal houses including in Europe and Nth America, was very surprised how small the noc' house at Adelaide Zoo actually is (the surprise was kinda reinforced by finding out on the various threads on here about the impressive former inhabitants of the noc' house over the last fifty years like the very missed Ms C the Hoffman's sloth and her companions, bushbabys, slender lorises, springhaas etc).

I like the sound of your excellent idea about even some minimalist renovations to the existing building bringing more natural light in and perhaps theming the individual terrarium setups a bit would work good as an interim upgrade until they decide whether or not to still go with the idea they laid out in the initial masterplan for the current few decades (the idea sounds like though conjecture on my end zero notion if was how they came to consider it: the setup that Sydney Zoo Blacktown has with the multi-zoned building they have that includes their noc' house, reptile house and aquarium).

I think from memory ZooFan15 or Jambo told me but wasn't Adelaide's reptile house designed architecturally as like a smaller scale version of Melbourne's design?

It does sound like the muti-purpouse building complex idea is put on the 'backburner' for now sort of like the Congo precinct plans for Taronga.
Click to expand...

I would say Melbourne’s Reptile House is more similar to London’s, thought the facade is less architecturally impressive.

The outdoor annex to Adelaide’s Reptile House is a variation and actually reminds me of Taronga’s design. Internally, there’s similarities, but to be fair, most reptile displays are pretty similar with rows of glass fronted exhibits!
 
@Zoofan15

Hey was just thinking of you, oh right right so that classic London Zoo reptile house (made classic by London Zoo and the architect of it itself right) was the inspiration for Melbourne's one in all likelihood but with Adelaide's reptile house, its actually not in turn a smaller 'carbon cutout' of Melbourne's.

Yeah absolutely good point, all reptile houses will have a similarity on a pretty clear level based on the rows of glass-fronted exhibits setup (Taronga's Serpentaria seemed to have a different setup with the long path in a crescent setup kindof sortof reminded me of the standard noc' house visitor path setup albeit the building layout was not compact like noc' houses usually are, the big city zoo ones that is, know now some noc' hosues are smaller and have just one path that leads from entrance to exit and doesnt always 'circumnavigate' the whole building in a crescent or 'horse shoe').

I think perhaps then the notion of Adelaide's reptile house being very similar to Melbourne's may of come from seeing a google maps view of the reptile house at some point and perhaps from an aerial point of view thought they seemed similar on a superficial level from above.

I like the idea so much of an architecturally impressive layout for a reptile house and London's is world famous (think Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone even added to that but was already famous in the zoos of the world way). But always really loved how Taronga had its outdoor annex area (thanks for giving a way to actually officially describe it), something that do think really compliments a reptile house and thought it was a big improvement when Perth created an outdoor annex area for their Perenties to access doubling their exhibit space about five or six years after the reptile house was first opened.
 
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steveroberts said:
Hey was just thinking of you, oh right right so that classic London Zoo reptile house (made classic by London Zoo and the architect of it itself right) was the inspiration for Melbourne's one in all likelihood but with Adelaide's reptile house, its actually not in turn a smaller 'carbon cutout' of Melbourne's.
Click to expand...
A lot of Melbourne Zoo is actually based on London! The initial layout being one, although it's obviously a lot different now. The Reptile House and it's design being another; your absolutely correct in assuming it was modelled on London's which was seen as one of the world's best at the time. It's almost an exact replica.
 
steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15

Hey was just thinking of you, oh right right so that classic London Zoo reptile house (made classic by London Zoo and the architect of it itself right) was the inspiration for Melbourne's one in all likelihood but with Adelaide's reptile house, its actually not in turn a smaller 'carbon cutout' of Melbourne's.

Yeah absolutely good point, all reptile houses will have a similarity on a pretty clear level based on the rows of glass-fronted exhibits setup (Taronga's Serpentaria seemed to have a different setup with the long path in a crescent setup kindof sortof reminded me of the standard noc' house visitor path setup albeit the building layout was not compact like noc' houses usually are, the big city zoo ones that is, know now some noc' hosues are smaller and have just one path that leads from entrance to exit and doesnt always 'circumnavigate' the whole building in a crescent or 'horse shoe').

I think perhaps then the notion of Adelaide's reptile house being very similar to Melbourne's may of come from seeing a google maps view of the reptile house at some point and perhaps from an aerial point of view thought they seemed similar on a superficial level from above.

I like the idea so much of an architecturally impressive layout for a reptile house and London's is world famous (think Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone even added to that but was already famous in the zoos of the world way). But always really loved how Taronga had its outdoor annex area (thanks for giving a way to actually officially describe it), something that do think really compliments a reptile house and thought it was a big improvement when Perth created an outdoor annex area for their Perenties to access doubling their exhibit space about five or six years after the reptile house was first opened.
Click to expand...

Taronga’s design of Sereptaria was brilliant as the winding paths represented the snakes; and the paths in the sand wound by the snakes it was built to house.

However, Melbourne’s design has been cited as preferable by a number of people on here due to the dual exhibit display. It prevents backlog of people from building up on busy days, which has been an issue in Serpentaria.
 
steveroberts said:
I like the idea so much of an architecturally impressive layout for a reptile house and London's is world famous (think Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone even added to that but was already famous in the zoos of the world way). But always really loved how Taronga had its outdoor annex area (thanks for giving a way to actually officially describe it), something that do think really compliments a reptile house and thought it was a big improvement when Perth created an outdoor annex area for their Perenties to access doubling their exhibit space about five or six years after the reptile house was first opened.
Click to expand...

Jambo said:
A lot of Melbourne Zoo is actually based on London! The initial layout being one, although it's obviously a lot different now. The Reptile House and it's design being another; your absolutely correct in assuming it was modelled on London's which was seen as one of the world's best at the time. It's almost an exact replica.
Click to expand...

London Zoo has some stunning architecture. It remains one of the most iconic zoos worldwide and has been referenced numerous times in pop culture, including being in a music video a couple of years ago (old penguin exhibit). Jane Goodall credits her accomplished career as beginning with childhood visits to London Zoo to see their chimpanzees.

London was historically a powerhouse of animal exhange. Several chimpanzees came to Australasian zoos via London and they were a leading breeder of giraffe calves, with one of our regional founders (John) coming to Auckland Zoo from London. Internationally, they’re credited with one of the first breeding loans (which are now common place) vis a vis their Giant panda, Chi Chi (who was also the inspiration for the WWF logo).
 
@Zoofan15 @Jambo

Cheers guys,

On the whole think as much as loved Serpentaria (its various residence over the decades the clear catalyst but will say too that the trips through the complex always felt like and an adventure or something) will concede that the setup that Melbourne has is definitely a better general layout especially to stop congestion on busy days, perhaps the Serpentaria like layout is better left for nocturnal houses where perhaps that layout helps reduce the outside light from entering the buildings corridors even more? though not very good with structural dynamics tbh.

At first thought to have a setup as Melbourne and London and Adelaide have must mean having to scale down the number of species as say Taronga's Serpentaria had (outdoor annexes would always obviously help increase a zoo's species number again a bit especially larger reptiles like monitors, iguanas, crocodilians and tortoises) but then again its based entirely on the building size availability (been a while since googlemap looked at Melbourne but that reptile house building is very big..on reflection not surprising considering its a large zoo in one of Australia's two largest cities so a big reptile house was an expectation, but was still impressed when first saw).

PS sorry Adelaide Zoo not trying to steal conversation away from you lol, you were the springboard for conversation though.
 
steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15 @Jambo

Cheers guys,

On the whole think as much as loved Serpentaria (its various residence over the decades the clear catalyst but will say too that the trips through the complex always felt like and an adventure or something) will concede that the setup that Melbourne has is definitely a better general layout especially to stop congestion on busy days, perhaps the Serpentaria like layout is better left for nocturnal houses where perhaps that layout helps reduce the outside light from entering the buildings corridors even more? though not very good with structural dynamics tbh.

At first thought to have a setup as Melbourne and London and Adelaide have must mean having to scale down the number of species as say Taronga's Serpentaria had (outdoor annexes would always obviously help increase a zoo's species number again a bit especially larger reptiles like monitors, iguanas, crocodilians and tortoises) but then again its based entirely on the building size availability (been a while since googlemap looked at Melbourne but that reptile house building is very big..on reflection not surprising considering its a large zoo in one of Australia's two largest cities so a big reptile house was an expectation, but was still impressed when first saw).

PS sorry Adelaide Zoo not trying to steal conversation away from you lol, you were the springboard for conversation though.
Click to expand...

I personally rate Perth’s nocturnal house very highly. It has a great flow and congestion wasn’t an issue on my visit despite the crowds. The interior is dark, but the views of the species are fantastic.

I have yet to visit Taronga Zoo’s ARC, but from reports, the congestion issues from Serpentaria haven’t entirely been addressed in the new complex. The inclusion of Komodo dragon is Serpentaria gave the building an iconic centre piece; though I note Adelaide Zoo has an impressive stand alone Komodo dragon exhibit nonetheless.
 
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