Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo News 2024

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Tiger91 said:
Insects replacing elephants, they may as well shut the zoo down, and sell the land of.
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I remember the Paris Menagerie replacing the elephant enclosure with a Micrarium, which I think was much more interesting. There are many endangered insects in the world that Melbourne could breed to be increase wild populations. Elephants take up a lot of space and are unlikely to be used to boost wild populations.
 
That Aussie Guy said:
A bit off-topic, but do you think this new IRA will see sloths, armadillos, or anteaters make a return to Melbourne Zoo, or the country as a whole?
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I second Steve's comments on this. I have a friend at Taronga (can't say her name for obvious reasons) and I asked her about this evening .She told me there is a considerable amount of chitter chatter surrounding this IRA within the zoo community as of present. Apparently IRA's are difficult to push for without the support of the major zoos so I imagine Steve and his peers are incredibly glad they bigger zoos are showing interest in this one. To answer your question, I'm fairly confident Zoos Vic are one of those bigger org's involved *wink*
 
Trua said:
I second Steve's comments on this. I have a friend at Taronga (can't say her name for obvious reasons) and I asked her about this evening .She told me there is a considerable amount of chitter chatter surrounding this IRA within the zoo community as of present. Apparently IRA's are difficult to push for without the support of the major zoos so I imagine Steve and his peers are incredibly glad they bigger zoos are showing interest in this one. To answer your question, I'm fairly confident Zoos Vic are one of those bigger org's involved *wink*
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It wouldn't surprise me if taronga and Melbourne want slothes. The younger generations love them, and it's a relatively easy species to keep, there small and don't take up much space.
 
Jambo said:
The fencing would need to be modified for Nyala - so we can probably throw that idea out the window.

I remember Melbourne were planning to acquire Malayan Tapir and since their previous enclosure is currently being occupied by the Nyala, perhaps they'll be housed in part of the Elephant complex. The barn may help with their eye issues per se.

Hypothetically an Orangutan expansion wouldn't need to take up as much space of the current elephant complex if they utilised the island opposite too, which would be preferable.
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There is a lot of space, and they could really use the space well and design some really nice exhibits/complexes. Id rather see a filler species for a while to give them time to plan the area out. The rush into a half arsed plan that is a bit meh. Melbourne has some great exhibits.
 
MRJ said:
Rounding down, Zoos Vic received $74 million from admission and sales, while it cost them $136 million to run the four zoos (22-23 figures). In other words, they are already running at a substantial deficit. This deficit is funded by Government grants. It is up to the Government to decide how much their subsidy will be, and the Board has to decide how they manage the zoos to make that work. A growing unfunded deficit would not see the zoos close, but it may see a number of senior people in Zoos Vic looking for other work.

The size of the State deficit is about the only election issue the opposition have at the moment, so the Government will not be looking to grow it.
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If it's anything like health, were it is almost more top heavy then bottom heavy, a remodelling and slimming down of management wouldn't hurt and would def help with extra funds.
 
Krookaburra said:
P.S. Don't get too excited about the earless dragons, I've seen their enclosure twice but never spotted one. To be fair I was in a rush both times but I don't think they're super visible. (the canberra ones in the reptile house are easy to spot at least)
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On this point, during my visit I swung by their enclosure twice. My first was when I first got to the zoo around 10am and all I saw was a head barely visible down one of their burrow tubes. I checked again on my way out around 2pm and there were three lizards out in the open in the enclosure. I'm not sure if this was pure luck or perhaps they become a bit more visible in the afternoon? I did not notice any in the background breeding tanks on either visit.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
On this point, during my visit I swung by their enclosure twice. My first was when I first got to the zoo around 10am and all I saw was a head barely visible down one of their burrow tubes. I checked again on my way out around 2pm and there were three lizards out in the open in the enclosure. I'm not sure if this was pure luck or perhaps they become a bit more visible in the afternoon? I did not notice any in the background breeding tanks on either visit.

~Thylo
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Since then I've seen them twice and then missed them once, I think they are probably visible around 60% of the time or something which is fair enough for such a high priority conservation subject.
 
Krookaburra said:
View media item 770889The little guy was on the news this morning!
Visiting ASAP after this lol, haven't been able to see a Komodo dragon in a zoo for years.
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Melbourne Zoo’s first Komodo dragon!

What a fantastic and long awaited addition to the collection; and how special to have one of the first clutch to hatch in an Australian zoo.
 
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Absolutely awesome news and a long time coming for Melbourne!

They've now be added to the map - it appears they're above Keeper Kids, whereabouts the Cotton Top Tamarin enclosure is so maybe the Cotton Tops have been moved out as a result.

Long term, it's reasonable to assume this is only a temporary little home for this guy considering its size and he will get a new, larger enclosure elsewhere in the zoo eventually.
 
austrlain zoo gower said:
https://www.zoo.org.au/melbourne/mz_map/Melbourne Zoo Map

in other news elephants have been officially removed from the most recent issue of the zoo map and have been replaced with ‘forest of wonder’
As stated above Komodo also on the map
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It appears to be the new name for the Trail of the Elephants, which of course won't have elephants anymore. Not the most though out name imo, they certainly could've thought of something better but hopefully it's only a temporary name.

It also confirms the elephants will indeed be moving next month with them now being taken off the map.
 
austrlain zoo gower said:
https://www.zoo.org.au/melbourne/mz_map/Melbourne Zoo Map

in other news elephants have been officially removed from the most recent issue of the zoo map and have been replaced with ‘forest of wonder’
As stated above Komodo also on the map
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Forests of Wonder appears to be the name of the precinct, which may provide some clues as to the replacement of the elephants. The majority of the species in this precinct are South East Asian; but we can at least assume the new inhabitants will be forest dwelling - ruling out rhinoceros from the savannah.
 
Jambo said:
It appears to be the new name for the Trail of the Elephants, which of course won't have elephants anymore. Not the most though out name imo, they certainly could've thought of something better but hopefully it's only a temporary name.

It also confirms the elephants will indeed be moving next month with them now being taken off the map.
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I assume it is temporary as I feel it will be a precinct in flux until the point they are given the money to do a complete overhaul.
They probably could have/ should have called it Orangutan Sanctuary, and made them the current focus in the interim.
 
The Sleepy Hippo said:
I assume it is temporary as I feel it will be a precinct in flux until the point they are given the money to do a complete overhaul.
They probably could have/ should have called it Orangutan Sanctuary, and made them the current focus in the interim.
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Orangutan and Sumatran tigers will be the stars of the show in this precinct for the time being; but I assume they decided not to rename it after either of them as they already have Gorilla Rainforest (immediately adjacent); and Lion Gorge.

Having two precincts named after big cats or great apes might incorrectly give the impression Melbourne doesn’t have a diverse collection of species; even if said species are among the biggest drawcards at any zoo.
 
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