Melbourne Zoo The Future of Zoos Victoria 2025 (Speculation/Fantasy)

[Tiger91]

That would a fascinating comparison to see Eastern bongo in their old exhibit, adjacent to the Lowland nyala in the giraffe exhibit.

I suspect the long term intention is to acquire a bull, which will be housed in the old bongo exhibit; with the cows/calves inhabiting the giraffe exhibit. Aside from bulls being territorial, it’s a good way to manage breeding and similar arrangements have been effective at other zoos in the region.

With Werribee just up the road, I really do not understand the need to accomodate the bull separately. A bull can be kept with the females and any calves in with the giraffes. Contraceptives could be easily used to stop any breeding. Werribee is 45 min away and could accomodate any unwanted calves, especially males.

Keeping the male seperate just seems like a double up of exhibits that doesn't need to happen. Especially when the zoo has its sister zoo just up the road.

Which would lead the zoo to have the space to require bongo and house them. But that would be to logical for current administrators to do.

 

[Zoofan15]

With Werribee just up the road, I really do not understand the need to accomodate the bull separately. A bull can be kept with the females and any calves in with the giraffes. Contraceptives could be easily used to stop any breeding. Werribee is 45 min away and could accomodate any unwanted calves, especially males.

Keeping the male seperate just seems like a double up of exhibits that doesn't need to happen. Especially when the zoo has its sister zoo just up the road.

Which would lead the zoo to have the space to require bongo and house them. But that would be to logical for current administrators to do.

Male nyala can be aggressive towards exhibit mates, which Melbourne would be wary of with regards to keeping them with giraffes, especially given their intention to breed the latter.

Transporting a bull nyala to and from Melbourne/Werribee for breeding isn’t ideal. Transit comes with risks, especially with such a flighty species. It’s much easier all round if Melbourne keeps a bull in an adjacent exhibit, with said bull mating with selected females. It avoids putting non-target females (e.g. his inevitable daughters) on contraception also.

 

[Tiger91]

There "appears" to be a real "reluctance" to import large species into our zoos that I have tried to fathom as to why this is the case?, When one can see now how the now ex plan of the importation of some White rhinos from South Africa ended up as a bit of a mess after a time span of 13 years make me wonder if its just in the "to hard to manage" basket or more of a financial reason of not wanting to outlay some serous money?

Taronga could scrap the new sky rail project and import everything we wished for and still have money to spend. Imports are not as costly as some of these projects that are costing upwards of 70 mil to undertake. The eco resort also costed 64 million, the new teaching vet hospital is 80 million to build. While yes they use it for the animals and wildlife. There is a very large element of using it to teach and create an income from it. And this is only examples from Taronga. Not to mention all the money put into the office hours of planning etc that are not quoted in those costs which are also significant.

If you add up all the costs of projects for non animal related expansions and how much space they are dedicated. Especially if they are able to produce income of their own throughout the majour zoos. Money is not a factor, the issue is the zoo's are being run by corporate executives who are more interested in development of non animal areas into there own income makers under the guise of doing it for 'education' or 'accomodation experiances' or food and entertainment. While maintaining the minimum amount of a species they can while operating under the guise of being a zoo. They simply dont care to import new species or new genetics until it is absolutely necessary, even better if they can do a quiet replacement for an already common species IE sheep and camels taking up space at Taronga, Dingoes ate Melbourne etc.

 

[Zorro]

Taronga could scrap the new sky rail project and import everything we wished for and still have money to spend. Imports are not as costly as some of these projects that are costing upwards of 70 mil to undertake. The eco resort also costed 64 million, the new teaching vet hospital is 80 million to build. While yes they use it for the animals and wildlife. There is a very large element of using it to teach and create an income from it. And this is only examples from Taronga. Not to mention all the money put into the office hours of planning etc that are not quoted in those costs which are also significant.

If you add up all the costs of projects for non animal related expansions and how much space they are dedicated. Especially if they are able to produce income of their own throughout the majour zoos. Money is not a factor, the issue is the zoo's are being run by corporate executives who are more interested in development of non animal areas into there own income makers under the guise of doing it for 'education' or 'accomodation experiances' or food and entertainment. While maintaining the minimum amount of a species they can while operating under the guise of being a zoo. They simply dont care to import new species or new genetics until it is absolutely necessary, even better if they can do a quiet replacement for an already common species IE sheep and camels taking up space at Taronga, Dingoes ate Melbourne etc.

I agree with you the management of animals and exhibits should come first in zoos but unfortunately many large zoos hire managers and consultants that are not really animal savvy where they are trying to cater to what they believe the public want, while we do have "some" managers that are good at what they do some are lacking, If only we had more of the calibre of the late great John Kelly!

 

[Tiger91]

I agree with you the management of animals and exhibits should come first in zoos but unfortunately many large zoos hire managers and consultants that are not really animal savvy where they are trying to cater to what they believe the public want, while we do have "some" managers that are good at what they do some are lacking, If only we had more of the calibre of the late great John Kelly!

It will be interesting to see how monarto fares now, there recent head of operations has gone and she was a great push for not only developing Monarto's elements for humans. But balanced it out quite nicely by being equally if not more focussed on animals and species. If the new person in the role goes down the same path as we have seen in other zoos. Then we can expect monarto to stagnate then go down hill which would be a shame.

 

[Zorro]

It will be interesting to see how monarto fares now, there recent head of operations has gone and she was a great push for not only developing Monarto's elements for humans. But balanced it out quite nicely by being equally if not more focussed on animals and species. If the new person in the role goes down the same path as we have seen in other zoos. Then we can expect monarto to stagnate then go down hill which would be a shame.

I believe Monarto will be fine they still have Peter Clark the power house behind the rise of the zoo

 

[Jambo]

I believe a lot of us can see that many mistakes by some zoo management have been made that should never have been made first and foremost the importation of the Thai elephants into two city zoos instead of the two open range zoos was a waste of time and money.
The importation of a tiny amount of Bongo antelope and then exported the first female calf overseas instead of retaining her.Now to have the remaining few aging and shrinking in number.
The import of just one pair of Sitatunga antelope only to become badly inbred and phased out due to lack of bloodlines.
The import of only a trio of Waterbuck antelope into the region which have also become badly inbred which without further imports will die out as did the Sitatunga.
The overlooked Pygmy hippos which lavished individuals were in different city zoos for years before someone woke up and realised that they should be paired up and bred before they too were lost to their collections.
The list could go on but at the end of the day it should and could be made better as is the mentioned case of the Nyala importation and the outstanding job that was made of it!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing! It's obviously very difficult to 'predict' the future, and it all depends on a large variety of factors which can sway either way to the benefit of each breeding program, or too it's detriment.

In saying that, I do think you bring up some very strong points. On the Elephants, Melbourne was a little stuck having built a completely new, then world class complex a few years prior to the Thai cows import. Taronga too was ultimately stacked up elephants wise at Dubbo (keep in mind they still had their Africans). So transferring the new Thai herd across would've required an extension of that complex there - absolutely not out of their capacity though.

As you could see with the Pygmy Hippos, there wasn't any 'strong' desire to breed any regionally and only when they realised they could soon be without any long term, was a decision made to make last ditch efforts to pair pairs up at Taronga. And then purchase the brothers from Cairns.

 

[Jambo]

It'll be a shame they never kept vervets, they also would have fit perfectly with monarto and western plains. I'll never understand why they were never invested in more. There such a quintessential African species.

I visited today and only saw one left. I'm sure there was probably a few more hanging around (perhaps inside as it was a cold day) - but their numbers are seemingly continuing to dwindle.

Vervet's aren't endangered at all, and there's little regional support to have a regional breeding program for them as a result. Vervet's only really suited Werribee's 'African theme', hence their initial import. I'm confident they'll be replaced by Colobuses at this point (also being one of the region's few African primate species).

 

[Zoofan15]

I visited today and only saw one left. I'm sure there was probably a few more hanging around (perhaps inside as it was a cold day) - but their numbers are seemingly continuing to dwindle.

Vervet's aren't endangered at all, and there's little regional support to have a regional breeding program for them as a result. Vervet's only really suited Werribee's 'African theme', hence their initial import. I'm confident they'll be replaced by Colobuses at this point (also being one of the region's few African primate species).

We can assume Werribee’s Vervet monkeys were designated as phase out as Zoos Victoria’s species criteria now requires species two of the following:

Recovery - threatened species recovery programme, preferably reintroduced to the wild.

Ark - species under threat of extinction in the wild and part of regional and international breeding programmes.

Ambassador - the face of a conservation campaign.

Enabling - species that engage with people and form emotional bonds.

Research - species that support the research of Zoos Victoria for the improvement of animal welfare.

It’s a stretch to be honest to say Vervet monkey fall into any of these categories whereas Black and white colobus are at least endangered and clearly have decent regional support.

 

[The Sleepy Hippo]

We can assume Werribee’s Vervet monkeys were designated as phase out as Zoos Victoria’s species criteria now requires species two of the following:

Ambassador - the face of a conservation campaign.

Enabling - species that engage with people and form emotional bonds.

It’s a stretch to be honest to say Vervet monkey fall into any of these categories whereas Black and white colobus are at least endangered and clearly have decent regional support.

I'd argue Vervets did until recently fit into both Ambassador and Enabling - they are the face of the ethical coffee campaign that Zoos Victoria had been involved in with Jasper Coffee, and they are certainly enabling - but then maybe thats just how the children and adults feel about them at my school in Moshi, Tanzania. A huge troop live on campus and entertain us year in and out

 

[Jambo]

I'd argue Vervets did until recently fit into both Ambassador and Enabling - they are the face of the ethical coffee campaign that Zoos Victoria had been involved in with Jasper Coffee, and they are certainly enabling - but then maybe thats just how the children and adults feel about them at my school in Moshi, Tanzania. A huge troop live on campus and entertain us year in and out

I guess you could argue though that any monkey species could be considered 'enabling' - I don't think I've ever heard the Vervets at Werribee referred to as 'Vervets', more simply just 'Monkeys'.

Therefore I don't think Zoos Vic would at a huge loss (if any), in the event they're replaced by another African primate species (like Colobus), that fit better into their criteria and have sustainable regional support.

 

[Steve Robinson]

my school in Moshi, Tanzania. A huge troop live on campus and entertain us year in and out

Similarly, at a zoo that we were visiting in India earlier this year, we were startled by loud crashing and banging on the roof of the offices.

Just the local Langurs doing their daily exercises! They turned up two or three times each day of our stay.

The locals just ignored them - not understanding how enthralled we were by them.

 

[Tiger91]

I guess you could argue though that any monkey species could be considered 'enabling' - I don't think I've ever heard the Vervets at Werribee referred to as 'Vervets', more simply just 'Monkeys'.

Therefore I don't think Zoos Vic would at a huge loss (if any), in the event they're replaced by another African primate species (like Colobus), that fit better into their criteria and have sustainable regional support.

It would be nice for zoo's to have some sort of diversity. Melbourne can easily house a breeding troop or investments made so they could. While Werribee housed vervets. It's also odd to have colobus out in a safari setting. When they suit Melbourne's more forrest biome.

Lets be real, with how some of our zoos are going. Theyll stick some meerkats in the exhibit and call it a day

 

[Zoofan15]

It would be nice for zoo's to have some sort of diversity. Melbourne can easily house a breeding troop or investments made so they could. While Werribee housed vervets. It's also odd to have colobus out in a safari setting. When they suit Melbourne's more forrest biome.

Lets be real, with how some of our zoos are going. Theyll stick some meerkats in the exhibit and call it a day

Although Black and white colobus are better suited to Melbourne’s rainforest theme rather than an open range Safari setting, the same could be said for Western lowland gorilla. These two species compliment each other nicely and I could easily see them being housed in adjacent exhibits.

Whether long term Zoos Victoria would consider housing all their gorillas (bachelor troop and breeding troop) at Melbourne is something to consider - especially now they have elephants at Werribee. The gorilla exhibit at Werribee would be ideal for Hamadryas baboon imo.

 

[Zoofan15]

With the planned acquisition of SA species, id say we have a pretty good bet that in the future they will require coati again. Especially if they acquire Tapir, sloth etc.

The most ironic thing of this situation, with all the stuff MZ could import, all the species they could work towards importing but haven't. They imported two elderly binturong.

I’m optimistic that Melbourne Zoo will consider a redevelopment of Treetops in 3-5 years to accomodate South American species from both the Xenarthra IRA and coati. It would make for a phenomenal sub-precinct. I say 3-5 years because that will not only give the IRA time to be processed, but enable Zoos Victoria to address the other gaps in their collection:

Old Eastern bongo exhibit - filled with Lowland nyala
Old Malayan tapir exhibit - Brazilian tapir incoming?
Old Mandrill exhibit - colobus?
Elephant paddocks - orangutan expansion?

 

[Zorro]

I’m optimistic that Melbourne Zoo will consider a redevelopment of Treetops in 3-5 years to accomodate South American species from both the Xenarthra IRA and coati. It would make for a phenomenal sub-precinct. I say 3-5 years because that will not only give the IRA time to be processed, but enable Zoos Victoria to address the other gaps in their collection:

Old Eastern bongo exhibit - filled with Lowland nyala
Old Malayan tapir exhibit - Brazilian tapir incoming?
Old Mandrill exhibit - colobus?
Elephant paddocks - orangutan expansion?

There are some major zoos with Bongos in their master plan wether that's still as planned is anyones guess

 

[Zoofan15]

There are some major zoos with Bongos in their master plan wether that's still as planned is anyones guess

I really hope it is. Now the Bovid IRA is in place, it would appear within the means of our zoos to import some females to pair with our region’s ageing males.

An import of three females by any one of the current holders could generate a large number of first generation females to supply the other zoos, though the more imports the better (including males) for the sake of genetic diversity.

 

[Tiger91]

There are some major zoos with Bongos in their master plan wether that's still as planned is anyones guess

Is that just because they look nice on advertisements like Perth used them for ?

 

[Zorro]

Is that just because they look nice on advertisements like Perth used them for ?

Who can say for sure!

 

[Zorro]

I really hope it is. Now the Bovid IRA is in place, it would appear within the means of our zoos to import some females to pair with our region’s ageing males.

An import of three females by any one of the current holders could generate a large number of first generation females to supply the other zoos, though the more imports the better (including males) for the sake of genetic diversity.

If they have not started looking already by the time they do and wait (and locate) for everting to be processed any males see currently might be to late for any chance of realistically use for breeding!