Taronga Zoo Great Southern Oceans

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boof said:
Leopard seals have been in the collection as far back as 20 years. I have an old guide book from 1988 with a leopard seal at Taronga. So the overhaul took 20 years?
You say that a facility can't just use what they have they have to upgrade but, then you say you didn't need to upgrade the old pools for leopard seals. What is different in the new pool to the old pool?
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I realise this, the thing we have to take into account is that zoo have changed over that time. Also if you remember brooke moved down to seal bay when those pools opened in the early 90's.
The new pool number 1 has a filter and a chiller, more interesting enclosure layout for her, deeper pool, the underwater viewing window adds enrichment for her as well.
 
okay boof did you get that? the reason leopard seals need specially designed exhibits is because...

they are not your average seal and they need viewing windows and a more interesting enclosure layout!

what a pro!
 
patrick said:
"not just your average seal"?... ha ha! is that the best description you can give? your supposed to be a seal keeper and all you can say is "not just your average seal"?.......
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you've got to be kidding me, thats a point for you. Well what seeing as your so good why don't you give me a description. And it's true, a leopard seal is not comparable to anything we have in captivity and can't be treated as just another seal.

patrick said:
but.... but.... as boof so very rightly pointed out. you did keep a leopard seal in there for years. so obviously it was adequate enough.
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we kept a leopard seal in there until the early 90's when we built the seal bay facility which contained state of the art facilities at the time so therefore we did cater for the leopards at the time, we then moved brooke back to the old main pool while we constructed GSO, overhauling twice in the space of 10 years for the leopard seal, i class that as an upgrade.

patrick said:
i know, and considering your the seal keeper you'd think it was you who'd be memorising this stuff.....

i mean %$#@! it seems i'm more interested in your apparent job than you are!
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Being a marine mammal keeper means i'd memorise the guidelines for animals i have never worked with so have never needed to know the guidelines. like seriously just because i work at the zoo, and i love it, doesn't mean i know everything about everything in the zoo, no one does! not even you!
 
patrick said:
okay boof did you get that? the reason leopard seals need specially designed exhibits is because...

they are not your average seal and they need viewing windows and a more interesting enclosure layout!

what a pro!
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Well you tell me what a leopard seal needs
 
patrick said:
wanna knows something zooworker....

*whispers*

some of us here don't think you really work at the zoo.
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LOL... You are being mean in this thread..!
 
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I can't wait for Melbourne's marine mammal precinct to open, as then there will be numerous messages supporting/bashing the choices made there. This thread is hilarious!

It seems to me that California Sea Lions are the most common, easily managed species of pinniped in the world, and practically every large zoo and aquarium that I visit has a collection of them. They fill the voids left over when "rescued" animals cannot be found, and they are extremely adaptable to all types of surroundings and environments. It is somewhat bizarre that "Great Southern Oceans" is not the name of the body of water along the massive California coastline. Aren't there California sea lions swimming around Kangaroo Island or Tasmania??? Hahahaha
 
Personally, I think Californian sea lions are way too common these days. Taronga Zoo should exhibit elephant seals because they are so rare in zoos and they would fit right in as part of Great Southern Oceans.
 
aw101 said:
Personally, I think Californian sea lions are way too common these days. Taronga Zoo should exhibit elephant seals because they are so rare in zoos and they would fit right in as part of Great Southern Oceans.
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Yeah, righto! Why not write to them and suggest that they just nip out into the ocean and collect a few :rolleyes:
 
In a book i got of pictures from Taronga and Western Plains Zoo and it has elephant seals in it. The book is called ZOO and you can only get it at Angus and Robertson.
 
fiordland peguins...

anyone know why the fiordland penguins ended up in an exhibit with little penguins? i though the fiordlands were due to get their own exhibit?

i rather think that was a missed opportunity. fiordlands nest in proper temperate rainforest - so there was an exciting concept for an exhibit there.

i can only guess that maybe the issue was that it wasn't worth building them their own exhibit until after they breed - and thus they become a safer investment long-term...
 
PAT said:
In a book i got of pictures from Taronga and Western Plains Zoo and it has elephant seals in it. The book is called ZOO and you can only get it at Angus and Robertson.
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Correct we used to have 3 elephant seals, 2 females and a male who were wild caught and lived at the zoo for many years, however due to the very slim numbers and the size of a facility needed to keep them it's just not practical.
 
Thanks Zooworker. How long ago was it and were they on display cos i might have seen them without remembering.
 
The lower seal pools used to have these great (lfie size?) silhouettes of different species, one of which was the Elephant Seal.
I remember I used to be amazed by those because the Elephant Seal represented was huge!
I can't remember if I ever saw one there when I first visited sometime in the early 90s.
 
patrick said:
anyone know why the fiordland penguins ended up in an exhibit with little penguins? i though the fiordlands were due to get their own exhibit?

i rather think that was a missed opportunity. fiordlands nest in proper temperate rainforest - so there was an exciting concept for an exhibit there.

i can only guess that maybe the issue was that it wasn't worth building them their own exhibit until after they breed - and thus they become a safer investment long-term...
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I don't remember any plans for the Fiordlands to have a separate exhibit, although I think it would have been great too. Hey, there's an answer to a previous question too - what would have been a better choice rather than pelicans? A special exhibit for the Fiordlands!
 
PAT said:
Thanks Zooworker. How long ago was it and were they on display cos i might have seen them without remembering.
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We displayed them until the early 90's, up until '91 if i remember correctly, and they were down the bottom in the lower pools prior to seal bay, there was a facility there for them. However due to some rather unfortunate accidents they passed away.
 
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