Healesville Sanctuary Healesville Sanctuary News 2013

zooboy28

zooboy28

Well-Known Member
There is no newsy threads for the sanctuary, which focuses almost exclusively on native species, so I'll start one with some changes I've noticed this year:

-The Birds of the Bush aviary was closed when I visited in March, but had re-opened in May, following a major renovation. It now holds a variety of endangered avian species, including bush curlews, helmeted honeyeaters and orange-bellied parrots. It looks like an exhibit for Corroborree Frogs will be added to this in the future.
-The Nocturnal House, and adjacent trail with exhibits for wombats and Tasmanian Devils was shut off, and is undergoing renovations. It is expected to re-open later ths month. Hopefully the outdoor exhibits get overhauled, that area was looking very tired on my first visit. Looking forward to visiting next month and seeing what it looks like.
-A very large wooden sculpture has been installed next to the Reptile House - a life-size Megalania!
 

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Tasmanian Devil's to benefit from $1 million bequest: http://www.zoo.org.au/news/zoo-receives-1-million-bequest

4/6/2013

Zoos Victoria has welcomed one of our largest gifts in recent history with a $1 million bequest from the estate of Barbara and Peter Shearer.

The gift will help fund the Zoo's Tasmanian Devil breeding program based at Healesville Sanctuary.

“The Zoo receives over 70 per cent of its funding from ticket sales and donations like the Shearers.

"This is a generous gift that will help our zoos fight the extinction of the Tasmanian Devil. I would like to personally thank the Shearer family for supporting our zoos," Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, Ryan Smith said.

Nephew of Mr and Mrs Shearer’s, Philip Sewell, said the bequest carried on his aunt's love of the Zoo and wildlife.

“Barbara always loved nature and animals so it means a lot to us that this money can go towards something she was really passionate about and such a great and noble cause."

With the Tasmanian Devil expected to become extinct in the wild due to Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour Disease, the bequest makes a welcome and much needed contribution towards Zoos Victoria’s captive breeding program.

The $1 million dollar bequest is part of Zoos Victoria’s $85 million Safe Haven Appeal to upgrade aging infrastructure and carry out vital conservation work.
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this may be a typo, but NUMBAT now at Healesville?!!!!


https://www.facebook.com/zoosvictoria
Visit our mysterious creatures of the night at Healesville Sanctuary these school holidays.

You’ll get to see our Tassie Devils and wombats, and if you venture into the new-look Nocturnal House you can meet our tiny Mountain Pygmy-possum, Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Bilby and Numbat. Meet our keepers, listen to daily talks and learn more about our most endangered species.
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Night Creatures | Zoos Victoria
Discover the night-time world of the Australian bush this winter at Healesville Sanctuary.

Visit our Tasmanian Devils and check out their devilish table manners at our daily feeding session. You will get the chance to hear from their Keeper and learn about what the Sanctuary is doing to help save this unique species from extinction.

Then drop by our new up-close wombat display and meet Florence, Lily or Lullaby, our great Australian burrowers.

Venture into our new-look Nocturnal House to meet our tiny Mountain Pygmy-possum, Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Numbat and Lord Howe Stick Insect.

Hear the sounds of the Australian bush at night and discover our most endangered species! You will get the opportunity to meet our keepers through daily talks, come right up close to our Bilby, and learn more about our mysterious creatures of the night.
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I think Zooboy will be checking that out pretty damn quickly!

:p

Hix
 
Chlidonias said:
this may be a typo, but NUMBAT now at Healesville?!!!!
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Hix said:
I think Zooboy will be checking that out pretty damn quickly!

:p

Hix
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I was going to post about this when I got around to writing up my blog, but you bet me to it Chlidonias.

To summarise:
I visited Healesville yesterday. I went into the nocturnal house. My eyes fell out of my head. THERE IS A NUMBAT AT HEALESVILLE!!!!! :cool::D:cool::D:eek:

I guess it can only have come from Perth, and I wonder if they have distributed any anywhere else. I can't check the census at present to check.

Here's a photo for you guys
 

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wow that is so cool! Numbats are one of my favourite marsupials. I saw one at Perth in 2011 and I was actually pretty taken aback by how brightly-coloured they are in real life. Beautiful little creatures. Bit sore I didn't manage to find any in the wild at Dryandra though :(

When I saw the bits I posted about them at Healesville, I did some googling to see what I could find (nothing!). But it turns out there's a sanctuary/reserve in western NSW where numbats from Perth Zoo are being/have been released.
 
Very cool. I will need to make a trip out there after the school holidays (i.e. next week or thereafter).
 
Chlidonias said:
But it turns out there's a sanctuary/reserve in western NSW where numbats from Perth Zoo are being/have been released.
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Which reserve?

:p

Hix
 
Chlidonias said:
the Scotia Sanctuary south of Broken Hill (articles from 2011)
Endangered numbats destined for NSW - The West Australian
Australian Wildlife Conservancy - Numbats translocated to AWC's Scotia Sanctuary in NSW from Perth Zoo


They are also at the Yookamurra Wildlife Sanctuary in South Australia according to the first article.
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Pretty sure Walmsly obtained numbats directly from CALM, possibly before the breeding program was handed over to Perth Zoo (not too sure about the last bit).
 
you know what's weird? Every few days I've been checking to see if there have been any sort of announcements made about the Healesville numbat (mainly because I want to know how many they have, where from, if they're going to be trying to breed them, things like that)...and nothing! It gets a passing mention on Facebook buried amongst other stuff, and a passing mention on their actual website buried amongst other stuff (those are the links I provided in post #3).

To me having numbat(s) at Healesville is quite a big deal because they are so endangered and so few zoos have them. Also Healesville was (probably) the first zoo to display one, back in 1941, and this is (probably) only the second time they have had them. I would have thought they would have made more of a deal about it.
 
And thirdly, they are so damn cute. That's also a major selling point with the public.

:p

Hix
 
So I visited Healesville a week and a half ago, and here are some updates:

-The Birds of the Bush aviary now has an adjacent walk-in building with windows onto rooms full of cages for Corroboree Frogs and Mountain Pygmy Possums, both of which are the subject of breeding programmes at the Sanctuary. Neither of which were visible in their cages, as the possums were sleeping and the frogs tiny. However, there was a weird little exhibit for the frogs in the visitors area, which was a clear cube, with a pop-up window dome in the middle for children (and adults!) to look into the exhibit.
-The Tasmanian Devil/Wombat exhibits area has re-opened after renovation. The first exhibit is still abandoned looking, but has signs for Thylacine. The revamped enclosures for wombats are good, and there is also now a wall with identifying pictures of the Sanctuary's Devils, of which there are very many (http://www.zoochat.com/79/tasmanian-devil-id-board-healesville-sanctuary-329629/). There is also a big new area under construction for the Devil breeding programme, which looks like it will be partially on-display in the future.
-The renovated Nocturnal House is also open now, and looks great, with a couple of new species, most notably Numbat (http://www.zoochat.com/79/numbat-healesville-sanctuary-2013-a-329628/). There are however, fewer (larger) enclosures and less species on display, notably no reptiles. Probably better for the animals anyway. Species lists pre- and post-renovation, although note that the new list might not be complete, and I can't remember the species combinations in the old set-up:

Original Nocturnal House
-Black-footed Tree Rat
-Golden Bandicoot
-Northern Quoll
-Eastern Ringtail
-Yellow-bellied Glider
-Long-nosed Potoroo
-Squirrel Glider
-Eastern Quoll
-Sugar Glider
-Red-tailed Phascogale
-Greater Bilby
-Eastern Barred Bandicoot
-Spinifex Hopping Mouse
-Pink-tongued Lizard
-Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko
-Marbled Velvet Gecko
-Feathertail Glider
-Plains Mouse

Renovated Nocturnal House
-Mountain Pygmy Possum
-Feathertail Gecko
-Brown Antechinus + Greater Bilby
-Eastern Barred Bandicoot + Squirrel Glider
-Numbat
 
have you seen corroboree frogs zooboy? They are fantastic. And so small! Far far smaller than I had thought they would be.

The Healesville nocturnal house was brilliant when I visited years ago. Shame it houses so few species now.
 
Chlidonias said:
have you seen corroboree frogs zooboy? They are fantastic. And so small! Far far smaller than I had thought they would be.

The Healesville nocturnal house was brilliant when I visited years ago. Shame it houses so few species now.
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Yes, I've seen the Corroboree frogs at Taronga and Melbourne Zoo, they are very cool. I'm a bit concerned about the new exhibit at Healesville, it will be extremely prone to tapping, banging and loud noises, which I imagine will be very stressful for the frogs. There are ten in there, and the signs encourage you to spot them, saying something like "seeing five is excellent!" We sa one, but only because it was moving.

There may be more species in the nocturnal house, as I was with people and didn't get to make a proper list. I'm pretty sure there was a quoll too actually. But I hope they do try and get a few more species out, it did seem rather depleted compared with my first visit.
 

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zooboy28 said:
Renovated Nocturnal House
-Mountain Pygmy Possum
-Feathertail Gecko
-Brown Antechinus + Greater Bilby
-Eastern Barred Bandicoot + Squirrel Glider
-Numbat
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I reckon any of us here in Europe would chew our own arms off to get to see even *that* level of marsupial variety! The only one of those species to have been held in Europe anywhere near recently is the pygmy possum.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I reckon any of us here in Europe would chew our own arms off to get to see even *that* level of marsupial variety! The only one of those species to have been held in Europe anywhere near recently is the pygmy possum.
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Yeah, the new line-up isn't all bad (I think there's more than I listed), as there were two new species for me (Numbat and Antechinus). I didn't actually see the Pygmy Possum, so I'm keen to go back to try and spot it!

Interesting that the pygmy possum has been kept in Europe, I would have thought the squirrel glider would have been kept fairly recently too, if not still.
 
Last holdings of each species.....

Mountain pygmy possum (Burramys parvus) was held briefly at Amazon World Zoo Park from 2001-2002, the only collection in Europe to have ever had them.

Brown Antechinus (Antechinus stuartii) has never been held in Europe.

Greater Bilby (Macrotis lagotis) was last held in 1872 by Frankfurt.

Eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) has never been held in Europe.

Squirrel Glider (Petaurus norfolcensis) was last held in 1959 by London Zoo, the only collection to have done so.

Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) has never been held in Europe.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Last holdings of each species.....

Mountain pygmy possum (Burramys parvus) was held briefly at Amazon World Zoo Park from 2001-2002, the only collection in Europe to have ever had them.

Brown Antechinus (Antechinus stuartii) has never been held in Europe.

Greater Bilby (Macrotis lagotis) was last held in 1872 by Frankfurt.

Eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) has never been held in Europe.

Squirrel Glider (Petaurus norfolcensis) was last held in 1959 by London Zoo, the only collection to have done so.

Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) has never been held in Europe.
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note also zooboy's typo. Feathertail gecko should be feathertail glider, which are still held in Europe.

Also I'm rather surprised at Amazon World having Burramys, especially as it is the only European collection listed. Is that not more likely to be an error?
 
Chlidonias said:
Also I'm rather surprised at Amazon World having Burramys, especially as it is the only European collection listed. Is that not more likely to be an error?
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I've personally seen the photographs which zoogiraffe took of the individual! So I can say for sure this is not an error.
 
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