photo taken October 2002. This species is no longer held at the zoo. The enclosure in the photo was used for otters prior to this; I do not know what is in there now (I cannot even remember which part of the zoo it was in!)
photo taken October 2002. This species (this exact individual) was held at the zoo until 2007. The enclosure in the photo was used for otters prior to this; I do not know what is in there now (I cannot even remember which part of the zoo it was in!)
no, this was a sort of elongated grotto-like enclosure with a glass front (it isn't obvious from the photo but below where the monitor is sitting was what used to be a pool so there was underwater viewing when there were otters in here).
I still have no idea where in the zoo it was located. It has of course been long-demolished by now. It wasn't where the other reptiles were kept though (which is sort of where The Roost aviaries are). reptile enclosures
The monitor was quite small too by the way (that can probably be told from the photo) so it was probably reasonably young-ish.
Oh OK. If this used to be an otter exhibit, then it could have been adjacent to the aquarium (i.e. the old Elephant House), which was where the otters were in the early 80s according to this map (http://www.zoochat.com/15/wellington-zoo-map-1980s-54244/). Do you remember if/where you saw otters in 1988?
actually that would make sense. The Aquarium just had a few small aquariums such as you might have in your home (I only remember Convict Cichlids) and this enclosure could well have been along the outside wall.
The otters in 1988 were in one of the old bear pits (their last Asiatic Black Bear had recently died, and the otters had been moved in there). The other bear enclosure still held a brown American Black Bear (this individual went off-display in 1991 and the bear enclosures were remodelled into the Sun Bear enclosure). small-clawed otters
I've got a photo of the Black Bear but it was either never uploaded or was a victim of the Great Purge. There's a few of my old Wellington Zoo photos not on here. At some time in the future, whenever I have access to my photos again, I'll upload them.
Apart for the bear pit, in 1988 I *think* there may have also been otters still in the spot by the Aquarium (not 100% sure on that, but I have a vague recollection that the bear pit ones weren't the only ones). The photo of the monitor was taken in 2002 though, and I'm not sure where the otters were by then - maybe by the entrance around where they are now perhaps. I'll have to think about that.
There is a photo of one of the bear enclosures on the Wellington Zoo's History page, on the slideshow: this is what they still looked like when I was there in 1988. Wellington Zoo - History
