The Australian enclosure, Copenhagen Zoo, april 2009

The Australian enclosure, Copenhagen Zoo, april 2009

Emu and a small kangorou species. As for the size, a rather generous enclosure by Copenhagen standards. I would estimate it to something like 600 square meters. Rather bland and barren though, and with a completely unneccessary platform for the visitors - who only use it as a resting place for their tired and screaming-for-icecream children. At least, that is my experience.

Picture 1 of 3.

Reminds me a bit of Audubon in New Orleans.

I absolutely hate macropod enclosures that have finely manicured lawns. It's just not natural.

Don't the macropods generally end up keeping it that way? Surely they aren't mowing...

I'm sure the kangaroos do keep the lawn trim, but in the wild they feed on native grasses, not lawns. And they usually spend most of the day resting under shrubs or in forested, shady areas. This looks like the garden of some stately home, not the Australian bush.

I just have a few comments here:

1. The exhibit is quite a bit larger than you can see here and the wooden walkway does serve a very important purpose: without it you would never see the animals.

2. This picture was taken i spring time. How green do you expect it to be? And no, we do not mown the lawn here, the wallabies do.

3. The grass is so short because it is completely new. The exhibit was a construction site only 1,5 years ago because the new hippo house was being built right next to it. It is difficult for the grass to grow tall while the kangaroos are grazing but it is slowly getting better.

4. Finally, several young trees and bushes have been planted to the right of this frame after it was taken. They are fenced in now until they are strong enough to survive a kangaroo attack. These will help provide shade in the exhibit together with the two huge oak trees in there.

This is not the best picture of the exhibit. I will try to upload a better one soon