Melbourne Zoo [Part 6 – AUSTRALIAN BUSH AND WILD SEA] - 12th April 2025:
The bulk of Melbourne zoo’s natives are housed in a dedicated Australian trail that commenced with a pleasant boardwalk enclosure for a male
Southern Koala mixed with
Quokka which was situated just below the ramp around the enclosure, meaning it was missed by many. In saying this, I do appreciate any koala mixed displays I come across to add some interest and quokka are certainly a charismatic species as they often rest out in the open with head tucked between their legs. This enclosure is used for visitor encounters and members of the public were helping keepers feed the koala so he was very active and walked across his branches. Whilst not distinct subspecies, I have to say the southern type is a far nicer koala than our northern ones. The Great Flight Aviary is a stately long walkthrough aviary that has remained a feature piece of the zoo for several decades now with a beautiful arched design. It has a large mix of vegetation here with large, tall mature trees perfect for roosting waterbirds and a separate rainforest section that is now fenced off for their
Southern Cassowary. The entire viewing experience is completed from a raised platform that travels through the long aviary. As I entered into the space, I soon realised their male
Black-necked Stork can do short flights across the aviary and it flew towards the interior of the aviary among the ducks. It was pretty impressive to see. It was getting relatively hot so I missed a few species that were in the aviary. There were a few pigeons resting in shaded areas in the trees including
Nicobar Pigeons which was the only non-native species housed here. They were rested with
Torresian Imperial Pigeons as well. There were
Eastern Cattle Egrets, Glossy Ibis, Royal Spoonbills and
Little Pied Cormorants which make up the aviary’s bulk of birds nearby along with
Bush Stone-Curlews resting on the aviary floor. The standout species is a single
Black-faced Cormorant which seems to be the only one of its kind in a zoo currently. While I have seen this species in the wild it was interesting to compare how much bigger they are compared to the little pieds.
Pied Herons were a nice pop of colour among the white waterbirds and
Pied Stilts added sound. As the vegetation around the water thickened, this was there most of the ducks congregated with a good mix of
Blue-billed Ducks, Radjah Shelducks and
Freckled Ducks. The Blue-billed Ducks are such a good open water bird as they rarely leave water so add lots of aquatic movement in the barer parts of the aviary. Towards the rear of the aviary was a single
Buff-banded Rail foraging near the portion of the aviary that is sectioned off for the cassowary which is again viewed from the boardwalk. Overall, a very heavy focus on waterbirds which was fine but a big flock of something shrill or raucous like active lorikeets, Princess parrots or Australian King-Parrots travelling through the canopy of the aviary among the resting waterbirds would have added more energy. I recall Red-collared Lorikeets on my last visit; they were fun.
Koala enclosure
Great Flight Aviary
Black-faced Cormorant
Then there was a former Tasmanian devil enclosure if I recall which has now been converted into a mixed, densely-vegetated enclosure for
Long-nosed Potoroo and
Short-beaked Echidna. I’ve noticed that potoroos can do well and be visible outdoors during the day and was pleased to see one potoroo foraging in the leaf litter while visitors were attempting to figure out what it was. The echidna was not seen. This enclosure has a side shaded viewing area with signage around these species being ecosystem engineers to tie the mix thematically. All in all, I really liked this space. There was also a nearby netted enclosure for
Lace Monitors, a glass-fronted aviary for
Regent Honeyeaters and a burrow complex with eventual outdoor enclosures for
Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats.
Potoroo/echidna enclosure
Regent honeyeater aviary
There was then a side pond for Black Swans, before the macropod yard is entered via fenced in area which is then followed by the grassy yard for a breeding mob of
Kangaroo Island Kangaroos, Emus and
Swamp Wallabies. Tammar Wallabies were not seen here. It was a large space but a bit it was an awkward way to view these macropods with there being a reasonable distance between the macropods and the viewing fence. Exiting this area were four aviaries; two smaller ones for
Tawny Frogmouth and
Rainbow Lorikeet. Poor species choices in my opinion especially the lorikeet. Then there was a final pathway with a large aviary for
Koalas which is a very strange way to house this species fully enclosed. Opposite them was a mix of unsigned new
Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoos mixed with
White-browed Woodswallows. The black cockatoos were wonderfully active, contrasting the inactivity I was met with from most of the other enclosures from the hot midday sun, as they ripped up bark. This section has improved in mammal species diversity since 2018; it’s admittedly hard to find appropriate small Australian mammals to house outdoors without a well-established nocturnal house but quokkas, potoroos and echidnas are all suitable additions to amplify the range of species. It was a pleasant snapshot of what I imagine Healesville can offer which should be this trail’s main function.
Kangaroo Island Kangaroo with joey
Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
Aviaries - Rainbow Lorikeet/Tawny Frogmouth
There were four enclosures around here that I don’t really have anything of substance to add; they were all functional for their inhabitants including a standard paddock for three
Giraffe with more space following the departure of the zebra; an open-topped enclosure for a large troop of
Hamadryas Baboons with some ugly palms; and two old paddocks situated next to each other back near the entrance I came in through for Australiasia’s last three
Collared Peccaries which are still kicking somehow and another paddock for female
Nyala as filler species since the loss of the last tapir. It’s a shame sitatunga aren’t in the region anymore as there is a large pool in the nyala paddock. I feel the nyala would better be suited mixed with the giraffe but this group didn’t seem to be well-accustomed to city life yet, spending most of their time off-show besides for a fleeting glimpse of a single female that bolted to her night quarters after a quick photo.
Collared Peccary
Nyala
Finally, Wild Sea is Melbourne Zoo’s last trail to cover focusses on the aquatic life and is one of the more recent trails built at the zoo but is also among the smallest. It started with an empty enclosure that once housed pelican but unfortunately not replaced with anything animal-related but it has a random eel trap plonked in the middle. There was a lot of thick coastal vegetation around here attracting a wealth of wild birds including White-plumed Honeyeaters and Little Wattlebirds feeding on coastal banksias. The first actual exhibit makes for a poor viewing experience with strong glare for a shallow pool for an assortment of temperate marine fishes including
Port Jackson Shark, Australian Mado, Moonlighter, Sea Mullet, Oldwife and two species of
fiddler rays. There were definitely other species mixed in this tank but viewing was difficult due to the crowds and glares. Nearby is the beginning of the indoor building which contains viewing windows to the left for their seals; both
Australian Fur-Seal and
Long-nosed Fur Seal and underwater viewing for their
Little Penguins as well. The whole indoor space uses a real lurid lighting design that detracts from the large viewing windows and their occupants, in my opinion.
Interior building
There is a small row of tanks that were initially all for temperate species for local fish species but now it has been changed to a mash-up of random tanks, both freshwater and marine. It now starts with a tropical reef tank for
Ocellaris Clownfish, Blue-Green Chromis, Banggai Cardinalfish, Flame Angelfish, Pacific Blue Tang, Yellow Tang and
Magnficent Foxface among fluorescent corals. Next-door was a new tank for
Moon Jellyfish which is a very recent development for the zoo. The zoo did keep one of the tanks as it for
Pot-bellied Seahorse. The final two tanks are both freshwater exhibits now with a tropical freshwater tank for
Boesmann’s Rainbowfish, Banded Rainbowfish, Neon Rainbowfish and unseen
Hyrtl's Catfish and finished with a temperate river tank for
Southern Purple-spotted Gudgeon, Murray River Rainbowfish, Olive Perchlet and
Chinese Algae-eater. Exiting the area were the outdoor areas for the seals and penguins which were alright. The wave machine with the seals was excellent and the seals clearly make the most of them when they are in the water. With a weakening of coastal theming with the loss of the pelicans, no Fiordland Penguins (as glad as I am of Taronga's breeding success with them now) and the freshwater tanks, Zoos Victoria’s opportunity to connect the public with the local marine ecosystems of southern Australia has been diluted somewhat.
Coral tank
Only missing the Japanese Gardens with the siamang island accidentally, I was able to explore Melbourne Zoo for the full day and I enjoyed seeing lots of unique displays throughout the area. There are some glaring gaps and empty exhibit spaces at Melbourne that will need to be filled with care. A bright spot is Melbourne Zoo’s ectotherm collection, which is diverse and well-represented, with cold-blooded critters scattered across every nook and cranny of the zoo—a growing emphasis on invertebrates in the former elephant trail being a welcome addition. Of course, an actual replacement is still required for the empty megafauna paddocks. A few weak spots are ageing, like Treetop Apes and Monkeys especially. Overall, I seem to always visit these city zoos when they are going through a lot of changes, and Melbourne Zoo was no exception, with certainly some big decisions to make in the coming years towards renewal and redevelopment.
The next part of this thread will move onto
Werribee Open Range Zoo (Part 1 – Safari and Rhinos Off-show).
