Auckland Zoo Auckland Zoo History

zooboy28 · 23 Oct 2012

Given the many small discussions regarding Auckland Zoo's history spread throughout the NZ forums and gallery, I thought I would make a thread specifically for its discussion. I will also post resource links here, to maps, photos, etc.

Official Website: Auckland Zoo - Welcome to Auckland Zoo

An excellent synopsis of Auckland Zoo's history, by ZooChat member NZ Jeremy, can be read here: [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Zoo]Auckland Zoo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame] Most of this was taken from the book: A Tiger by the Tail: a History of Auckland Zoo 1922-1992, written by Derek Wood.

A very detailed timeline of Auckland Zoo, by another ZooChat member, can be found here: Auckland Zoo Timeline New Version 1

Threads which discuss Auckland Zoo's history include:

http://www.zoochat.com/17/historic-photos-194460/
http://www.zoochat.com/17/polar-bear-video-160858/
http://www.zoochat.com/17/vanished-species-20924/

zooboy28 · 23 Oct 2012

zooboy28 · 23 Oct 2012

Auckland Zoo Maps

Auckland Zoo's maps are an excellent way to see the changes that have occurred at the zoo over the years.

While much of the zoo has remained largely the same since its opening in 1922, two changes have had major effects on the zoos overall layout. The first was making the Motions Road entrance the only zoo entry in 1969, with the main entry on Old Mill Road closed. This meant that visitors no loner had to traverse the steep hill to enter/exit the zoo, and over the following years saw the exhibits at the "top" of the zoo slowly be removed, until this whole area was "off-display" by the mid-1980s. The second was the 12 acre extension towards Western Springs Park, which commenced in early 1972 and provided area for the zoo's hoofstock collection, and eventually elephants, lions and hippos.

Auckland Zoo's maps were found predominantly in guidebooks, which were published from 1922-~1979 and then discontinued (except for a 2002 guidebook). After that they were fold out maps, then just A4 sheets, and now fold out maps again.

Auckland Zoo Maps:

-1922: http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoos-first-guide-book-map-30369/ (first guide book)
-1926: http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-1926-a-294985/ (second guide book)
-1950: http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-c-1950-a-294986/ (third guide book)
-1960: http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-c-1960-a-54235/ (sixth guide book)
-1965: http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-c-1965-a-294987/ (seventh & eighth guide books, which have identical maps) The eighth edition cover can be seen here: http://www.zoochat.com/14/zooguidebook-1968-a-54122/, I think the sixth and definitely the seventh have the same cover.
-1979: http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-1979-a-54238/ (1979 guide book)
-~1983: http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-early-1980s-294988/ (fold out map)
-~1987: http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-1980s-54241/ (fold out map)
-2002: http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-2002-a-223979/ (2002 guide book)

Current Zoo Map can be viewed here: Auckland Zoo - Auckland Zoo map

I have some more maps from the mid-90s to present, which I will upload in the near future. If you have any other maps please upload them to the gallery.

Chlidonias · 23 Oct 2012

very good, especially the links to all the old maps. That will make things a lot easier!

Now you just need to comb through the Zoochat archives and catalogue all the other threads and photos that discuss the zoo's history.

I'm not quite sure why I only have one photo from 1995 (the lace monitors; although I'm pretty sure the mara photo was actually a 1995 one rather than 1992 as I thought when I uploaded it).......I'll have to have a look through my photos when ever I next have access to them.

zooboy28 · 23 Oct 2012

Chlidonias said:
very good, especially the links to all the old maps. That will make things a lot easier!

Now you just need to comb through the Zoochat archives and catalogue all the other threads and photos that discuss the zoo's history.

I'm not quite sure why I only have one photo from 1995 (the lace monitors; although I'm pretty sure the mara photo was actually a 1995 one rather than 1992 as I thought when I uploaded it).......I'll have to have a look through my photos when ever I next have access to them.

Thanks

Yea, finding the maps is always a pain, as you can't do a search for "map" as it only has 3 letters. Same with "kea" and several other things I have previously tried to search for.

Don't know if I can be bothered going through everything looking for historical discussions...

Maybe some of your 1995 photos got purged?

AskAlice · 11 Nov 2012

zooboy28 said:
Given the many small discussions regarding Auckland Zoo's history spread throughout the NZ forums and gallery, I thought I would make a thread specifically for its discussion. I will also post resource links here, to maps, photos, etc.

Official Website: Auckland Zoo - Welcome to Auckland Zoo

An excellent synopsis of Auckland Zoo's history, by ZooChat member NZ Jeremy, can be read here: Auckland Zoo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Most of this was taken from the book: A Tiger by the Tail: a History of Auckland Zoo 1922-1992, written by Derek Wood.

A very detailed timeline of Auckland Zoo, by another ZooChat member, can be found here: Auckland Zoo Timeline New Version 1

Threads which discuss Auckland Zoo's history include:

http://www.zoochat.com/17/historic-photos-194460/
http://www.zoochat.com/17/polar-bear-video-160858/
http://www.zoochat.com/17/vanished-species-20924/

Great stuff and thanks for the heads up on the Auckland Zoo Time Line is did. It's updated again. I've included the Royal Oak Zoo at the top.

Here's the History of the Royal Oak Zoo by Lisa J. Truttman on Scribd

J J Boyds Royal Oak Zoo

Just a few pointers about A Tiger by the Tail and the Auckland Zoo Website History.

The chapter on Boyd is not 100% accurate. Derek did a lot of work, so I am not criticising him. He could only go on the resources he had available at the time. The site of the old Boyd Zoo is NOT at the Intermediate School grounds. It was actually where all the houses are now. Boyd subdivided the land. Check the Royal Oak Zoo History Lisa checked the land titles

Auckland Zoo's History referring to the Boyd Zoo is highly inaccurate.

Boyd Zoo did not open in February 1911 that was when he purchased the land - there was nothing on it!. The first advert that it was open appeared in the Auckland Star on 3rd November 1911. He also did not have 'a small menagerie' as stated. The animals referred to on the Auckland Zoo history page are what remained of the rather huge Zoological Collection. Boyd had over 2000 birds and animals at the peak of the Royal Oak Zoo. By May 1922 he was selling off all of the animals. The remainder of his collection was offered to the Auckland City Council.

Rajah: A Tiger by the Tail mentions that Rajah's bad behaviour was due to a cigarette being put into his trunk by a visitor. Again that is unsubstantiated. The source came from a North shore based Socialite who claimed she had visited Beaumaris Zoo. After Rajah was destroyed she wrote to Col. Sawyer claiming that Curator Arthur Reid of the Beaumaris Zoo (aka Hobart Zoo). She claimed that Reid had told her that he had seen a photo of Rajah chasing keepers at London Zoo. And that a boy had put a lighted cigarette in his truck. It's bollocks. I've been doing the History of Beaumaris Zoo and nowhere are there any reports that this even happened. Rajah was never at London Zoo. He was in fact at the Wembley Exhibition in 1924 - wild caught most likely still on his mother. He was extremely young when he arrived at Hobart Zoo no more than 3 or 4 years old. He was probably no more than 14 or 15 years old when he was destroyed. He was owned by George Bruce Chapman a London based animal dealer who was well known for his London Zoo Circus. I'm about to rewrite the history I did on Rajah (named Jumbo at Beaumaris Zoo) and include the records Lisa obtained for me from Auckland Council Archives. They make for interesting reading to say the least.

Here's the link to the Guest Blogpost I wrote back in 2010. His background was included in a book recently published by the Auckland Museum that the Curator of Land Vertebrates Brian Gill authored.

Timespanner: Guest Post: The Wild Child

zooboy28 · 12 Nov 2012

AskAlice said:
Great stuff and thanks for the heads up on the Auckland Zoo Time Line is did. It's updated again. I've included the Royal Oak Zoo at the top.

Thanks. I hope to add more to this soon, including some 1990s maps. Cheers for the new info on Boyd's Zoo too.

AskAlice said:
Here's the link to the Guest Blogpost I wrote back in 2010. His background was included in a book recently published by the Auckland Museum that the Curator of Land Vertebrates Brian Gill authored.

Timespanner: Guest Post: The Wild Child

Thanks for the link, a good read. Can you comment on the suggestion in a Tiger by the Tail that the Beaumaris Zoo offered Rajah free to an Australian circus, but they declined the offer, and the zoo then wrote to Auckland?

AskAlice · 12 Nov 2012

zooboy28 said:
Thanks. I hope to add more to this soon, including some 1990s maps. Cheers for the new info on Boyd's Zoo too.

Thanks for the link, a good read. Can you comment on the suggestion in a Tiger by the Tail that the Beaumaris Zoo offered Rajah free to an Australian circus, but they declined the offer, and the zoo then wrote to Auckland?

So far there's no evidence to support such a claim. I'm going to be in contact with the curator of the Wirth Family archives in Sydney about this. Wirth's were well aware of the issues with the keeping of male elephants.They had one shot in 1923 - his name was Cardie. In the same year another Wirth's had originally owned named Jumbo (aka Dundry) that they sold to Taronga Park was also destroyed. He was 24 years old. Musth of course comes in at around 21 years. Cardie was 23 years old when he was destroyed. The problem that has been with the history of Rajah is that people cannot go past the issue of this so called 'bad behaviour' Sawyer's report to the Auckland City Council made no mention at all of the elephant being offered to Wirth's by Hobart Zoo. Also the Reserves Committee in Hobart were finding the zoo was losing money. The first in the economic cutbacks was their much beloved elephant, who was giving children rides. Keep in mind it was the Depression era. Not just that basically Sawyer considered that the elephant was not earning his keep and recommended that Rajah should be destroyed. On the 4th of March 1936 permission was granted by the Town Clerk with the added note "no publicity'. I have the copies of the actual documents that were digitally photographed. I am still looking into this issue.

zooboy28 · 14 Nov 2012

Auckalnd Zoo 1995-2001

This was a time of extreme change at Auckland Zoo, with almost half the zoo's enclosures renovated or replaced during this period, and almost all others overhauled in the preceeding five years or since 2001.

Exhibits which were built in the 1988-1995 period include the NZ Aviary, Elephant Enclosure, McDonald's Rainforest, Meerkat Enclosure and Tui Farm.

From 1995, the zoo renovated the 1970s extension area, building the Pridelands (1997) and then Hippo River (Phase 1 - 1999) precincts. An early plan of this area can be found here: http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-pridelands-plan-1996-a-298195/ Pridelands incorporated the old giraffe enclosure, and created new Rhino and Lion enclosures. It also features Zebra, Springbok and Ostrich. Phase 1 of Hippo River included only Hippo and Baboons, but these were huge improvements, especially for the baboons which had previously lived in a cage dating from 1926. The lions enclosure was also a vast improvement over the 1926 pit.

Smaller developments during this period included the new Ring-tailed Lemur enclosure (1995), the move of the Fruit Bats into the Flight Aviary (1996), the arrival of Nisha and Malu the Sumatran Tigers, who moved into the renovated Lion pit (1998), the transfer of the Llamas from the old Bison paddock to the old Camel paddock, following Larry the last Camel's death (1999), the renovation of the old Baboon and Jaguar cages for Asiatic Golden Cats (1999?), the new Wallaby Walkthrough enclosure replacing the old Bison paddock (2000), the shift of Mara to the old Parma Wallaby? exhibit (2000), and the arrival of a flock of Greater Flamingoes, who moved into a newly constructed enclosure in Hippo River (2001).

The last major development during this period was Sea Lion and Penguin Shores (2001), which replaced the old Wallaby Walkthrough and small mammal enclosures. This is a world-class exhibit, with a large pool for the Californian Sea Lions and native Fur Seals, featuring a massive underwater viewing window, and an aviary for Little Blue Penguins and other native shorebirds. The old Sea Lion enclosure was used to hold various native ducks.

Species Lost: Dromedary Camel, Jaguar, Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby, Common Wombat, Black & White Ruffed Lemur, Diana Monkey, Common Squirrel Monkey, Barbary Sheep, North American Porcupine, most of the Parrots and exotic Passerines, Razor-billed Curassow, Red-footed Tortoise & Yellow-footed Tortoise.

New Species: Bennett's Wallaby, Ring-tailed Lemur, Golden Lion Tamarin, Springbok, Grey-headed Flying-fox, Little Red Flying-fox, Sumatran Tiger, Asiatic Golden Cat, New Zealand Fur Seal, Ostrich, Little Blue Penguin, Greater Flamingo, Bearded Dragons, and various other native birds and small reptiles.

Maps from this Period:
http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-1995-a-298190/
http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-1996-a-298191/
http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-1997-a-298192/
http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-1999-a-298193/
http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-2001-a-298194/

If you can add any extra info, or correct any mistakes this would be greatly appreciated

.

AskAlice · 14 Nov 2012

I've got a photo of the old Wallaby walk through I took back in the late 1990's. The zoo also had Galapagos Tortoises there one was transferred to Ti Point Zoo some time back. Think he was a non breeding male.

zooboy28 · 14 Nov 2012

AskAlice said:
I've got a photo of the old Wallaby walk through I took back in the late 1990's. The zoo also had Galapagos Tortoises there one was transferred to Ti Point Zoo some time back. Think he was a non breeding male.

When you say "there" where specifically do you mean. As far as I know, the Galapagos Tortoises were kept first in the shallow pit that held Red Pandas until it was demolished for the new Tiger exhibit (late 1970s-mid 1980s), then the old Giraffe Paddock (adjacent to the Giraffe House which now holds tarantulas, mid 1980s-early 1990s), and then in the exhibit they are in now (early 1990s-present). I don't know of them being anywhere else. The post above was for Auckland Zoo's history just from 1995-2001, and the Galapagos Tortoises didn't move then so thats why they weren't mentioned. The male who is unable to breed (Willie) was transferred to Ti Point in January 2010.

Can you please post the photo of the old Wallaby Walkthrough! I remember it being very outback themed (unlike the new one), with posters for Ned Kelly, mock campsites and old windmills, and yellow roadsigns saying "Kangaroos next 100km".

AskAlice · 15 Nov 2012

Ah thanks for clarifying the Tortoises.

Yes I'll find the photo and post it up.

driftaguy · 15 Nov 2012

One of my zoo video tapes (from the TV series), I remember watching the story of the wallabies being caught in their old enclosure. The part I remember most was poor Andrew Coers being pulled to the ground!

AskAlice · 2 Dec 2012

The first Hippos at Auckland Zoo

Also I've just completed

the write up I've done on the background of the first Hippos Bella and Chaka who were the first breeding pair at the zoo. Any errors/inaccuracies please let me know and I'll correct them. References are at the bottom of the text

Bella and Chaka the First Hippos at Auckland Zoological Gardens

zooboy28 · 2 Dec 2012

AskAlice said:
Also I've just completed the write up I've done on the background of the first Hippos Bella and Chaka who were the first breeding pair at the zoo. Any errors/inaccuracies please let me know and I'll correct them. References are at the bottom of the text

Bella and Chaka the First Hippos at Auckland Zoological Gardens

That was a good read, thanks for posting it!

The only additional info I can offer is that, in the third edition of the guide book (which I have not definitively dated, but believe to be c. 1953-55), Bella is described as being one of the zoo's longest staying residents, having been on exhibition at Auckland for over 20 years.

The section on hippos goes on to state that:

Auckland Zoo Guide Book said:
Specimens on exhibition include members of three generations. Bella, the grandmother, with a residence of 20 years, has given birth during that period to six offspring, two of which have gone to Australian zoos, while her last born, Dinizula, has now fathered a son, En Zed, out of Nada the Lily, a young female from Taronga Park, Sydney.

There is also a photo of Nada the Lily and En Zed, which is reproduced in the 7th and 8th editions of the guide book also.

EDIT: I also found this snippet from the map from the early 1980s: "Bella, an extraordinarily active hippopotamus, had six calves, all healthy."

AskAlice · 2 Dec 2012

Thank you so much for that! I'll add it into the information. That's a huge help much appreciated.

Bailey13 · 16 Dec 2012

I've been trying to track down info on when Auckland zoo first got alligators? In the late 70s, when I would've been around five, there were several junvenile gators held in a small enclosure not far from the entrance. It was a shed-sized sort of thing, fully enclosed with a small pond and heaters in there, and a little planter at the front that I always used to fear was full of hidden gators that would bite me. I'd love to find some info on when this came together, what became of those animals (Doris? Her previous companion? The big guy (who used to be?) at Ti Point?) Even better, I'd love to see pics of this enclosure. I believe it was taken down in the later 70's / early 80's when the tamarin enclosure was built on the spot and the now larger gators were moved into the area down by the chimps and the monitors.

driftaguy · 17 Dec 2012

I remember Doris was moved to the old otter enclosure while The Tropics was built. When walking past the old giraffe house through The Tropics, the glass window from the old alligator enclosure is visible (on the left).

Bailey13 · 18 Dec 2012

Yeah, she got shifted a couple of times. I was living in Welly for a while and came up and saw her in a paddock / pond down by where the old sea lion enclosure was (now I guess somewhere under Te Wao), and once in a pond in the Pridelands. I never saw her in the otter area tho - do you mean the one on the back of the meerkat exhibit with the window on the pond? That seems like it would have been too uneven and shady for a big girl like her.

The old alligator enclosure is now a garden area opposite the lemurs - I take great delight on most visits from standing for a moment on the rock that used to be their basking spot for so many years

driftaguy · 18 Dec 2012

Bailey13 said:
Yeah, she got shifted a couple of times. I was living in Welly for a while and came up and saw her in a paddock / pond down by where the old sea lion enclosure was (now I guess somewhere under Te Wao), and once in a pond in the Pridelands. I never saw her in the otter area tho - do you mean the one on the back of the meerkat exhibit with the window on the pond? That seems like it would have been too uneven and shady for a big girl like her.

The old alligator enclosure is now a garden area opposite the lemurs - I take great delight on most visits from standing for a moment on the rock that used to be their basking spot for so many years

Not the enclosure by the meerkats, the one the otters moved to after that one. Its on this map http://www.zoochat.com/14/auckland-zoo-map-2002-a-223979/.

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