Auckland Zoo Auckland Zoo news

here's an article about it:
Zoo hopes lion rises to challenge - National - NZ Herald News
9 September 2012

After nine years of waiting, Ngala the lion will have the ladies at Auckland Zoo all to himself.

The 10-year-old will be the sole male in the pride with dominant male Lazarus going to Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, Australia, on Wednesday. Lazarus' dominance meant Ngala has been left to watch as his comrade fulfilled breeding duties with the zoo's three female lions. Both males came to the zoo in 2003 after being orphaned as cubs in Africa.

Zoo Pridelands section team leader Nat Sullivan says both lions are genetically valuable because they were born in the wild.

After fathering six cubs in Auckland, it's time for Lazarus to move on and let Ngala shine.

"Hopefully, once Laz goes, he will step up. Give it a few days and I'm sure he will slot right in," Sullivan says.

Lazarus will cross the Tasman in a 1.3m x 1.9m crate in a cargo plane, accompanied by zoo keeper David Crimp.

The Tasman Cargo Airlines 757 freighter regularly flies horses to Australia, but none will share the flight with Lazarus. Instead, the 199kg lion will travel, unsedated, with a cargo of mail, clothing, shoes and fresh fish.
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driftaguy said:
I wonder what the zoo will put in the old Golden Lion Tamarin enclosure now. There's supposedly an agouti in there, but I've only ever seen it once and that was a while ago.
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the agouti is still in there (I didn't see it, but I was assured it was there)
 
Oh thanks for that Chlidonias I think her name is Picco. I wonder if the zoo has any plans on importing some more to live with her.
 
Thoughts on my visit

I visited today, although it was a very short visit, as I was with family and little kids who got a bit tired a bit quickly, so I really only had two hours there, and missed a few bits out altogether.

Here are some thoughts and minor updates since my last visit almost a year ago:eek::

-Admission prices have gone up, but maps are now free.
-New "Watering Hole" dining and kids water play area in Pridelands looks good, not quite finished yet.
-Te Wao Nui looked good, I went round it backwards to see how confusing that would be :D, but mostly it hadn't changed much. Forest looked quite empty though, and didn't see much in the nocturnal house. Eels extremely visible, and even photographable, now - big improvement. Islands aviary open but empty. Penguins nesting.
-Definitely only saw four alligators, what has happened to number five?
-New golden lion tamarin exhibit is pretty nice, I think it works well.
-Squirrel monkeys look great in their new home, very active and interesting to watch (although I do miss the macaques).
-In the original free-flight aviary, the portions previously housing fruit bats and sun conures have been combined and now hold a pair of eclectus parrots.
-Black cockatoo aviary totally empty, sign up saying animals off-display.
-I didn't see any pheasants in any of the aviaries, hope they don't get rid of all of them.
-Parma Wallaby exhibit empty and looking quite disused, I didn't go through the Wallaby Walkthrough, but suspect they are now down to one (moved into walkthrough) or none.
-Kookaburra (and signage) missing from its shared aviary, suspect has died.

Overall the zoo looked pretty tidy, except for the block containing the old parma wallaby and duck exhibits, which I hope they do not change drastically for whatever new inhabitants move in eventually.
 
zooboy28 said:
-Definitely only saw four alligators, what has happened to number five?
-New golden lion tamarin exhibit is pretty nice, I think it works well.
-Squirrel monkeys look great in their new home, very active and interesting to watch (although I do miss the macaques).
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-the fifth alligator would be Doris then? The four I saw were all the same size so must be the imported group.
-the lion tamarin island was very nice, and what I had thought from photos was a weird surf-board thing (in front of their house) was actually a vertically-aligned boat and worked quite well.
-the squirrel monkeys looked fantastic in their enclosure; I was very impressed with it. The monkeys were having fun catching insects out of the air. Unfortunately the most photo-friendly one was the one with one empty eye socket, so I didn't get any usable photos.



I will get round to writing a reviewy sort of thing of my visit eventually.
 
Chlidonias said:
-the fifth alligator would be Doris then? The four I saw were all the same size so must be the imported group.

I will get round to writing a reviewy sort of thing of my visit eventually.
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I presume so. There were a pair of alligators either side of the boardwalk, with the 'gate' open between them.

Still waiting for that reviewy thing :D
 
Doris and three of the younger ones are in the tropics pool. They have grown so are close to her size. The fourth younger one is off display.
 
Auckland Zoo celebrates 90th with special invite to seniors | Voxy.co.nz
30 November 2012

In celebration of its 90th anniversary on 17 December, Auckland Zoo is inviting everyone 90 years or older to come into the Zoo for free over the next two weeks (3-14 December).

All other seniors (65 years+) are also being offered the opportunity to come and enjoy exploring the Zoo for a special 90th anniversary price of $9 during this period.

As well as the entry offer, the Zoo cafes, Darwin’s and Weta, are offering a special seniors-only Devonshire tea on weekdays at this time.

"These generations have been a huge part of Auckland Zoo’s history - supporting us through the years and also bearing witness to our evolution. Many visited as children and then as adults with their own families, so we want to acknowledge this support," says Auckland Zoo director, Jonathan Wilcken.

"Auckland Zoo has changed enormously over the past nine decades, so we really hope those who haven’t visited us for a while will take up this opportunity to come and see the Auckland Zoo of 2012.

"Our open, immersive exhibits now provide naturalistic landscapes for the wildlife in our care. Our visitors can get a real sense of the wild places of the world, and can learn all about the world’s disappearing wildlife. And the Zoo is now focussed strongly on helping to save threatened species from extinction. We’re extremely proud of the Zoo experience we now offer to Aucklanders and the wider community, and the active role we play in helping conserve wildlife, here in New Zealand and overseas," says Mr Wilcken.
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AskAlice said:
There's just a slight hitch with the media release Auckland Zoo did. They're celebrating the opening of the Zoo a day late. It was actually officially opened by Lord Jellicoe on Saturday 16 December 1922 check out the Auckland Star 16 December 1922

Papers Past — Auckland Star — 16 December 1922 — THE ZOO.

and page 11, 12, and 21 of A Tiger by the Tail (Derek Wood)
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I too have noticed this discrepancy, but also note that all of the zoo's guidebooks that I have (second, third, seventh, eighth editions) that specifically mention the opening date refer to the 17th of December, 1922. Further, the plaque which stood at the zoos original entrance, and is now in a garden near the Pridelands entrance, states the 17th as the opening date. Perhaps this was the first "day" on which the zoo was fully open, with the 16th being the official opening ceremony held in the afternoon. This may be in conflict with the guidebook wording however, which state that "The Auckland Zoological Park was opened on the 17th December, 1922, by His Excellency the Govener-General, Viscount Jellicoe of Scapa, G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O.". The plaque says essentailly the same thing, just gives Jellicoe a longer title.
 

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I'm wondering if and it's just a theory if originally things had been scheduled to open on 17 December, and then Jellicoe's schedule had to be changed. Because it had already been planned out then the plaque would have already been commissioned and made. Just an idea any way.
 
AskAlice said:
I'm wondering if and it's just a theory if originally things had been scheduled to open on 17 December, and then Jellicoe's schedule had to be changed. Because it had already been planned out then the plaque would have already been commissioned and made. Just an idea any way.
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Maybe, although the large number of people who attended on the 16th would suggest that it was well-publicised, so if it was a last-minute change there would probably be adverts in the newspaper. The opening date would have presumably been well publicised regardless, so if you can see any dates in the paper that would provide some useful information for what happened.
 
Good suggestion I should have thought of that.! I'll have a look.:)

And...I have nothing there but articles and advertising stating the opening was for Saturday December 16th so maybe it was a slight hiccup?
 
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Some more news from the zoo A male Baboon has been born well I saw him in October and he was 2 weeks old then so he is about 2 and 1/2 months old then theres the new zebars already on the other thread (New zebra heard for Auckland zoo) the top group of meerkats oposite the red pandas have moved to the enclouser by the orangs that group has 1 female 1 male there 2 older sons and 2 young babbys and then theres the bigger group still at the bottom with mum dad uncle and 4 babbys

Hope this is helpful :)
 
Hello, all. Just further to AskAlice's information on the date the zoo opened -- the zoo definitely opened officially on Saturday 16th December 1922. Even the minutes of the Auckland City Council's Parks Committee confirm this, right alongside contemporary newspaper reports. Things went awry with the anniversary's date from March 1924, with the first issue of the Municipal Record, the short-spanned promotional magazine produced at the time by the Council. In that issue, the 17th was stated as the opening date.

Then, in July the Parks Committee put forward a recommendation to the Council and the City Engineer that a commemorative stone be prepared for the Old Mill Road entrance. By that time, everyone would have been going by information produced in the Record, so when W Parkinson prepared the plaque and they installed it above the entrance, the wrong date was "set in stone", as it were. Even well-known historian Graham Bush got things wrong in his book Decently and in Order (1971), despite using the newspaper articles from 1922 which indicated the correct date as his cited sources.

Only Derek Wood in A Tiger by the Tail (1992) got it right -- and at the moment, the Zoo's marketing team are disregarding that in favour of a plaque installed nearly two years after the zoo opened. I don't buy the theory of "oh, maybe they intended one date, and it turned out to be another ..." -- the Council's works file for the Zoo plainly shows when the quotes were sought for the plaque/stone/whatever it is. What it was then, back in March 1924, was a bureaucratic blunder. I'm only hoping they get it right for 2022.
 
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