Looks like you summed it all up in a nutshell
Australia Zoo australia zoo growing pains
- Thread starter Coquinguy
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Tricoart
Well-Known Member
Well at least they haven't attached their outdated, trauma-farming persona to an objective scam that actively screws over the environment all to gain a shred more money through crappy auto-generated art, right?
Right?
Oh.
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I don’t think these will sell well to the NZ market. We have our brand of laser eyed wildlife merchandise. New Zealanders liked this masterpiece so much there was talk of it becoming our new flag (see article):
Source/article: Laser Kiwi flag - Wikipedia
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Their notable additions in the past few years have been the Sumatran elephants and the crocodile/alligator exhibits. While it’s encouraging to see some progress after over a decade of stagnation, I agree with others the elephants have been particularly half-hearted with no apparent drive to import a bull elephant or construct infrastructure to allow for this. It’s a lack of direction that Australia Zoo is suffering from in my opinion.
I have often wondered as to why a bull was not imported with the cows even if that meant bring in only 3 cows instead of the 4?, was there any real intention of them obtaining a bull?
The official reason given was that they didn’t have the infrastructure in place to house bulls (and still don’t).
Personally, I think it’s a shame Taman Safari didn’t get a couple of the cows in calf prior to export. This would have given Australia Zoo a year prior to the birth (assuming they were exported mid term) and a further two to three years after that to get infrastructure in place to manage a bull calf that may have been born - and the calf/calves might have even been female, meaning they could be managed alongside the rest of the herd via free contact.
If I could recommend three low cost species, they’d be as follows:
Hamadryas baboon:
Australia Zoo are severely lacking in primates and almost two decades on from their announcement of plan to build Gorilla and Orangtuan Island, they’re still without a great ape species. Hamadryas baboons are a compromise. They’re as charismatic as great apes, but a fraction of the cost. Even a small or medium sized troop would make for an engaging exhibit.
African wild dog:
Bar the dingo you can see at any Australian zoo, where are the canids? African wild dogs are a highly engaging species that are popular with the public. They make for an active exhibit, with plenty to see throughout the day; as opposed to most large felids, which sleep throughout the day.
Lowland nyala:
Eastern bongo would be better (in a stand alone exhibit); but at a minimum, nyala would assimilate nicely into any savannah exhibit.
Primates have been thin on the ground at AZ I believe they once had a few Cotton topped Tamarins off show some years ago. Apart from the two species of Lemurs I am not aware of any primate species there at all.
I believe no antelope has ever appeared at AZ which is surprising considering they built the African Savannah exhibit, If they did add Nyala they actually could add one species on the Giraffe side of the exhibit and another on the rhinos side, If they wanted they could keep males and females seperate with out a problem, also there are lots of off show holding yards with room to pepped in this area if there was a need to do so.
A cheap and easy fix would be adding a few Ostrich to the exhibit not that hard really.
A really good add would be a few Lions which I have seen people comment about the lack of such animals on the zoos social media!
I believe the only primates Australia Zoo currently has are ring-tailed lemurs. Black and white ruffed lemur and cotton-top tamarins are no longer there to my knowledge. This has allowed Wildlife HQ to establish a point of difference, by building up an impressive primate collection. I’m mentioning this as point of interest, as I’m not aware of an agreement existing between the facilities to maintain this arrangement.
Ambitious projects would be an aerial pathway system for orangutans; or even a Congo precinct. It’s not hard to imagine something like this would have eventuated under Steve, who in the mid-2000’s had plans for a North American precinct, an Asian precinct etc. Savannah species would have likely been rounded off with lions and some antelope/ostrich joining the savannah; perhaps followed by pygmy hippopotamus, mandrill, colobus, bongo and gorilla. It’s sounds too ambitious too happen, but that was Steve’s way of thinking and one can only wonder as to what might have been.
I firmly believe if AZ built a south East Asian exhibit like the Auckland zoos exhibit it would have major benefit's for the zoo while adding Orangs which was in their past plans, All the future plans which were once place upon the zoos website has long since been removed. I sit back and wait to see if there ever will be any major future development happening there.
It was mentioned in an old post on here that Steve planned to acquire all the tiger subspecies. In 2003, Australia Zoo acquired generic tiger cubs (promoted as Bengals); and in 2004, they acquired Sumatran tiger cubs. The recognition of the Malayan tiger as a subspecies in 2004 may have meant that and the Siberian tiger were in his sights; though regional support would have been required due to their CITES listing.
Who knows what Steve could have made of Australia Zoo had he lived on! The geographic zones he had planned dwarf the current layout; though I was impressed with what they’ve done with the Crocodile Park precinct (including the new alligator exhibits).
That's quite right I do remember that said on the tv also mentioned was his interest to obtain a number of Lemur species!
The cheetahs getting there own exhibits instead of mixed next to/with the tigers is a good move.
Going forward it will be interesting to see what the zoo does. They really need to expand there animal collection as it has gone down in the last few years. But then they have always had a more native centred collection.
It would be nice to see them get gibbons, and smaller cat species. Easy to accomodate and fit in and around the zoo.
Moving the Cheetah out of the tiger complex was essential if they were to ever breed.
The species that I think would benefit Australia Zoo the most are as follows:
Pygmy hippopotamus - a popular species with the general public that is significantly less investment than its larger counterparts
Hamadryas baboon - a compromise between great apes and nothing. A large troop provides endless entertainment and would generate visitor engagement.
Sri Lankan leopard - big cats are always popular with the public and it would be a nice compliment to the tigers. The climate is perfect for this species.
Lesser apes - Siamang/gibbons are again a compromise between great apes and nothing. Aerial pathways would showcase this species nicely.
And finally, a bull elephant!
Nah Steve wanted to make his Australia Zoo its own unique place, that was clear. Wouldn't say he just wanted to replicate Singapore Zoo (similar plants and trees in both zoos grounds though, and Aus' Zoo does replicate a tropical zoo's grounds like Singapore, has albeit Beerwah is actually a sub-tropical area, there are some similarities in layout between the two though. But Aus' Zoo probably drew inspiration from multiple other zoos and wildlife parks and even reptile parks & crocodile parks).
The zoo very much has gone down a different path under Terri etc's management in last 18 and half years as we've all pointed out is clear. If he had not been killed by that Australian bull ray and was still alive today the zoo would have a considerably more extensive collection of exotic species now too almost certainly.
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That's interesting to know re. his desire to recreate Singapore. It would explain his desire for a large group of Orangutans being displayed in an incredibly naturalistic setting.
Since his death, Australia have really only completed the African Savannah he had dreams to create, although probably not on the level he had envisioned.
pilot for their show from back in 1992 (someone uploaded to Dailymotions) when their zoo was still called the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park. Was really nice seeing and hearing the big man himself again, been a while personally since seen any archived footage with him. You're still very missed Steve.
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Wow, the original Crocodile Hunter! I have great admiration for what Steve and Terri achieved in turning the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park into one of the region’s fastest growing and most progressive zoos by the time of Steve’s death in 2006.
One can only wonder how the zoo would have continued to evolve had Steve lived; but the great ape islands and North American precinct were the projects that had me most excited.
I believe the zoo would of gone from strength to strength if Steve had not had passed when he did, the zoos website had much of the plans mapped out into the future from stage one to stage three. The zoo apart form the very rare exception has been stagnating for years and unfortunately will never reach the heights that was his dream