The past week for me has involved a lot of wildlife watching in far-north Queensland around Cairns, the Daintree and the Atherton Tablelands. Among tracking down wild crocs and cassowaries, I was able to squeeze in three zoos along my travels. These zoos were – Marineland Melanesia on a sandy island off the coast of Cairns, Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures and Wildlife Habitat Port Douglas. As always, these are my personal opinions and perspectives as someone who isn’t involved in the zoo industry directly. I thought I would do these zoos reviews now all in one go otherwise I will never get them done (like Werribee!). As always, I encourage you to visit for yourselves if you are in the region and share your thoughts as well to develop richer perspectives on especially some of these smaller Queensland facilities.
Green Island is about a 40-minute ferry ride from Cairns. A coral cay, Green Island isn’t that big at all and most of it is national park fringed with a sandy shoreline that can be looped in about half an hour. Once off the jetty and past wild reef sharks and turtles swimming past in the clear water along the jetty, I spent the morning birding for various targets. Around midday, I then headed towards the resort area which is right at the entrance of the island and tucked in a side corner is the small facility of Marineland Melanesia. To be honest, I didn’t know much about this place besides crocodiles and fish. And well, that was pretty much it animal-wise, along with a sea turtle. Reading the entrance signage, housing crocodiles on the island has been occurring since the 1960s and was taken over by the Craig family in the 1970s who owned a large range of tribal art from Melanesia which was incorporated with the crocodiles some of which came directly from Papua New Guinea. The park is almost autobiographical in the way in presents the adventures and lived history of the owner.
The entrance is themed around a ship. Popular with the kids. A touch tacky for me but I’m not their target audience. While it might sound a lot, the entrance fee was AUD $30 for an adult which isn’t even that bad compared to other Queensland facilities; most of the larger zoos and aquariums in the state now comfortably sit at or well above AUD $50 and have for quite a few years now. The gift shop sat in this opening area with lots of assorted memorabilia that continued into the next room which had a pleasant circular tank with an assorted range of fish (see list below) and corals. The Orange-spotted Filefish and Choat’s Wrasse were particularly notable to see here. The latter species can be very difficult to keep in captivity as they are difficult to acclimatise and there were at least two of them. Every inch of space was filled with some sort of nautical, tribal, marine relic which took a while to process it all as I did the loop of the small room. Some might say it’s a charming ode to the sea; some might say it is cluttered. You can decide.
Pacific Blue Tang, Spotted Parrotfish Double-bar Rabbitfish, Blue Devil Damselfish, Bicolour Angelfish, Coral Beauty, Orange-spotted Filefish, Choat’s Wrasse, Birdnose Wrasse, Yellow Boxfish, Threeband Pennantfish, Blue Sea Star
Entrance
Coral pool
The next room was the next section with a row of tanks on either side of the room. First thing you need to know is that the aquarium is one of the oldest in Australia that is still functioning. It dates back to the 1950s with the original owners and seventy years later continues to pump water from the reef waters around Green Island. If I was to isolate some of these tanks and ignore perhaps some of their tired corners and frames, they would be among the finest examples of small live coral displays I have seen in Australian aquaria. Very well-established systems and it was refreshing to see well-lit tanks without a single piece of concrete fake coral. The majority of the tanks were mixed but there was definitely a strong accent on clownfish (both morphs and different species) throughout the display. The natural light that came through the tanks allowed for some lovely viewing and photographic opportunities especially of the angelfish that were juveniles transitioning into adults.
Black Ocellaris Clownfish, Pastel-Green Wrasse, Blue-Green Chromis, Royal Dottyback
Orange-spotted Filefish, Blue Devil, Blue-Green Chromis
Maroon Clownfish, Epaulette Surgeonfish, Blue Sea Star
Emperor Angelfish, White-tailed Humbug, Black Ocellaris Clownfish, Lemon Damselfish
Harlequin Tuskfish, Dwarf Lionfish, Blue Sea Star
Blue Devil Damselfish, Blackback Anemonefish, Spotted Hermit Crab
The outdoor section included the rest of the park which contains the dozen or so crocodilians, the turtle pond and the tribal art interspersed throughout the displays. The turtle pond was tiny with a small bridge that goes across essentially a swimming pool; it was too shallow for their single Hawksbill Turtle I felt. The turtle was mixed with an assortment of fish (see below) and some large Painted Crayfish. As a fish and crayfish exhibit, it would have been perfectly acceptable and seeing the crayfish outdoors with the light hitting their colours was memorable. Then there were about a dozen or so crocodilians housed in pens; a single American Alligator, a pair of New Guinea Crocodiles and an assortment of Saltwater Crocodiles which were all adults with no evidence of their former breeding results in the form of juvenile crocs. Interestingly some of the salties were not the usual relocations of problem Australian crocs but also a few old ones collected from Papua New Guinea. The pair of New Guinea Crocodiles were collected from the Fly River specifically but I am not sure if that then determines if they are C. halli or C. novaeguineae following the split. If anyone knows the exact distributions, feel free to share. The enclosures were pretty small and nondescript generally for them with small murky water bodies. The viewing opportunities are good though with the meshed fronts allowing you to get rather close to the crocs and appreciate their size. And besides all the artefacts that were actually rather creepy I found (burning holes in my soul as I walked by), that was it. Overall thoughts of the place…mixed. It felt like I was a few decades too late to see this facility’s golden era. It’s ticking along tiredly with a steady flow of tourists with kids who want to see the crocodiles but I do wonder what its future will look like and if it will be a sustainable one.
Hawksbill Sea Turtle, Birdnose Wrasse, Blue Devil Damselfish, Yellowfin Surgeonfish, Pacific Blue Tang, Bignose Unicornfish, Pacific Orange-spined Unicornfish, Coral Rabbitfish, Picasso Triggerfish, Blue Green Chromis, Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse, Painted Crayfish
Another croc-focused facility, Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures in about half an hour north of Cairns approaching Port Douglas. It’s a relatively traditional cookie-cutter Australian wildlife park with the usual native draw cards but with a few bright spots that I want to highlight below. It’s also a functioning crocodile farm as well; the farm section can only be visited via a guided tour. The initial adult admission of AUD $48 includes a crocodile boat cruise (which I didn’t do) and the general access to the greater park. The park is laid out into three main trails which was my main focus to cover over yet more crocs; a cassowary walk, Gondwana Gateway with species that represent extinct megafauna and a more generalised wildlife discovery trail. I headed straight to the Komodo Dragon for a special reason. I actually named this individual as part of a naming competition over a decade ago now when he arrived at the extinct Cairns Tropical Zoo. I picked ‘Kuasa’ – meaning powerful in Indonesia but he goes by the Australianised ‘Kozzie’ these days. It was good to finally see him. Next to the Komodo was ‘Gallery of Living Art’ which was a large air-conditional room with a very diverse range of reptiles and amphibians. This was hands down the best reptile house I have seen from a Queensland zoo and it left a lasting impression. The layout included two sets of stands that sat in the middle of the row with a long row of tanks that encircled the perimeter of the building with an assortment of reptiles and frogs. Outdoors behind the building was a tank for death adder in the middle of the space, an outdoor aviary-style enclosure for a huge Reticulated Python (being in the tropics no need to keep it indoors) and a mix of Radiated Tortoise and Rhinoceros Iguana in an opposite outdoor pen.
The species list is impressive for a seemingly humble wildlife park – about 30 enclosures indoors for an assortment of native and exotic species all housed in beautifully done exhibits with a clean finish reminiscent of a major zoo. The larger active venomous snakes are housed in the long enclosures allowing them more space while the rest of the species are small and well-suited to the mainly vertical tanks; mainly arboreal and rock-loving species that can make use of this space best. Some rarely-displayed native species including Stephen’s Banded Snake and Spinifex Slender Bluetongue were highlights here. Elsewhere in the park, I came across three monitor enclosures in the various trails; one for Lace Monitors (the poorest of the lot; nothing wrong with it, just a simple exhibit), one for Perenties that they have just bred and a delightful mix of Merten’s Water Monitors with Jardine River Turtle in a nicely landscaped sandy enclosure. Next to the Merten’s was also the best Frilled Dragon exhibit I have ever seen. I was at eye level with the dragon perched on real trees in the hot sun outside. They have made the most of the tropical climate.
Spinifex Slender Blue-tongue
Fijian Crested Iguana
Frilled Dragon enclosure
Merten’s Water Monitor/Jardine River Turtle enclosure
The crocodilians have decent enclosures. The Freshwater Crocodiles, of which they have so many, have ample room. On a hot day, the freshies were very active and were very interesting to watch so many crocs of different sizes. A few choice Saltwater Crocodiles and American Alligators are housed in lush displays. None of the 'Irwin-esque' manicured lawns and sterile concrete pools that many zoos opt for; it’s all muddy sloping banks, complex water systems of varying depths and a range of opportunities for shade and sun to regulate temperature. Considerations that are often too lacking in crocodilian enclosures. Excellent stuff.
Freshwater crocodile enclosure
Saltwater crocodile enclosure
Birds are represented to a lesser extent. We have the ratites of course; I saw four different Southern Cassowaries in separate sloping enclosures and an enclosure for Emus in the Gondwana Trail. The rainforest bird aviary was closed for renovation but that usually has a decent range of species and finally something a bit more unusual; a predatory bird walkthrough aviary. It was a small treed aviary with a few nest boxes for various species. I shared the same space with Boobook Owl, Eastern Barn Owl, Tawny Frogmouth, Bush Stone-Curlew, Pacific Baza and a stunning pair of Blue-winged Kookaburras. Australasian Swamphen and Papuan Frogmouth were signed but not seen. While I like the idea and concept, I have to wonder how often some of the low-lying roosting owls are disturbed by guests. I think I missed a stork somewhere as well. Too busy following wild Radjah Shelducks everywhere.
Predatory bird walkthrough aviary
Pacific Baza
Blue-winged Kookaburra
High praise must go to the macropod walkthrough enclosure for Red-legged Pademelon, Agile Wallaby, Swamp Wallaby and Eastern Grey Kangaroo as it had dense scrub and was essentially a piece of bushland fenced off for the macropods. Plenty of coverage. Other mammals - koalas were dotted about the park with basic enclosures. The wombat enclosures were similarly simple. North Queensland’s only monkeys – a troop of at least six Cottontop Tamarins – represent the only exotic mammal at the park and had a pleasant aviary-style enclosure near the reptile house. There was also an aviary for Spectacled Flying-Fox, Buff-banded Rail and Bush Stone-Curlew as well. All in all, I liked this park which some very strong elements (reptile house, rainforest bird aviary seemed to have potential, quality of majority of monitor enclosures) among Australian ‘copy and paste’ wildlife park essentials. Hopefully it keeps chipping away at additional projects. I noticed this place attracted more local families than the other two places I visited where tourists were prevalent. Especially now that Port Douglas up the road has moved into big crocs as well, perhaps a few more carefully-selected exotic mammals could inject even more appeal into the place even though crocs reign supreme here. .
About half an hour north past sweeping views of the sandy reef and distant views of the Daintree Rainforest, Wildlife Habitat Port Douglas is a well-established facility with a diverse range of species with an emphasis on north Queensland species. Wildlife Habitat’s footprint was overall smaller than expected and it is opposite a supermarket among a built-up area. Something I hadn’t realised in that the place is essentially three walkthrough aviaries (including two very large ones) with two macropod walkthroughs and a crocodile section. For some reason, despite being a nation with many different habitats, not many wildlife parks in Australia have adopted Australian biomes when displaying their native wildlife but this place divides their collection loosely into woodland, wetland, rainforest, nocturnal and savannah sections which creates a better cohesion about the walkthrough. At the gift shop there is a $2 spotter guide with a visual of all the species at the park. I think it might be a bit out-of-date but it did help when viewing the large aviaries and pinpoint some of the birds. I definitely missed several bird species as I didn’t have as much time to view the collection thoroughly. A door from the entrance building leads straight into a woodland aviary with a range of small birds that were lively. It is an interesting design with a central dead tree in the middle of the space for birds to perch over your head along with a sunlit more traditional space for the birds on the outer section. Fig-parrots were signed here but I didn’t see them and there was also a small side enclosure for Eastern Bluetongues within the aviary.
The next section was the wetlands component including a huge aviary space that includes the main café, a brolga enclosure and koala enclosures. The free-flying birds have access to all corners of this aviary and there were some parrots and frogmouths perched around the café. The emphasis was on wetland species and waterfowl added a lot to the dense canopy as well with breeding activity. Species list is below and what was most impressive was the numbers of the waterfowl. I thought the Great Egret with breeding plumes were an elegant, more unusual addition among the waterbirds despite their wild abundance. I suspect a few of the species listed below are actually wild birds that have established a population in the aviary (i.e. Dusky Moorhen). The Whimbrel was a rescue and had some sort of leg issue but was rather confiding. The bats in a walkthrough aviary were also something rather novel for an Australian zoo. I’d thought there might be the potential for disease transmission. Regardless they were a welcome addition to the top of the mesh.
Spectacled Flying-Fox, Rajah Shelduck, Wandering Whistling Duck, Plumed Whistling Duck, Pacific Black Duck, Australian Wood Duck (not seen), Bush Stone-Curlew, Masked Lapwing, Whimbrel, Brolga (fenced off section), Black-necked Stork (fenced off section), Eastern Great Egret, Eastern Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Pied Heron, Nankeen Night-Heron, White-faced Heron, Royal Spoonbill, Dusky Moorhen, Bar-shouldered Dove, Pale-headed Rosella (stand alone aviary), Cockatiel, Rainbow Lorikeet, Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Galah, Pink Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Eclectus Parrot, Tawny Frogmouth, Papuan Frogmouth, Eastern Water Dragon, Kreftt’s River Turtle (not seen), Barramundi (not seen)
Wetlands aviary
Whimbrel
Papuan Frogmouth
Segmenting the two walkthrough aviaries was a two-storey nocturnal house with a side tank for Spotted Tree Monitor before entering. The bottom section contained mainly pythons and a bottom view for a very large enclosure that has two-tiered viewing (upstairs and downstairs) for Tawny Frogmouth, Bush Stone-Curlew, Yellow-bellied Glider and Common Brushtail Possum. Upstairs there was a mix of small invert tanks, White-lipped Tree Frogs, geckos, forest dragon and the remainder of the mammals; a mix of bettong and Mahogany Glider (neither showed), Feathertail Glider with unsigned bettong and an open topped enclosure for Spinifex Hopping Mice which I loved. They are smelly creatures! These hopping mice always save a nocturnal house; such active creatures. Unfortunately, none of the gliders, possums or bettongs were viewable throughout the morning. Most of these enclosures were mesh-fronted which while I thought allowed good ventilation probably means sounds travel straight into the enclosures. A few small exhibits were poorly signed but I thought it was a decent range.
The next walkthrough aviary was themed around rainforest with a cassowary enclosure that visitors of course cannot access. There was an extensive tree top boardwalk that allows visitors to reach right the top of the large aviary and access the dense canopy where lots of species were hiding. I definitely missed some species in this aviary. Notably there was a very large number of Eclectus Parrots. Wildlife Habitat must have at least a dozen if not more. Like the wetlands aviary there was a mammal mixed with birds, the pademelon was a nice touch among all the birds.
Rainforest boardwalk
Eclectus Parrots
Red-legged Pademelon, Southern Cassowary (unseen surprisingly), Chestnut Teal, Hardhead, Blue-billed Duck (signed but not seen), Magpie Goose, Glossy Ibis, Dusky Moorhen, Wonga Pigeon, White-headed Pigeon, Pacific Emerald Dove, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Rainbow Lorikeet, Eclectus Parrot, Australian King Parrot, Red-winged Parrot, Satin Bowerbird, Australasian Figbird (actually captive birds with leg rings as opposed to the abundant wild birds), Eastern Water Dragon, Krefft’s Turtle, Saw-shelled Turtle (unseen), Barramundi, Longfin Eel
Finally there was pair of enclosures; a meshed one for Tiger Quoll that was very active and an simple open-topped enclosure for Lumholtz’s Tree-Kangaroo. The park is currently renovating their main macropod area and had just laid down new grass. The Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Agile Wallabies and Emus were being kept in a temporary fenced off section. There was also a pond present for Australian Pelicans. The croc section sat nearby but I didn’t tour it extensively but did observe their Freshwater Crocodiles alongside. Leaving the section and essentially finishing the park, I was really puzzled though as I was on the hunt for Northern Nailtail Wallaby. I’d done laps of the outdoor area but couldn’t find them. Returning to the entrance I discovered a side trail which led to a magical second walkthrough tucked away. Now this one contained a mix of Red-legged Pademelon and at least three Northern Nailtail Wallabies. A lovely little species with a sandy colouration. There was a side path with a quarantine aviary with Crimson Finch, Double-barred Finch, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin, Gouldian Finch, Cockatiel and King Quail. Presumably new additions for the woodlands aviary. Overall, another solid facility with a bit more emphasis on birds. Although it was smaller than I expected, it proved to be enjoyable.
The pair of New Guinea Crocodiles were collected from the Fly River specifically but I am not sure if that then determines if they are C. halli or C. novaeguineae following the split. If anyone knows the exact distributions, feel free to share.
The stork/s are in an easily-missable enclosure with a pond adjacent to the tropical bird aviary. I don't know how how many storks they have - in the past there were two but I only saw one on my most recent visit.
Oh, I have seen the NG croc at Billabong Sanctuary. I believe I recall reading a news story about the Billabong Sanctuary animal being transferred there which referred to it as the northern species. Let me see if I can dig that up again...
