I spent about 3.5 hours at Mogo Zoo this morning.
The zoo is rather starkly divided into two separate parts. The older part, which you enter immediately from the front entrance, is characterised by fully-enclosed, steel wire cages for primates and big cats, as well as open-topped, colourbond-fenced enclosures for small carnivores. Third, there are no fewer than seven glass-fronted enclosures for callitrichids, and a (very) small reptile house. This section of the zoo is rather heavily planted, with mature trees and garden beds containing mostly native plants. The effect - especially on a morning like today, where there had been showers just before we arrived - is of a humid, sub-tropical garden.
The best features of this area are the callitrichid enclosures - especially two that are collectively called "Callitrichidae Castle" and house family groups for cotton-top and golden lion tamarins. There are another two cotton-top, one golden lion, one emperor tamarin and one pygmy marmoset enclosure in a row that faces onto the otter enclosure. The cages are all generous in terms of space for the monkeys, have mesh above the glass windows (which allows for the ear-splitting calls of the monkeys to be fully "appreciated" by the visitor!) and contain live plants. The miniature primates were, in my opinion, the greatest strength of the zoo.
There are no fewer than four red panda enclosures, each of which had two red pandas. These are all of the colourbond fence/open top variety. One had a large tree for the occupants, the others had a variety of climbing options but more or less at eye level for visitors. Two young pandas that were less than a year old were very active and thought nothing of climbing all over their keeper as she fed them at the keeper talk.
Enclosures for meerkats and fennec foxes are both average in terms of size and quality. The meerkat exhibit is solid, but in my opinion marred by a poorly executed fake termite mound. The fennec fox also has a fatal flaw, though I'm sure it's there for good reason: a series of glass barriers along the top of the colourbond fence, angled inwards. The result on a wet day like we had is that unless you're very tall, you're restricted to peeking through the gaps in the glass panels to try to spot one of the foxes.
The otter enclosure is badly in need of an overhaul. I may be prejudiced by the fact that only two days previously I'd enjoyed the excellent enclosure at the National Zoo and Aquarium, with its deep, fast-flowing pool. But the Mogo exhibit is still the poorest that I've seen in person (and I've been to Melbourne, Dubbo, Taronga, NZA and Australia Zoo to see otters). The pool is concrete, has no moving water and was only half-full... but worst of all is the large number of coins in the water that have been thrown there by members of the public. Why is this? Because there are signs in the enclosures asking people not to feed the animals (fair enough) but to "make a wish and throw a coin in the pool instead". I'm no otter expert, but I worry that new otters introduced to the enclosure would have a go at swallowing a coin.
Now I come to the enclosed or mostly enclosed wire cages. Primate enclosures of this type were for silvery gibbons (a family group of three), lar gibbons (two) and de brazza monkeys (two enclosures, separated but with direct viewing of each other, for two and one monkey respectively). The best is the lar gibbon, which is relatively large and very high. The silvery gibbon enclosure (which is the first you see directly after entering the zoo) is adequate, but no more than that. The de brazza enclosures are small, covered in concrete and quite uninspiring. I believe the collection calls for de brazzas to be replaced with colobus. That's fine - as long as the colobus get one of the primate island enclosures found later in the zoo.
Finally, there are the cats. These consist of two lion enclosures - one fairly generous in size for a male and two females, and the second tucked in behind it where I saw a single lioness. This enclosure was more or less adequate in size, but had no vantage point from which the lioness could see outside the enclosure as far as I could tell.
Two large serval enclosures were probably the best of the cat enclosures in this half of the zoo. I think both were originally for larger cats. Neither is particularly attractive, but both are quite a bit larger than any other 'small' cat enclosures than I have seen. One had a group of three servals, the other two. I didn't get to see the snow leopard enclosure up close as there is apparently a new male snow leopard from Sweden that is being introduced to Mogo's female, but it looked more or less exactly the same as the serval enclosures. What is large for servals is fairly small for snow leopards.
The worst enclosures in this half of the zoo were the three for tigers. All the tigers had access to water but they were FAR too small for large cats. They are what I would expect an off-exhibit area for a tiger to look like, not a territory suitable for a big cat for a lifetime. Combining the three enclosures into one would only make what I consider an "adequate" habitat for a tiger.
The last exhibits in this half of the zoo are the reptile house. This is decent enough for what it is - large enclosures for a few large pythons and iguanids, with a particularly good open-topped rhinoceros iguana exhibit. However, the limitations of the collection - only two different 'categories' of reptile and only about 6 species all up, falls a bit short of what I look for in a reptile collection. It seems at Mogo that if it isn't a mammal, it's a bit of an after-thought (though to be fair, much the same thing could be said of its chief competitor, the National Zoo and Aquarium).
The second part of the zoo is newer and a hopeful sign of the future direction for Mogo. This area consists of three large field exhibits, the new and potentially excellent chimpanzee exhibit, two white lion exhibits, a tapir enclosure and six fair-to-very good primate islands.
The first exhibit that you see is home to a large herd of fallow deer and a couple of kangaroos (though I only caught a short glimpse of one roo). The kangaroos, with the exception of a coastal carpet python, are the only native animals at the zoo. The enclosure is large and reaches all the way to the border of the zoo, perhaps 100 metres away. However the deer all stick close to the fence because visitors can buy bags of deer food for $2. I'm always a fan of opportunities to interact with the animals, but to be honest the smaller herd of free range fallow deer at Halls Gap were more fun.
The first of the white lion enclosures, "Timbavati" is a basic but quite nice chain-link enclosure, and generous in terms of size. The enclosure had three lionesses in it, and featured a massive eucalyptus tree that, it occurred to me, would make for just about the best gibbon enclosure in the country if it weren't used for lions. A second white lion enclosure further along the path is broadly similar, but not quite as picturesque. It used to be the African hunting dog enclosure.
Mogo's savannah exhibit is currently split into three parts - the first for three pure Rothschild's giraffes (male, female and 9 month old calf) and two female ostrich. The enclosure is again basic but sizable, and giraffe feeds are offered at 11.45 for $5, which is better value than visitors from Canberra or Sydney would find at their home zoos. Immediately next to is another paddock that holds (I think) five zebra, and further off again, but disappointingly not able to be viewed at close quarters, is a smaller fenced off section that houses two scimitar-horned oryx.
The newest - and almost certainly the most expensive - enclosure in the zoo is the chimpanzees. We only saw one chimp in the enclosure (I'm sure the other member of that pair was in there somewhere), so it was underwhelming, but it has huge potential once there is a decent-sized group of apes in the exhibit. The design looked like it was made out of sandstone blocks, with two large viewing windows and a decent amount of climbing opportunities. This enclosure will be worth returning for in the future when Mogo has an integrated troop of chimps using it.
An adequate sized tapir exhibit has two different perspectives for viewing the pair of Brazilian tapirs - at ground level (where close-proximity viewing is possible) and from a podium above the enclosure.
Finally we come to the primate islands, which consist of one very large and one small siamang enclosure, two islands for ring-tailed lemurs, one for ruffed lemurs and one for two spider monkeys. Most have a moderate amount of climbing opportunities (the large island for the family group of four siamangs has by far the most). These islands are reminiscent of the similar complex at Dubbo.
Unfortunately at present you need to double back along the entire track back past the lions, giraffes, chimps, deer etc to exit the zoo, but hopefully this is only until new enclosures are built to complete a loop around. Tigers and gibbons, in particular, would benefit from such a development.
Overall, I've tried to judge Mogo based on its own potential rather than potentially unfair comparisons to other zoos. On this basis, I give it a 6/10. The tamarin and marmoset enclosures, red pandas, chimpanzees, open paddock exhibits and primate islands are highlights, whereas the zoo is let down by several too-small big cat exhibits (mostly for tigers), an otter enclosure-cum-wishing well and a couple of ugly primate cages near the front entrance. I wouldn't mind seeing at least *one* bird aviary, perhaps for South American parrots in keeping with the zoo's exotic focus. There are a number of cages near the entrance that could work well for macaws, for instance. There's also potential for a greater variety of hoofstock at minimal cost.
Overall, I have no doubt I'll be back to Mogo, but probably not in the short term. Pictures will be posted to the gallery, hopefully later tonight.
The zoo is rather starkly divided into two separate parts. The older part, which you enter immediately from the front entrance, is characterised by fully-enclosed, steel wire cages for primates and big cats, as well as open-topped, colourbond-fenced enclosures for small carnivores. Third, there are no fewer than seven glass-fronted enclosures for callitrichids, and a (very) small reptile house. This section of the zoo is rather heavily planted, with mature trees and garden beds containing mostly native plants. The effect - especially on a morning like today, where there had been showers just before we arrived - is of a humid, sub-tropical garden.
The best features of this area are the callitrichid enclosures - especially two that are collectively called "Callitrichidae Castle" and house family groups for cotton-top and golden lion tamarins. There are another two cotton-top, one golden lion, one emperor tamarin and one pygmy marmoset enclosure in a row that faces onto the otter enclosure. The cages are all generous in terms of space for the monkeys, have mesh above the glass windows (which allows for the ear-splitting calls of the monkeys to be fully "appreciated" by the visitor!) and contain live plants. The miniature primates were, in my opinion, the greatest strength of the zoo.
There are no fewer than four red panda enclosures, each of which had two red pandas. These are all of the colourbond fence/open top variety. One had a large tree for the occupants, the others had a variety of climbing options but more or less at eye level for visitors. Two young pandas that were less than a year old were very active and thought nothing of climbing all over their keeper as she fed them at the keeper talk.
Enclosures for meerkats and fennec foxes are both average in terms of size and quality. The meerkat exhibit is solid, but in my opinion marred by a poorly executed fake termite mound. The fennec fox also has a fatal flaw, though I'm sure it's there for good reason: a series of glass barriers along the top of the colourbond fence, angled inwards. The result on a wet day like we had is that unless you're very tall, you're restricted to peeking through the gaps in the glass panels to try to spot one of the foxes.
The otter enclosure is badly in need of an overhaul. I may be prejudiced by the fact that only two days previously I'd enjoyed the excellent enclosure at the National Zoo and Aquarium, with its deep, fast-flowing pool. But the Mogo exhibit is still the poorest that I've seen in person (and I've been to Melbourne, Dubbo, Taronga, NZA and Australia Zoo to see otters). The pool is concrete, has no moving water and was only half-full... but worst of all is the large number of coins in the water that have been thrown there by members of the public. Why is this? Because there are signs in the enclosures asking people not to feed the animals (fair enough) but to "make a wish and throw a coin in the pool instead". I'm no otter expert, but I worry that new otters introduced to the enclosure would have a go at swallowing a coin.
Now I come to the enclosed or mostly enclosed wire cages. Primate enclosures of this type were for silvery gibbons (a family group of three), lar gibbons (two) and de brazza monkeys (two enclosures, separated but with direct viewing of each other, for two and one monkey respectively). The best is the lar gibbon, which is relatively large and very high. The silvery gibbon enclosure (which is the first you see directly after entering the zoo) is adequate, but no more than that. The de brazza enclosures are small, covered in concrete and quite uninspiring. I believe the collection calls for de brazzas to be replaced with colobus. That's fine - as long as the colobus get one of the primate island enclosures found later in the zoo.
Finally, there are the cats. These consist of two lion enclosures - one fairly generous in size for a male and two females, and the second tucked in behind it where I saw a single lioness. This enclosure was more or less adequate in size, but had no vantage point from which the lioness could see outside the enclosure as far as I could tell.
Two large serval enclosures were probably the best of the cat enclosures in this half of the zoo. I think both were originally for larger cats. Neither is particularly attractive, but both are quite a bit larger than any other 'small' cat enclosures than I have seen. One had a group of three servals, the other two. I didn't get to see the snow leopard enclosure up close as there is apparently a new male snow leopard from Sweden that is being introduced to Mogo's female, but it looked more or less exactly the same as the serval enclosures. What is large for servals is fairly small for snow leopards.
The worst enclosures in this half of the zoo were the three for tigers. All the tigers had access to water but they were FAR too small for large cats. They are what I would expect an off-exhibit area for a tiger to look like, not a territory suitable for a big cat for a lifetime. Combining the three enclosures into one would only make what I consider an "adequate" habitat for a tiger.
The last exhibits in this half of the zoo are the reptile house. This is decent enough for what it is - large enclosures for a few large pythons and iguanids, with a particularly good open-topped rhinoceros iguana exhibit. However, the limitations of the collection - only two different 'categories' of reptile and only about 6 species all up, falls a bit short of what I look for in a reptile collection. It seems at Mogo that if it isn't a mammal, it's a bit of an after-thought (though to be fair, much the same thing could be said of its chief competitor, the National Zoo and Aquarium).
The second part of the zoo is newer and a hopeful sign of the future direction for Mogo. This area consists of three large field exhibits, the new and potentially excellent chimpanzee exhibit, two white lion exhibits, a tapir enclosure and six fair-to-very good primate islands.
The first exhibit that you see is home to a large herd of fallow deer and a couple of kangaroos (though I only caught a short glimpse of one roo). The kangaroos, with the exception of a coastal carpet python, are the only native animals at the zoo. The enclosure is large and reaches all the way to the border of the zoo, perhaps 100 metres away. However the deer all stick close to the fence because visitors can buy bags of deer food for $2. I'm always a fan of opportunities to interact with the animals, but to be honest the smaller herd of free range fallow deer at Halls Gap were more fun.
The first of the white lion enclosures, "Timbavati" is a basic but quite nice chain-link enclosure, and generous in terms of size. The enclosure had three lionesses in it, and featured a massive eucalyptus tree that, it occurred to me, would make for just about the best gibbon enclosure in the country if it weren't used for lions. A second white lion enclosure further along the path is broadly similar, but not quite as picturesque. It used to be the African hunting dog enclosure.
Mogo's savannah exhibit is currently split into three parts - the first for three pure Rothschild's giraffes (male, female and 9 month old calf) and two female ostrich. The enclosure is again basic but sizable, and giraffe feeds are offered at 11.45 for $5, which is better value than visitors from Canberra or Sydney would find at their home zoos. Immediately next to is another paddock that holds (I think) five zebra, and further off again, but disappointingly not able to be viewed at close quarters, is a smaller fenced off section that houses two scimitar-horned oryx.
The newest - and almost certainly the most expensive - enclosure in the zoo is the chimpanzees. We only saw one chimp in the enclosure (I'm sure the other member of that pair was in there somewhere), so it was underwhelming, but it has huge potential once there is a decent-sized group of apes in the exhibit. The design looked like it was made out of sandstone blocks, with two large viewing windows and a decent amount of climbing opportunities. This enclosure will be worth returning for in the future when Mogo has an integrated troop of chimps using it.
An adequate sized tapir exhibit has two different perspectives for viewing the pair of Brazilian tapirs - at ground level (where close-proximity viewing is possible) and from a podium above the enclosure.
Finally we come to the primate islands, which consist of one very large and one small siamang enclosure, two islands for ring-tailed lemurs, one for ruffed lemurs and one for two spider monkeys. Most have a moderate amount of climbing opportunities (the large island for the family group of four siamangs has by far the most). These islands are reminiscent of the similar complex at Dubbo.
Unfortunately at present you need to double back along the entire track back past the lions, giraffes, chimps, deer etc to exit the zoo, but hopefully this is only until new enclosures are built to complete a loop around. Tigers and gibbons, in particular, would benefit from such a development.
Overall, I've tried to judge Mogo based on its own potential rather than potentially unfair comparisons to other zoos. On this basis, I give it a 6/10. The tamarin and marmoset enclosures, red pandas, chimpanzees, open paddock exhibits and primate islands are highlights, whereas the zoo is let down by several too-small big cat exhibits (mostly for tigers), an otter enclosure-cum-wishing well and a couple of ugly primate cages near the front entrance. I wouldn't mind seeing at least *one* bird aviary, perhaps for South American parrots in keeping with the zoo's exotic focus. There are a number of cages near the entrance that could work well for macaws, for instance. There's also potential for a greater variety of hoofstock at minimal cost.
Overall, I have no doubt I'll be back to Mogo, but probably not in the short term. Pictures will be posted to the gallery, hopefully later tonight.