The last time I visited David Fleay's Fauna Park was in 1985. Since then I had heard it had gone downhill due to government neglect (or apathy), then had picked again, then gone downhill ...... and then I left the zoo industry and I haven't heard anything about it in the last decade or so.
In early June I was visiting relatives in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, and I was cramming in a few zoos and parks I hadn't been to in a while, and I got the chance to visit Fleay's for a couple of hours.
Let me just say at this point that I am not going to give a detailed review of the park, this thread is just going to highlight some impressions I got on my visit.
Firstly, the walk from the carpark to the entrance is on a boardwalk through some mangroves, with appropriate signage explaining the value of mangroves. I've seen zoos recreate mangrove exhibits, but this was real. The tide was out, there was a stink, and unfortunately no animal life. Good to see.
Much of the park is viewed from boardwalks, which is a good thing as there is a large pond/swampy area in the middle of the park and the boardwalk keeps you a few feet off the sodden muddy ground. It also means paths can be kept releatively level and you don't have to dig up the ground the lay asphalt/bitumen/concrete etc. However, I imagine in some years parts of it will need to be replaced as natural wear-and-tear (and the weather) take it's toll.
As mentioned, the boardwalk circles a large pond and swampy area enclosing three separate enclosures - one has some salties, and the other two have commonly seen waterbirds (Magpie Geese, variety of Ducks, Cormorants, Black-necked Stork, Black Swans, Brolgas etc.) The brolgas also had some chicks. One of these enclosures also had swamp wallabies and Freshwater Crocodiles. It was interesting to see the Freshies only a few metres away from the ducks.
The cassowary exhibit was very impressive. The enclosure was built around existing trees, some of which were enormous, and there were so many trees that even in the middle of the day it was still dark in the exhibit and reminiscient of a rainforest. And it is the largest Cassowary enclosure I have ever seen in any zoo or park.
Opposite the Cassowary, on the higher side of the boardwalk, were three macropod species I particularly wanted to see. The first I came to was the Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo, a lone female. She has two enclosures that they shift her between, and both have mature eucalypts which she can climb. While I was there she climbed from ground level right to the top of one of the trees and started feeding. She must have been 20 metres above the ground! Just fantastic!
Beside her was a breeding group of Bridled Nailtail Wallabies. I know they're a breeding group because I got pictures of a pair of them mating. There were several on display, some close to the boardwalk and I was able to get some nice shots of them, and a closeup of the nail-in-the-tail on one of them.
The third macropod was the Proserpine Rock Wallaby, again a large enclosure but ther rockpile was pretty obviously an artificial construct. A little disappointing to see when other places like Monarto have brillaint replicas of rocky gorges. The whole time I was there the wallabies went nowhere near it, lazing on the grass in the sun. Still, it's better than nothing and should the wallabies become concerned about anything, I'm sure the back of the rockpile is the first place they'll head.
The reason why I wanted to see these macropods is because they are very rare in zoos, and the two wallabies are endangered, each down to only a few hundred individuals in the wild. In fact, the Nailtail was thought to be extinxt for almost 40 years before being rediscovered.
Another macropod species, the Red-legged Pademelon, is free-ranging.
The only other thing I wish to mention is the nocturnal house - not overly large but it has some nice exhibits. The platypus tank was great, and the platypus was very active. They had Mahogany Gliders (another endangered species) feeding, and I was able to get some (shocking) photos of one under an infrared light. They also had displays for Greater and Yellow-bellied Gliders, but they weren't showing themselves. And in one exhibit, according to the label, was a Julia Creek Dunnart - yet another endangered species and one never seen in zoos. This one, according to a keeper, was sleeping under a log and so I didn't see it. Pity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I enjoyed my visit, probably because I saw several endangered species that are very rarely kept in zoos. Even though Fleay's is a small fauna park (and could probably do with lots more funding) they were breeding endangered Australian species that no other zoos in Australia have. For that reason alone I applaud their efforts.
I have uploaded 44 photos into the Fleay's gallery illustrating the species and enclosures I have described (and others) at David Fleay Wildlife Park Gallery
Hix
In early June I was visiting relatives in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, and I was cramming in a few zoos and parks I hadn't been to in a while, and I got the chance to visit Fleay's for a couple of hours.
Let me just say at this point that I am not going to give a detailed review of the park, this thread is just going to highlight some impressions I got on my visit.
Firstly, the walk from the carpark to the entrance is on a boardwalk through some mangroves, with appropriate signage explaining the value of mangroves. I've seen zoos recreate mangrove exhibits, but this was real. The tide was out, there was a stink, and unfortunately no animal life. Good to see.
Much of the park is viewed from boardwalks, which is a good thing as there is a large pond/swampy area in the middle of the park and the boardwalk keeps you a few feet off the sodden muddy ground. It also means paths can be kept releatively level and you don't have to dig up the ground the lay asphalt/bitumen/concrete etc. However, I imagine in some years parts of it will need to be replaced as natural wear-and-tear (and the weather) take it's toll.
As mentioned, the boardwalk circles a large pond and swampy area enclosing three separate enclosures - one has some salties, and the other two have commonly seen waterbirds (Magpie Geese, variety of Ducks, Cormorants, Black-necked Stork, Black Swans, Brolgas etc.) The brolgas also had some chicks. One of these enclosures also had swamp wallabies and Freshwater Crocodiles. It was interesting to see the Freshies only a few metres away from the ducks.
The cassowary exhibit was very impressive. The enclosure was built around existing trees, some of which were enormous, and there were so many trees that even in the middle of the day it was still dark in the exhibit and reminiscient of a rainforest. And it is the largest Cassowary enclosure I have ever seen in any zoo or park.
Opposite the Cassowary, on the higher side of the boardwalk, were three macropod species I particularly wanted to see. The first I came to was the Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo, a lone female. She has two enclosures that they shift her between, and both have mature eucalypts which she can climb. While I was there she climbed from ground level right to the top of one of the trees and started feeding. She must have been 20 metres above the ground! Just fantastic!
Beside her was a breeding group of Bridled Nailtail Wallabies. I know they're a breeding group because I got pictures of a pair of them mating. There were several on display, some close to the boardwalk and I was able to get some nice shots of them, and a closeup of the nail-in-the-tail on one of them.
The third macropod was the Proserpine Rock Wallaby, again a large enclosure but ther rockpile was pretty obviously an artificial construct. A little disappointing to see when other places like Monarto have brillaint replicas of rocky gorges. The whole time I was there the wallabies went nowhere near it, lazing on the grass in the sun. Still, it's better than nothing and should the wallabies become concerned about anything, I'm sure the back of the rockpile is the first place they'll head.
The reason why I wanted to see these macropods is because they are very rare in zoos, and the two wallabies are endangered, each down to only a few hundred individuals in the wild. In fact, the Nailtail was thought to be extinxt for almost 40 years before being rediscovered.
Another macropod species, the Red-legged Pademelon, is free-ranging.
The only other thing I wish to mention is the nocturnal house - not overly large but it has some nice exhibits. The platypus tank was great, and the platypus was very active. They had Mahogany Gliders (another endangered species) feeding, and I was able to get some (shocking) photos of one under an infrared light. They also had displays for Greater and Yellow-bellied Gliders, but they weren't showing themselves. And in one exhibit, according to the label, was a Julia Creek Dunnart - yet another endangered species and one never seen in zoos. This one, according to a keeper, was sleeping under a log and so I didn't see it. Pity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I enjoyed my visit, probably because I saw several endangered species that are very rarely kept in zoos. Even though Fleay's is a small fauna park (and could probably do with lots more funding) they were breeding endangered Australian species that no other zoos in Australia have. For that reason alone I applaud their efforts.
I have uploaded 44 photos into the Fleay's gallery illustrating the species and enclosures I have described (and others) at David Fleay Wildlife Park Gallery
Hix
