From my visit to Werribee...

PaddyRickMFZ

PaddyRickMFZ

Well-Known Member
I have massive news following my visit to Werribee,
Melbourne Zoo plan to reimplement Bongo
Up to 10 Malayan Tapir are floated as a replacement for one of the Elephant exhibits
Nyala are likely cancelled for Melbourne Zoo, and will instead be put on the walking tour near the Elephants at Werribee.
Indian Rhino have been floated at Melbourne, and if they are introduced to Victoria will not be housed at Werribee

And Werribee information if anyone wants it:
Perth’s bull elephant may join the herd, and the elephant habitat can hold up to 40 Elephants.
Hyenas have been delayed but are planned for the next 18 months.

I plan to ask about the Brazilian Tapirs reintroduction to Victoria in the coming hours
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
I have massive news following my visit to Werribee,
Melbourne Zoo plan to reimplement Bongo
Up to 10 Malayan Tapir are floated as a replacement for one of the Elephant exhibits
Nyala are likely cancelled for Melbourne Zoo, and will instead be put on the walking tour near the Elephants at Werribee.
Indian Rhino have been floated at Melbourne, and if they are introduced to Victoria will not be housed at Werribee

And Werribee information if anyone wants it:
Perth’s bull elephant may join the herd, and the elephant habitat can hold up to 40 Elephants.
Hyenas have been delayed but are planned for the next 18 months.

I plan to ask about the Brazilian Tapirs reintroduction to Victoria in the coming hours
Click to expand...

Source for all this?
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
I have massive news following my visit to Werribee,
Melbourne Zoo plan to reimplement Bongo
Up to 10 Malayan Tapir are floated as a replacement for one of the Elephant exhibits
Nyala are likely cancelled for Melbourne Zoo, and will instead be put on the walking tour near the Elephants at Werribee.
Indian Rhino have been floated at Melbourne, and if they are introduced to Victoria will not be housed at Werribee

And Werribee information if anyone wants it:
Perth’s bull elephant may join the herd, and the elephant habitat can hold up to 40 Elephants.
Hyenas have been delayed but are planned for the next 18 months.

I plan to ask about the Brazilian Tapirs reintroduction to Victoria in the coming hours
Click to expand...

Do you have a source? Was it a keeper? Not saying your wrong but some of that info is really surprising, and I doubt someone at Werribee would know all of that info (mostly involving Melbourne).
 
CGSwans said:
Interesting. 10 tapir ain't happening. They're solitary animals.
Click to expand...

Hm, Melbourne could be looking to hold a large breeding group of a few males and a few females (alongside offspring). Malayan Tapir seem to be one of the major faces on Zoos Vic's forest campaign so I guess I can see why they might continue to focus on them.
 
CGSwans said:
Interesting. 10 tapir ain't happening. They're solitary animals.
Click to expand...
Not 10 Tapir in the same exhibit, but I infer they are running a breeding operations. Also, they are not keepers per se, but he was well versed and prepared to answer everything I asked, and was more broad than individual species keepers. It is possible he may have misspoken and said Malayan Tapirs instead of Brazilian Tapirs, as I predict.
 
Jambo said:
Hm, Melbourne could be looking to hold a large breeding group of a few males and a few females (alongside offspring). Malayan Tapir seem to be one of the major faces on Zoos Vic's forest campaign so I guess I can see why they might continue to focus on them.
Click to expand...

There's not room for 10 tapirs at Melbourne, and Zoos Vic hasn't shown any tendency to go it alone with big mammal projects before - certainly not at Melbourne itself.

There's also the small reason of why Malayan tapirs were phased out of Australian collections in the first place - they all went blind in the Australian sun - so I'm doubly skeptical.
 
CGSwans said:
There's not room for 10 tapirs at Melbourne, and Zoos Vic hasn't shown any tendency to go it alone with big mammal projects before - certainly not at Melbourne itself.

There's also the small reason of why Malayan tapirs were phased out of Australian collections in the first place - they all went blind in the Australian sun - so I'm doubly skeptical.
Click to expand...
Also not to mention that if Werribee does not take the Perth bull that would be a massive own goal, not just for the zoo but for the region!
 
Last edited:
CGSwans said:
There's not room for 10 tapirs at Melbourne, and Zoos Vic hasn't shown any tendency to go it alone with big mammal projects before - certainly not at Melbourne itself.

There's also the small reason of why Malayan tapirs were phased out of Australian collections in the first place - they all went blind in the Australian sun - so I'm doubly skeptical.
Click to expand...
Fair Enough, and I was surprised as well, but they are the experts, not us, so I’m trusting him, worst case scenario they are referring to Brazilian tapirs anyway. Not to mention, there is ample space for 10 Tapirs at Melbourne, provided not all are on display

Edit: Was not able to find anymore information on Tapirs from other keepers, but can confirm the arrival of cape porcupine to Werribee if anyone is interested
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Melbourne Zoo plan to reimplement Bongo
Click to expand...
Did they say whereabouts? The old Bongo enclosure is no longer habitable.
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Nyala are likely cancelled for Melbourne Zoo, and will instead be put on the walking tour near the Elephants at Werribee.
Click to expand...
They're already at Werribee though in the Wetland part of the Safari tour?
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Hyenas have been delayed but are planned for the next 18 months.
Click to expand...
They don't even have an enclosure yet, and likely won't for at least another 18 months or so, so I'm not sure how they're delayed.
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Edit: Was not able to find anymore information on Tapirs from other keepers, but can confirm the arrival of cape porcupine to Werribee if anyone is interested
Click to expand...
Not unexpected. Was it mentioned where they will they go?
 
CGSwans said:
Interesting. 10 tapir ain't happening. They're solitary animals.
Click to expand...
To me, it almost sounds like it's crazy enough to be True, like zoos normally float crazy ideas like this knowing it will inevitably be cut down later in the process. For example TWPZ's promises of a giant savanna, the Aus Rhino project, or Taronga's Congo plans, in reality, we never expect everything they promised to come true. It's headline-grabbing mostly i.e. "Ten endangered Malayan Tapirs to call Melbourne Zoo home", all in order to garner public and by extension government support for a scaled-down version of the announced project.

Saying that I hope and don't believe this project won't come to fruition, it's not in the species or the region's best interests. All I'm saying is it sounds like something stupid a major Zoo would float in a brainstorming meeting and waste money on, only to realize it's unviable after a few months of research.
 
Last edited:
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Fair Enough, and I was surprised as well, but they are the experts, not us, so I’m trusting him, worst case scenario they are referring to Brazilian tapirs anyway. Not to mention, there is ample space for 10 Tapirs at Melbourne, provided not all are on display

Edit: Was not able to find anymore information on Tapirs from other keepers, but can confirm the arrival of cape porcupine to Werribee if anyone is interested
Click to expand...

A Werribee safari truck driver is not an expert on collection planning (not to mention, will probably receive a dressing down when this thread gets read at Zoos Vic HQ - please be gentle with them, guys, we only ask because we care!). As noted above, they are a customer relations staff member first and foremost.

I guess if I wanted to turn Melbourne Zoo into a one-stop tapir breeding shop I could wedge ten of them in somewhere, but it would come at the expense of other holdings and I really, really doubt that's the strategic path they intend to go down for a not-quite-ABC species.

It would, as noted, be out of character for them, and for no really apparent reason when there's plenty of zoos in the region with recent history with tapirs - they're either held or were recently held at Adelaide, Taronga, Mogo and Darling Downs, and that's just off the top of my head. Tapirs would also be very much in Altina's wheelhouse too, and I can see how they would fit at Halls Gap and Wildlife HQ.

If there's any truth to it, it could be that Melbourne will be the importing facility and there are plans to re-establish the population with a total of 10 founders, which will be progressively farmed out to other aspiring holders.
 
Jambo said:
Did they say whereabouts? The old Bongo enclosure is no longer habitable.

They're already at Werribee though in the Wetland part of the Safari tour?

They don't even have an enclosure yet, and likely won't for at least another 18 months or so, so I'm not sure how they're delayed.

Not unexpected. Was it mentioned where they will they go?
Click to expand...
Nyala are indeed on the Safari, but there will be a new walking trail on the way to the Elephant exhibit, which is where I presume the porcupine will also be. The hyenas were in fact delayed due to Covid. I didn’t ask where the Bongo would go, but I did ask if they would come to Werribee, to which he responded that Melbourne were attempting to get some more in. I asked the other keeper about the Tapirs and she was not sure, but only mentioned there would potentially be a new cheetah, hyenas and porcupines after the expansion. I didn’t want to push my luck any further than that.
Also, I never said he was an expert regarding collection planning but had been working there for a long time, and genuine keepers referred me to him when I was asking about the Addax, and the conversation flowed from there. You are welcome to go to Werribee and ask him yourself if you don’t believe me

Edit: Zoos Vic HQ reads this?
 
Last edited:
PaddyRickMFZ said:
I have massive news following my visit to Werribee,
Melbourne Zoo plan to reimplement Bongo
Click to expand...

That’s great news that Melbourne Zoo are reinstating Eastern bongo. The reasons for phasing them out at the time were nonsensical imo and they’ll be a welcome addition to the zoo - nicely complimenting the Pygmy hippopotamus and Western lowland gorilla.
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Up to 10 Malayan Tapir are floated as a replacement for one of the Elephant exhibits.
Click to expand...

I’m thinking there could be crossed wires re. Malayan tapir versus Brazilian tapir - the latter being supported by the region, with multiple zoos interested in importing them.

Even then it’s hard to imagine Zoos Victoria dedicating multiple exhibits (they couldn’t all live communally) to a single species as the information others have received from them is that multiple species will be accommodated in this area.

Such a facility would be better implemented at Werribee imo - but would be of great support to the regional breeding programme (tapir breeding hub).
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Nyala are indeed on the Safari, but there will be a new walking trail on the way to the Elephant exhibit, which is where I presume the porcupine will also be. The hyenas were in fact delayed due to Covid. I didn’t ask where the Bongo would go, but I did ask if they would come to Werribee, to which he responded that Melbourne were attempting to get some more in. I asked the other keeper about the Tapirs and she was not sure, but only mentioned there would potentially be a new cheetah, hyenas and porcupines after the expansion. I didn’t want to push my luck any further than that.
Also, I never said he was an expert regarding collection planning but had been working there for a long time, and genuine keepers referred me to him when I was asking about the Addax, and the conversation flowed from there. You are welcome to go to Werribee and ask him yourself if you don’t believe me

Edit: Zoos Vic HQ reads this?
Click to expand...

Thanks for asking those questions.:)

What did you ask re. the adaax?

I'm mostly interested in where the Hyena where going to go. Potentially in the back vacant Lion enclosure? It's good to see they're importing some founders from overseas as evident by the delay due to covid.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top