Melbourne Zoo Future of Melbourne Zoo 2022 (Speculation / Fantasy)

[Jambo]

Interestingly, there is already a small reptile house along from the Gorillas which currently holds some Varanus hamersleyensis and Boyd's Forest Dragons amongst other things although it is not really visited or explicitly stated on the map. This could be simply altered and could incorporate a walk-through aviary into this space similar to how Healesville does their 'Endangered Species Aviary'.

Those are found in the 'Gorilla Research Hut', which is hidden away off the path and amongst the heavily condensed bamboo forest. It's been closed the last few times I visited, and I believe they've turned into a small educational hut. Not sure though.

 

[Josh F]

Those are found in the 'Gorilla Research Hut', which is hidden away off the path and amongst the heavily condensed bamboo forest. It's been closed the last few times I visited, and I believe they've turned into a small educational hut. Not sure though.

It was open as of a couple weeks ago, not a whole lot going on in there though as they've moved the Crested Dragons that were previously there so from memory there was only two displays actually with animals in them.

 

[Zoofan15]

Interestingly, there is already a small reptile house along from the Gorillas which currently holds some Varanus hamersleyensis and Boyd's Forest Dragons amongst other things although it is not really visited or explicitly stated on the map. This could be simply altered and could incorporate a walk-through aviary into this space similar to how Healesville does their 'Endangered Species Aviary'.

Those are found in the 'Gorilla Research Hut', which is hidden away off the path and amongst the heavily condensed bamboo forest. It's been closed the last few times I visited, and I believe they've turned into a small educational hut. Not sure though.

If it’s small (and in close proximity to the gorillas), I’d keep it and re theme it as an African reptile house with two or three species e.g. Leopard tortoise and Madagascan giant day gecko. There’s not a wealth of African reptiles in Australia (at least not enough to warrant a large reptile house); but this hut could serve to represent them at least, with mammals remain the central focus of the African rainforest zone.

 

[Josh F]

If it’s small (and in close proximity to the gorillas), I’d keep it and re theme it as an African reptile house with two or three species e.g. Leopard tortoise and Madagascan giant day gecko. There’s not a wealth of African reptiles in Australia (at least not enough to warrant a large reptile house); but this hut could serve to represent them at least, with mammals remain the central focus of the African rainforest zone.

African Rainforest Reptile House - Formerly Gorilla Ranger Hut

Housing species including: Royal Python from the Growing Wild area, plus the Kenyan Sand Boa as well in that sort of a setup, some of the Dumeril's or Madagascan Ground Boas from Werribee and already at Melbourne too. Additionally as suggested by @Zoofan15 Leopard tortoise from Werribee, Madagascan Giant Day Geckos already held at Werribee.

 

[Zoofan15]

I suppose they could utilise the Royal Python from the inside space where the juvenile Giant Torts are kept, plus the Kenyan Sand Boa as well in that sort of a setup.

Yep. Plus Werribee has Leopard tortoise and Melbourne Zoo has Madagascan giant day gecko.

 

[Zoofan15]

I have to say I agree with comments made by others that the Growing Wild precinct is an absolute waste of space. The zoo already has a playground for the kids and if the parents can tear them away from that, the average kid would be more excited to see a big cat than they would to see a tortoise or a turkey.

Like the carnivores precinct, I think this was something designed to appeal to the general public; though in reality parents pay to take their kids to a zoo to see zoo animals (especially megafauna), not spend the day on a handful of pieces of play equipment you can find for free down the road.

 

[Josh F]

I have to say I agree with comments made by others that the Growing Wild precinct is an absolute waste of space. The zoo already has a playground for the kids and if the parents can tear them away from that, the average kid would be more excited to see a big cat than they would to see a tortoise or a turkey.

Like the carnivores precinct, I think this was something designed to appeal to the general public; though in reality parents pay to take their kids to a zoo to see zoo animals (especially megafauna), not spend the day on a handful of pieces of play equipment you can find for free down the road.

It doesn't do the space any favours that it is just a mosh pit of different overflow animals from the reptile house as well unfortunately.

 

[austrlain zoo gower]

Has anyone could the plans for the carnivores trail I found the ones for stage one lions, wild dogs but what about for tiger, snow leopard and coati I am planing on doing a planet zoo reacreation and they would really help even a map

 

[austrlain zoo gower]

Any update

 

[Jambo]

I have to say I agree with comments made by others that the Growing Wild precinct is an absolute waste of space. The zoo already has a playground for the kids and if the parents can tear them away from that, the average kid would be more excited to see a big cat than they would to see a tortoise or a turkey.

Like the carnivores precinct, I think this was something designed to appeal to the general public; though in reality parents pay to take their kids to a zoo to see zoo animals (especially megafauna), not spend the day on a handful of pieces of play equipment you can find for free down the road.

Growing Wild is indeed a waste of space. It initially planned to house an array of species, but now half of it is shut off. It’s made of up three Meerkat enclosures (not sure there’s need for that many), and the public barely ventured further than these enclosures. Further on is a nice yet simple Galapagos Tortoise enclosure and a small educational hut displaying reptiles, amphibians and insects. There’s an aviary which is now pretty much hidden that used to house Brush Turkey, and an abandoned walkway area which used to house Mara. There were also plans for Tree Kangaroos, it’s a shame these never went through.

There’s a whole playground and carousel in the centre of the zoo which serves much better as a children’s area.

I’d like to see the Growing Wild precinct transformed into a South American precinct Dome (with species as I’ve stated before). It’d be a much better use of space, and a much bigger attraction right at the entrance.

 

[Jambo]

We mustn't forget Zoos Victoria are only dedicated to holding a collection of species that fit the following categories:

Recovery- Species part of a recovery program
Ark- Species with a real threat of extinction in the wild
Ambassador- Species that support a conservation message
Enabling- popular species with guests
Research- Species that may be used for research outcomes and knowledge acquisitions that support conservation efforts.

I'll do a list later of species that don't fit into these categories.

Of course any species could be used for ambassador, but i'd imagine it only refers to the main ones such as orangutans (for palm oil removal), gorillas (for the phone campaign), seals and penguins (plastic, pollution in the sea campaign) ect.

 

[Zoofan15]

We mustn't forget Zoos Victoria are only dedicated to holding a collection of species that fit the following categories:

Recovery- Species part of a recovery program
Ark- Species with a real threat of extinction in the wild
Ambassador- Species that support a conservation message
Enabling- popular species with guests
Research- Species that may be used for research outcomes and knowledge acquisitions that support conservation efforts.

I'll do a list later of species that don't fit into these categories.

Of course any species could be used for ambassador, but i'd imagine it only refers to the main ones such as orangutans (for palm oil removal), gorillas (for the phone campaign), seals and penguins (plastic, pollution in the sea campaign) ect.

Enabling is such a difficult concept to quantify. Farmyard animals can appear enabling when there's swarms of little kids crowding to feed them, who aren't remotely interested in their parent's suggestion to see the Snow leopard.

Social media engagement would be one of the main assessment tools. Both Auckland and Wellington Zoo have named their Asian small-clawed otters as their most engaged with content; followed by great apes. Visitor surveys are another, with results usually favouring megafauna.

The most surprising phase outs at Melbourne have been the Jaguar and the Mandrill, given their popularity with visitors - though the latter is believed to be making a come back. The Eastern bongo too, if you take into account it's conservation status.

The obvious candidate for phase out is the Collared peccary. While we can all appreciate their value of being the last of their kind in Australasia, this would go over the heads of the general public; and indeed the zoo have confirmed their phase out.

 

[Jambo]

The most surprising phase outs at Melbourne have been the Jaguar and the Mandrill, given their popularity with visitors - though the latter is believed to be making a come back. The Eastern bongo too, if you take into account it's conservation status.

Jaguar was most likely due to the declining support of other zoos in the region for breeding them. Although they are quite popular with the public, many do know Jaguars as 'leopards' and Melbourne still do have Snow leopards.

The African Wild Dogs are also frequently called 'Hyenas' which makes them somewhat more popular than they should be.

 

[MRJ]

Rainforests of the World Precinct

I can see a lot of potential in this idea.

A large rainforest forest trail could be created with four geographical zones:

- South East Asia
- Africa
- Australia
- South America

@Zoofan15 Amazing idea, a collection of different species from the rainforests around the world would be outstanding as a mega-exhibit precinct of any big zoo

Maybe we should rename this thread "Back to the future of Melbourne Zoo".

That was exactly what was proposed in the Hancocks master plan. It was to be a trail that started at the entrance and zig-zagged through to the Great Flight Aviary, which was to be used as a transition to the next zone (grassy woodlands, I think). The zones in order were to be Africa, SE Asia, South America and Australia/New Guinea. Interestingly amongst species planned for the African sector were bongos and red river hogs.

There was also provision for a Tropical Hall in the middle of it all. This was never taken further than a space on the plan, however at the time it did look as if bird importation was going to open up.

First thing to go was the South American section as the big four made a decision to concentrate on SE Asia and to a lesser extent Africa. That is why they have been shedding American species over the last four decades.

However the real killer was the reversal of the decision to remove elephants from the zoo, and consequently building the current elephant complex over much of the space allocated to the tropical zone. Of course it fitted in with the theme but massively decreased the number of species that could be held.

There has also been a swing away from immersive exhibits and a return to monumental architecture, apparently pushed by some members of the Board who see new exhibits as an opportunity to highlight the work of Australian architects.

Going back to Treetops, this was built as part of the previous Taxonomic masterplan. Under the Hancocks plan it was to hold only African species, including birds. One of the first steps taken to implement the plan was to convert the two end enclosures to aviaries and display African gray parrots and (Fishers?) lovebirds.

I understand Zoos Vic plan a compete rebuild of the elephant complex, not simply adapting what is there to a new species. Of course this would be depending on funding. It would be nice if they were to dust down those old plans and give them fair consideration.

 

[Jambo]

That was exactly what was proposed in the Hancocks master plan. It was to be a trail that started at the entrance and zig-zagged through to the Great Flight Aviary, which was to be used as a transition to the next zone (grassy woodlands, I think)

The next stage was to be grassy woodlands for both Australia, Africa and South America. The South American part was generally half heartedly put together with two enclosures that were used to hold Brazilian Tapir and Peccary. Maned Wolf were planned to be moved across there too, but those plans were thrown out the window when they were instead chosen to be phased out.

oing back to Treetops, this was built as part of the previous Taxonomic masterplan. Under the Hancocks plan it was to hold only African species, including birds. One of the first steps taken to implement the plan was to convert the two end enclosures to aviaries and display African gray parrots and (Fishers?) lovebirds.

Aside from the African Grey Parrots, the only African primate species i've ever seen, or known about being displayed there were De Brazzas monkeys and Black and White Colobus. Were there others there originally?

I understand Zoos Vic plan a compete rebuild of the elephant complex, not simply adapting what is there to a new species. Of course this would be depending on funding. It would be nice if they were to dust down those old plans and give them fair consideration.

That's interesting, I was told they would make use of the facilities they already have which implies a species that would fit the current elephant complex, such as Indian Rhinos. Although saying that, i'd definitely like to see it built towards a rainforest sort of area, as Werribee already focuses on the hoofstock side of things.

 

[MRJ]

Aside from the African Grey Parrots, the only African primate species i've ever seen, or known about being displayed there were De Brazzas monkeys and Black and White Colobus. Were there others there originally?

The only other African species I can recall were the ruffed lemurs. This was part of the problem. To further the concept they needed to move the Asian species to new exhibits and import more African species. This was envisaged as a second "Treetops", which was never built. Of course they did not have to replace every enclosure with a primate. It is interesting to think what might have been exhibited, Maybe a cat? But overall had "Treetops" been in the Asian zone and not the African zone it might have progressed the project markedly.

That's interesting, I was told they would make use of the facilities they already have which implies a species that would fit the current elephant complex, such as Indian Rhinos. Although saying that, i'd definitely like to see it built towards a rainforest sort of area, as Werribee already focuses on the hoofstock side of things.

You could well be right. I was told that when the project was first announced, well before they obtained funding. They may well have had to compromise on what they could do at Melbourne to secure the funding for Werribee.

 

[Jambo]

The only other African species I can recall were the ruffed lemurs. This was part of the problem. To further the concept they needed to move the Asian species to new exhibits and import more African species. This was envisaged as a second "Treetops", which was never built. Of course they did not have to replace every enclosure with a primate. It is interesting to think what might have been exhibited, Maybe a cat? But overall had "Treetops" been in the Asian zone and not the African zone it might have progressed the project markedly.

There were initial plans to move the Ring Tail lemurs into the Treetop Trail, I believe in the late 2000's, as they planned to renovate that entire area including the Lemur islands into an expanded Carnivore area. Instead they later decided to build them a whole new enclosure on top of the former great ape grottos, which I, and many others agree could've easily suited the Baboons without needing much renovation. Albeit, the lemurs do suit the 'African Rainforest' theme.

A second Asian treetops would work much better, as Melbourne would have the species for it. African was probably the worst and hardest choice as Melbourne only really had a few candidates to join the trail, and many would have to had been imported from overseas.

A small cat species would have worked nicely. Jungle cats would've been perfect, and Melbourne had some too I believe. Even Clouded Leopards if a bigger enclosure was built. Bats may too have been an option; as well as species of birds.

 

[Zoofan15]

Jaguar was most likely due to the declining support of other zoos in the region for breeding them. Although they are quite popular with the public, many do know Jaguars as 'leopards' and Melbourne still do have Snow leopards.

The African Wild Dogs are also frequently called 'Hyenas' which makes them somewhat more popular than they should be.

Given one of Melbourne Zoo's Jaguar was melanistic, I'd be surprised if there were any visitors who believed him to be of the same species as either the Snow leopards or the Persian leopards which Melbourne Zoo held at the time. It was actually a common misconception amongst members of the general public that Maya (melanistic male) and Muana (golden female) were different species, rather than one being a melanistic variation of the species.

Melbourne intended to breed Jaguar, but the female had to be speyed soon after import and the region had long decided to phase them out by the time they passed away. It's a shame as Maya's father, Ali (also melanistic), was one of the animal stars of Taronga Zoo and was equally popular.

 

[Jambo]

Species Melbourne may phase out :

Emperor Tamarin (older pair)
Cotton Top Tamarin (breeding group)
Black and White Colobus (older pair)
Peccary (small group)
Malayan Tapir (single individual)
Coati (small group)

Peccary are on the way to be phased out, and it's possible Malayan Tapir and Coati will too once the final individuals die.

Black and White Colobus may very well be phased out too, unless Melbourne decides to work with Adelaide on continuing breeding the species. They haven't been bred from in more than a decade now.

The two tamarin species may stay due to them being somewhat enabling; a lot of people enjoy seeing the smaller Cotton Top Tamarins.

 

[steveroberts]

@Zoofan15 Its amazing how even with signage that Jaguars can still be assumed to be Leopards and melanistic considered to be a separate species (am certain quite a large number of people still believe a 'black panther' to be a species of felid rather than melanistic Leopards & Jaguars). Totally with Ali he was so popular still in the mid '90s would spend heaps of time out the front of his exhibit, possibly longer than the other big cats because he often took ages to spot (and sometimes didn't appear in view at all). As a young kid would have thought he was a separate species if not for a sign on his exhibit that had a lifelike drawing of a melanistic Jaguar next to a golden-coated one. That was how came to learn what melanism was, owe a lot of early knowledge gaining to the good signage at Taronga and Perth zoos in the '90s.

@Jambo Funny you should mention how often that African Hunting Dogs get mistaken for a type of Hyena as had a long debate with a friend at school about how there were no Hyenas at Western Plains and told him he was talking about Hunting Dogs but he was adamant he had seen Hyenas and this was a few years before we had phones with instant internet access to pull out and type things up on google to prove points lol. Then another old school friend with a youtube channel for political and social commentary was referring to a group of politicians as a 'pack of Hyenas' (never ends how Hyenas always get referred to in human societies with negative connotations) and the picture he cut to was a pack of Hunting Dogs eating remains instead and it jogged memory of the common misconception. Hunting Dogs deserve to be popular in their own right, they are uniquely interesting in their look and endangered, its great that Hyena species are popular with visitors at zoos too despite or perhaps because of their perpetual negative reputation, or more likely because they are really interesting in appearance and behavior.