Following the Melbourne [Melbourne Zoo Inventory Report 2020-2021 [Melbourne Zoo]] and Werribee [WORZ Inventory Report 2020-2021 [Werribee Open Range Zoo]] inventory lists, Healesville Sanctuary is the final zoo to be covered to complete the Zoos Victoria trio to have a relatively accurate and up-to-date record of all three collections especially considering the limited opportunities for locals to visit recently due to lockdowns. This inventory report released by Zoos Victoria represents all the species recorded from July 2020 to June 2021 at Healesville Sanctuary.
Full inventory list: https://www.zoo.org.au/media/5358/inventory-report-2020212.pdf
FISH:
Three fish species were recorded at Healesville; 0.0.1 Murray Cod, 0.0.31 Crimson-spotted Rainbowfish and Southern Pygmy Perch. The perch unfortunately died out with the last two individuals deceased by June 2021.
AMPHIBIANS:
Again, surprisingly only three species. The Southern Corroboree Frogs commenced July 2020 at 166 (34.24.108) frogs with six hatchings, 30+ deaths and three departures, leaving 143 (32.21.90) individuals by mid-2021. The Northern Corroboree Frogs remained relatively stable with only three deaths, finishing at 47 (24.23) frogs. Finally, the sanctuary had four (0.0.4) Green Tree Frogs recorded by the end of June 2021.
REPTILES:
Turtles are represented with 0.0.2 Northern Snake-necked Turtles that had no changes. A good array of lizards especially skinks with two (1.1) Major Skinks, two (0.0.2) Land Mullets, 0.1 Gidgee Skink, four (1.0.3) Centralian Bluetongues, two (0.0.2) Eastern Bluetongues, three (0.1.2) Shinglebacks, two (1.1) Eastern Water Dragons, 0.1 Boyd’s Forest Dragon, four (2.2) Central Bearded Dragons and two (1.1) Burton’s Legless Lizards. The Healesville specialties comprising of Guthega Skink finished mid-2021 with 17 (7.10) individuals after receiving five new males and Alpine She-oak Skinks had a total of six (4.2) lizards. Monitors included four species with two (1.1) Lace Monitors, two (1.1) Merten’s Water Monitors and 1.0 Spiny-tailed Monitor. Their last Black-headed Monitor died.
A few pythons as well including 0.1 Black-headed Python, two (1.1) Olive Pythons, 1.0 Scrub Python, three (1.2) Centralian Pythons, 0.1 Jungle Carpet Python, 1.0 Inland Carpet Python and two (2.0) Diamond Pythons all being documented. The last three (1.2) Stimson’s Pythons and seven (1.1.5) Darwin Carpet Pythons were transferred out of the facility. A rarely-held colubrid is also at the park as well; they have 1.0 Slate-grey Snake. The elapids included a small range of species with 0.1 Red-bellied Black Snake and 0.1 Eastern Tiger Snake.
BIRDS:
There were two (1.1) Emus as of June 2021. The waterbirds at Healesville comprised of five (2.3) Australian Pelicans, four (1.1.2) Little Pied Cormorants, two (1.1) Black Swans, 11 (5.6) Plumed Whistling Ducks, four (4.0) Blue-billed Ducks, eight (8.0) Chestnut Teals, 12 (5.2.5) Hardheads, six (2.3.1) Cattle Egrets including three hatchings, seven (7.0) White-faced Herons, three (2.1) Pied Herons, 0.1 Black-necked Stork, 0.1 Brolga, nine (4.4.1) Royal Spoonbills and six (3.2.1) Glossy Ibis. Note the spoonbills and ibis both bred but all the chicks didn’t make it unfortunately.
The Bush Stone-Curlews finished June 2021 with three (2.1) birds following three hatchings with a death and two departures. Kookaburras were represented with both Laughing and Blue-winged Kookaburras, one of each. A pair of Sacred Kingfishers were also recorded. There were also five (1.1.3) Tawny Frogmouths including a recent hatching. Several pigeon species including 36 (6.27.3) Emerald Doves with seven hatchings, 37 (5.30.2) White-headed Pigeons with three hatchings, 14 (4.1.9) Peaceful Doves, 30 (6.21.3) Wonga Pigeons with four hatchings, and just like Melbourne as well, a lone Rose-crowned Fruit Dove. The last Brown Cuckoo-Dove also recently passed. That is an awful lot of Wonga and White-headed Pigeons and they aren’t exactly the smallest birds!
Parrots were represented with eight (3.5) Red-tailed Black Cockatoos including non-subspecific birds, samueli and banksii, two (2.0) Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, two (1.1) Long-billed Corellas, two (1.0.1) Major Mitchell’s Cockatoos – listed as the nominate subspecies, two (0.2) Galahs – also listed as the nominate subspecies, three (3.0) Australian King Parrots, three (3.0) Eclectus Parrots with two female deaths, five (4.1) Musk Lorikeets, 19 (9.10) Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, 26 (15.8.3) Rainbow Lorikeets, three (3.0) Budgerigars, three (3.0) Princess Parrots, five (5.0) Regent Parrots, 10 (8.2) Superb Parrots with four hatchings, 65 (31.34) Orange-bellied Parrots and two (2.0) Scarlet-chested Parrots. Notably, they also bred two (1.1) Gang-gang Cockatoos recently adding a total of four (2.2) cockatoos. The also seem to be trying to increase Swift Parrot numbers with the addition of three males joining their three females. One male was transferred out and the other died, leaving them with four (3.1) Swift Parrots. Their last Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo left the collection and last Golden-shouldered Parrot died. Still a very solid parrot collection.
My favourite addition for Healesville is 0.1 Powerful Owl! Other raptors included two (0.2) Wedge-tailed Eagles, two (1.1) Nankeen Kestrels as they recently brought in a male, two (0.2) Black-breasted Buzzards, two (1.0.1) Black Kites, two (1.1) Barking Owls, two (1.1) Barn Owls and 0.1 Eastern Osprey. Interesting to see that there is an osprey in captivity!
The pair (1.1) of Superb Lyrebirds are still alive and well. Bowerbirds included 0.1 Green Catbird, 1.0 Regent Bowerbird and four (2.2) Satin Bowerbirds. There were also four (0.4) White-browed Woodswallows noted. They listed three groups of Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters; a group recorded at species level with 15 (9.6) individuals, the Helmeted Honeyeaters, L. m. cassidix with 44 (23.21) birds with 15 (9.3.3) hatchings and the Gippsland subspecies, L. m. gippslandica with 15 (9.6) birds with four (2.1.1) hatchings. Like the honeyeaters at Melbourne, Healesville is also down to a few single individuals for a few of the honeyeaters. They recorded 0.0.1 Blue-faced Honeyeater and 0.1 White-eared Honeyeater. The white-ears would be particularly sad to lose if that was the case as they always seemed to be such an engaging display.
The Eastern Whipbirds have recently produced two chicks! They finished June 2021 with four (2.2) whipbirds. A nice array of finches with 26 (10.13.3) Gouldian Finches, 16 (0.0.16) Chestnut-breasted Mannikins, 29 (4.1.25) Star Finches and five (1.0.4) Diamond Firetails. Two (0.2) Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes were also recorded as being part of the collection. An Eastern Bristlebird was also noted but died before mid-2021.
MAMMALS:
Nine (2.7) Platypus along with eight (5.3) Short-beaked Echidnas were recorded as of June 2021. The echidnas are of the nominate subspecies. Dasyurids being dasyurids fluctuated in numbers. Two (1.1) Fat-tailed Dunnarts were recorded with the arrival of a new male noted, 0.1 Tiger Quoll was still present and 53 (24.19.10) Tasmanian Devils including 10 joeys were documented. Unfortunately, their Northern Quoll is no more with the death of their last individual – a female. I was surprised to see that the bandicoots are represented by single numbers at Healesville with only 1.0 Bilby and 0.1 Eastern Barred Bandicoot with the bilby arriving very recently.
Mountain Pygmy Possums had four (2.2) births providing a total of 38 (17.21) possums by June 2021. The Leadbeater’s Possums have a smaller captive population than I was expecting with only 12 (6.6) possums as of June 2021. They had one birth that did not survive and lots of movement with five arrivals, six departures and six deaths. A new group of Feathertail Gliders arrived and quickly produced five (1.4) offspring giving them eight (2.6) gliders. Three (2.1) Squirrel Gliders and two (1.1) Sugar Gliders were also noted. There were nine (4.5) Koalas and two (1.1) Common Wombats.
A good range of macropods with four (2.2) Long-nosed Potoroos, 1.0 Brush-tailed Bettong, nine (4.5) Red-necked Wallabies, four (1.3) Parma Wallabies, five (2.3) Swamp Wallabies, nine (5.4) Red Kangaroos, nine (2.7) Kangaroo Island Kangaroos, 0.1 Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby and two (1.1) Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroos with two other males leaving the facility for other collections. The final species comprised of four (2.2) Dingoes and seven (2.5) Spinifex Hopping Mice. Unfortunately, the last bats have left the collection with four deaths and three transfer outs for their Grey-headed Flying Foxes. To conclude, the inventory reported that Healesville Sanctuary had 159 species as of June 2021.
Species Losses – 2020-2021:
Species Gains – 2020-2021:
Full inventory list: https://www.zoo.org.au/media/5358/inventory-report-2020212.pdf
FISH:
Three fish species were recorded at Healesville; 0.0.1 Murray Cod, 0.0.31 Crimson-spotted Rainbowfish and Southern Pygmy Perch. The perch unfortunately died out with the last two individuals deceased by June 2021.
AMPHIBIANS:
Again, surprisingly only three species. The Southern Corroboree Frogs commenced July 2020 at 166 (34.24.108) frogs with six hatchings, 30+ deaths and three departures, leaving 143 (32.21.90) individuals by mid-2021. The Northern Corroboree Frogs remained relatively stable with only three deaths, finishing at 47 (24.23) frogs. Finally, the sanctuary had four (0.0.4) Green Tree Frogs recorded by the end of June 2021.
REPTILES:
Turtles are represented with 0.0.2 Northern Snake-necked Turtles that had no changes. A good array of lizards especially skinks with two (1.1) Major Skinks, two (0.0.2) Land Mullets, 0.1 Gidgee Skink, four (1.0.3) Centralian Bluetongues, two (0.0.2) Eastern Bluetongues, three (0.1.2) Shinglebacks, two (1.1) Eastern Water Dragons, 0.1 Boyd’s Forest Dragon, four (2.2) Central Bearded Dragons and two (1.1) Burton’s Legless Lizards. The Healesville specialties comprising of Guthega Skink finished mid-2021 with 17 (7.10) individuals after receiving five new males and Alpine She-oak Skinks had a total of six (4.2) lizards. Monitors included four species with two (1.1) Lace Monitors, two (1.1) Merten’s Water Monitors and 1.0 Spiny-tailed Monitor. Their last Black-headed Monitor died.
A few pythons as well including 0.1 Black-headed Python, two (1.1) Olive Pythons, 1.0 Scrub Python, three (1.2) Centralian Pythons, 0.1 Jungle Carpet Python, 1.0 Inland Carpet Python and two (2.0) Diamond Pythons all being documented. The last three (1.2) Stimson’s Pythons and seven (1.1.5) Darwin Carpet Pythons were transferred out of the facility. A rarely-held colubrid is also at the park as well; they have 1.0 Slate-grey Snake. The elapids included a small range of species with 0.1 Red-bellied Black Snake and 0.1 Eastern Tiger Snake.
BIRDS:
There were two (1.1) Emus as of June 2021. The waterbirds at Healesville comprised of five (2.3) Australian Pelicans, four (1.1.2) Little Pied Cormorants, two (1.1) Black Swans, 11 (5.6) Plumed Whistling Ducks, four (4.0) Blue-billed Ducks, eight (8.0) Chestnut Teals, 12 (5.2.5) Hardheads, six (2.3.1) Cattle Egrets including three hatchings, seven (7.0) White-faced Herons, three (2.1) Pied Herons, 0.1 Black-necked Stork, 0.1 Brolga, nine (4.4.1) Royal Spoonbills and six (3.2.1) Glossy Ibis. Note the spoonbills and ibis both bred but all the chicks didn’t make it unfortunately.
The Bush Stone-Curlews finished June 2021 with three (2.1) birds following three hatchings with a death and two departures. Kookaburras were represented with both Laughing and Blue-winged Kookaburras, one of each. A pair of Sacred Kingfishers were also recorded. There were also five (1.1.3) Tawny Frogmouths including a recent hatching. Several pigeon species including 36 (6.27.3) Emerald Doves with seven hatchings, 37 (5.30.2) White-headed Pigeons with three hatchings, 14 (4.1.9) Peaceful Doves, 30 (6.21.3) Wonga Pigeons with four hatchings, and just like Melbourne as well, a lone Rose-crowned Fruit Dove. The last Brown Cuckoo-Dove also recently passed. That is an awful lot of Wonga and White-headed Pigeons and they aren’t exactly the smallest birds!
Parrots were represented with eight (3.5) Red-tailed Black Cockatoos including non-subspecific birds, samueli and banksii, two (2.0) Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, two (1.1) Long-billed Corellas, two (1.0.1) Major Mitchell’s Cockatoos – listed as the nominate subspecies, two (0.2) Galahs – also listed as the nominate subspecies, three (3.0) Australian King Parrots, three (3.0) Eclectus Parrots with two female deaths, five (4.1) Musk Lorikeets, 19 (9.10) Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, 26 (15.8.3) Rainbow Lorikeets, three (3.0) Budgerigars, three (3.0) Princess Parrots, five (5.0) Regent Parrots, 10 (8.2) Superb Parrots with four hatchings, 65 (31.34) Orange-bellied Parrots and two (2.0) Scarlet-chested Parrots. Notably, they also bred two (1.1) Gang-gang Cockatoos recently adding a total of four (2.2) cockatoos. The also seem to be trying to increase Swift Parrot numbers with the addition of three males joining their three females. One male was transferred out and the other died, leaving them with four (3.1) Swift Parrots. Their last Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo left the collection and last Golden-shouldered Parrot died. Still a very solid parrot collection.
My favourite addition for Healesville is 0.1 Powerful Owl! Other raptors included two (0.2) Wedge-tailed Eagles, two (1.1) Nankeen Kestrels as they recently brought in a male, two (0.2) Black-breasted Buzzards, two (1.0.1) Black Kites, two (1.1) Barking Owls, two (1.1) Barn Owls and 0.1 Eastern Osprey. Interesting to see that there is an osprey in captivity!
The pair (1.1) of Superb Lyrebirds are still alive and well. Bowerbirds included 0.1 Green Catbird, 1.0 Regent Bowerbird and four (2.2) Satin Bowerbirds. There were also four (0.4) White-browed Woodswallows noted. They listed three groups of Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters; a group recorded at species level with 15 (9.6) individuals, the Helmeted Honeyeaters, L. m. cassidix with 44 (23.21) birds with 15 (9.3.3) hatchings and the Gippsland subspecies, L. m. gippslandica with 15 (9.6) birds with four (2.1.1) hatchings. Like the honeyeaters at Melbourne, Healesville is also down to a few single individuals for a few of the honeyeaters. They recorded 0.0.1 Blue-faced Honeyeater and 0.1 White-eared Honeyeater. The white-ears would be particularly sad to lose if that was the case as they always seemed to be such an engaging display.
The Eastern Whipbirds have recently produced two chicks! They finished June 2021 with four (2.2) whipbirds. A nice array of finches with 26 (10.13.3) Gouldian Finches, 16 (0.0.16) Chestnut-breasted Mannikins, 29 (4.1.25) Star Finches and five (1.0.4) Diamond Firetails. Two (0.2) Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes were also recorded as being part of the collection. An Eastern Bristlebird was also noted but died before mid-2021.
MAMMALS:
Nine (2.7) Platypus along with eight (5.3) Short-beaked Echidnas were recorded as of June 2021. The echidnas are of the nominate subspecies. Dasyurids being dasyurids fluctuated in numbers. Two (1.1) Fat-tailed Dunnarts were recorded with the arrival of a new male noted, 0.1 Tiger Quoll was still present and 53 (24.19.10) Tasmanian Devils including 10 joeys were documented. Unfortunately, their Northern Quoll is no more with the death of their last individual – a female. I was surprised to see that the bandicoots are represented by single numbers at Healesville with only 1.0 Bilby and 0.1 Eastern Barred Bandicoot with the bilby arriving very recently.
Mountain Pygmy Possums had four (2.2) births providing a total of 38 (17.21) possums by June 2021. The Leadbeater’s Possums have a smaller captive population than I was expecting with only 12 (6.6) possums as of June 2021. They had one birth that did not survive and lots of movement with five arrivals, six departures and six deaths. A new group of Feathertail Gliders arrived and quickly produced five (1.4) offspring giving them eight (2.6) gliders. Three (2.1) Squirrel Gliders and two (1.1) Sugar Gliders were also noted. There were nine (4.5) Koalas and two (1.1) Common Wombats.
A good range of macropods with four (2.2) Long-nosed Potoroos, 1.0 Brush-tailed Bettong, nine (4.5) Red-necked Wallabies, four (1.3) Parma Wallabies, five (2.3) Swamp Wallabies, nine (5.4) Red Kangaroos, nine (2.7) Kangaroo Island Kangaroos, 0.1 Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby and two (1.1) Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroos with two other males leaving the facility for other collections. The final species comprised of four (2.2) Dingoes and seven (2.5) Spinifex Hopping Mice. Unfortunately, the last bats have left the collection with four deaths and three transfer outs for their Grey-headed Flying Foxes. To conclude, the inventory reported that Healesville Sanctuary had 159 species as of June 2021.
Species Losses – 2020-2021:
- Southern Pygmy Perch
- Black-headed Monitor
- Darwin Carpet Python
- Stimson's Python
- Brown Cuckoo-dove
- Eastern Bristlebird
- Golden-shouldered Parrot
- Sacred Kingfisher [inventory records a 1.1 pair so must have been a later loss]
- Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
- Grey-headed Flying Fox
- Northern Quoll
Species Gains – 2020-2021:
- Greater Bilby
- Feathertail Glider
- Powerful Owl