Taronga Zoo Long-beaked Echidnas

M

MikeG

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I hope to visit Taronga from the UK in early August. Can anyone confirm whether or not the zoo's Zaglossus echidnas are on public exhibit (or, if not, whether there might be some way of arranging to view them)?
 
they are kinda off display.... you can see their exhibit from the sky safari... they are situated between bush birds and orang house (currently holding chimps)

its an ugly dirt mound..... they are secretive and rarely come out, only at dusk to feed, then nocturnal activity is unknown, as far as i know, they have installed cameras, but unsure what has come from that
 
my suggestion Mike would be to contact the zoo yourself, you never know your luck if you put an email in or phone call. Taronga has been really accomodating in the past, helping me out with all sorts of painful requests when I was a school student doing a major design project.
alternatively, chance it. you can walk right up to the exhibit...as Danale pointed out its between the orang forest (currently hosuing chimps) and a freshwater wetland aviary. its non-descript, not signposted and used to house wombats, so its a rather no-frills affair. but you might be lucky enough to see one
 
Thanks, Glyn. Sounds like a lot of luck would be needed to see one - but you never know....
 
As Danale said, dusk would be your best chance. In August that will probably be around 5pm-ish.

:p

Hix
 
So I take it that the exhibit next to the Platypus House that was loaded with active Echidnas during my visit in 2007 housed Short beaked ones and the Long beaked are new, as I don't recall any other Echidna exhibit.
 
Well the answer is maybe. The long beaked have been in the collection for a long time. They were house for a while in the exhibit directly in font of the plat house for a while bit I think that by 2007 they were no longer in that exhibit. Between the plat house and the macropod walkthrough there is an echidna exhibit housing short beaks
 
The longbeaks used to be in that enclosure many years ago. The shortbeaks replaced them for a few years. It now houses a wombat.

:p

Hix
 
I remember seeing the long beaked echidna in the back enclosure years ago. Are they back in this exhibit. I mean the big at the end of the tunnel before you turn down the walk way that leads to the exit. ( I hope that makes sense.)
 
I saw one of the long beaked echidnas today in the Nocturnal House (5th enclosure in.)
It was quite visible, as it had just been given food (midday) and was very active. Couldn't see a second one in that enclosure, so possibly they now apart?
 
They have been separated for the time being.

The exhibit is not the long one Boof is referring to, but the one that originally held spotted cuscus for many, many years and most recently held Tassy Devils (I think). I saw it yesterday sitting in it's pond, then getting a feed a little later. Even managed to get a blurry photo of it.

http://www.zoochat.com/34/long-beaked-echidna-186178/

:p

Hix
 
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Speaking of Tassy Devils, I was impressed with the "keeper talk" given by Tony someone-or-other yesterday at Taronga. Direct, to the point, and very informative. Really brought home the gravity of their situation.
 
I spoke with the senior nocturnal house keeper in 2008 about the long-beaked echidnas - apparently they have a male and female and both are well into their 30s!
 
that is correct. It is the male one that has now been put on display in the nocturnal house. The female is still off-show (unless she's recently been added to the nocturnal house as well). Very very cool animals!
 
I spent the last two days at Taronga, two and a half hours of which was spent in the nocturnal house today. I was there with some workmates and all of us were totally absorbed in the long beaked echidna for some time. I didn't realise they were so big. An amazing animal. Along with the feathertails they were the highlight of the trip. And was also great to talk to the keeper who was very passionate about natives and provided some great info.
 
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