Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo history

I was recently looking at the map of the zoo at the time of cat alley and big cat row etc. and I can’t find out where all the space went. Of course it all could have been used up in the lion gorge but it seems like there was a lot of space. What happened to the bear enclosure for example? I can’t seem to piece together the fact that all of those exhibits were destroyed for what is seemingly a far smaller space.
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
All those species are awesome. Felids are very under appreciated in my opinion, and chacma baboon just can’t go wrong. Realistically would love to see the return of all those species, but that’s certainly off the table and would happen at WORZ if anywhere. Does anyone know why they phased out gelada, chacma baboon and olive baboon?
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Their enclosures were horribly outdated and small. Commodity of space and resources. They prioritised 1 species rather than all 4.
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
I was recently looking at the map of the zoo at the time of cat alley and big cat row etc. and I can’t find out where all the space went. Of course it all could have been used up in the lion gorge but it seems like there was a lot of space. What happened to the bear enclosure for example? I can’t seem to piece together the fact that all of those exhibits were destroyed for what is seemingly a far smaller space.
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I'm pretty sure the bear enclosure was where the first Snow Leopard enclosure now is. There was a path that cut through the middle of the now lion gorge precinct that went straight up to the lakeside cafe and Macaws.
Big cat alley was another area with small enclosures. Part of it is now where snow leopards are but mostly it is now behind the scenes space.
 
Is all of that space currently in use?
The Sleepy Hippo said:
I'm pretty sure the bear enclosure was where the first Snow Leopard enclosure now is. There was a path that cut through the middle of the now lion gorge precinct that went straight up to the lakeside cafe and Macaws.
Big cat alley was another area with small enclosures. Part of it is now where snow leopards are but mostly it is now behind the scenes space.
Click to expand...
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
All those species are awesome. Felids are very under appreciated in my opinion, and chacma baboon just can’t go wrong. Realistically would love to see the return of all those species, but that’s certainly off the table and would happen at WORZ if anywhere. Does anyone know why they phased out gelada, chacma baboon and olive baboon?
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Unfortunately, I doubt we’ll even seen Chacma baboon at Werribee as they’re seldom seen in captivity these days. Johannesburg Zoo is one of the few facilities that hold them. It’s a shame as they’re an iconic Southern Africa species that would be ideal for our region’s open range zoos.

They phased out the above due to space. The small cages were no longer considered adequate by welfare standards at the time and they had to decide which species to phase out. Hamadryas baboon and Mandrill were retained long term; Chacma baboon, Olive baboon, Gelada and Pig-tailed macaque were phased out.
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
I was recently looking at the map of the zoo at the time of cat alley and big cat row etc. and I can’t find out where all the space went. Of course it all could have been used up in the lion gorge but it seems like there was a lot of space. What happened to the bear enclosure for example? I can’t seem to piece together the fact that all of those exhibits were destroyed for what is seemingly a far smaller space.
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The former Bear enclosure is now the current Snow Leopard enclosure that houses Mishka. It’s virtually the same design wise. The cave you walk through was initially there for the Bears; and the path that runs along the top (even the glass window) were all present for the Bear enclosure.
Here’s a photo:
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The Sleepy Hippo said:
Their enclosures were horribly outdated and small. Commodity of space and resources. They prioritised 1 species rather than all 4.
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That wasn’t the only reason. Geleda population was small, and died out quickly due to lack of imports. Olives were gone by the 90’s. Not sure why, but Hamadryads were the only baboon species at the zoo for a while prior to the cages being demolished.
The Sleepy Hippo said:
I'm pretty sure the bear enclosure was where the first Snow Leopard enclosure now is. There was a path that cut through the middle of the now lion gorge precinct that went straight up to the lakeside cafe and Macaws.
Big cat alley was another area with small enclosures. Part of it is now where snow leopards are but mostly it is now behind the scenes space.
Click to expand...
The former Lion Gorge was in the middle with a lawn directly above. The lawn is sort of still there. If you look from the Northern entrance you can sort of see how the Carnivores area sort of slopes away from the entrance to the left. There was a path that went that way straight down to the Amazon Aviary/Food Court. Along it was an aviary for Grey Parrots and just past the Bears, small enclosures for Common Wombat (and Badger I believe). When you go past the lions, there’s a toilet block. The little stretch of path that block sits on, is the original main path. If you peak over the fence at the dead end you can see the Food Court not that far on.

Those were along that main path though. If you went off the main path to the left, there was a loop. First enclosure to the left was a large grassy paddock that was fenced off to the public when I remembered it. It used to house Maned Wolf. Then there were the Lemur Islands to your right, which you continued around. I remember the water bodies were quite large, but that meant obviously the islands were very small land wise. One thing I did like about them was the height of the trees that were on the islands; probably to make up for the lack of ground space. There were three enclosures from memory; a third smaller one at the other end which occasionally housed Saimang. It was a very small island, about half the size of the island in the Japanese Garden, and had much less vegetation. Opposite the islands was the Big Cat Row; eight enclosures of which were cages. And then continuing around the Islands was the enclosure for the Brown Bear. You can see remnants of the Lemur Islands if you look left when going past the first Snow Leopard enclosure.

If it helps, the Big Cat Row was sort of where the second Snow Leopard enclosure and the current Tiger enclosure are. They continued a bit further down though too (there’s a fair amount of space above the Trail that currently sits empty to my knowledge).
PaddyRickMFZ said:
Is all of that space currently in use?
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Yes it is.
 
The Sleepy Hippo said:
Man that photo makes me nostalgic.
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I can only imagine what it's like for those who visited in the 1980's with the diverse range of felids and primates they held.

Having seen photos of the inadequate accommodation they were held in, I can at least understand the justification for phase outs to accomodate a smaller number of species in larger habitats.

Lion Park remains one an exception, with this exhibit considered impressive even by today's standards and a great loss to Melbourne Zoo. Investment in a large habitat for one of their most popular species seems like commonsense to me and would undoubtedly bring in more visitors than precincts like Growing Wild.
 
Article about Julia the gorilla:

Published shortly after her death, this article provides extensive information about the life of Julia the Western Lowland Gorilla, who died at Melbourne Zoo in 2015: In danger

Julia's story before Melbourne Zoo is even more so fascinating and complex as her time in Australia, although I thought this thread would be an appropriate place to share. To mark 200 issues of the publication, this archived article is available online free of charge until the end of June.
 
Abbey said:
Article about Julia the gorilla:

Published shortly after her death, this article provides extensive information about the life of Julia the Western Lowland Gorilla, who died at Melbourne Zoo in 2015: In danger

Julia's story before Melbourne Zoo is even more so fascinating and complex as her time in Australia, although I thought this thread would be an appropriate place to share. To mark 200 issues of the publication, this archived article is available online free of charge until the end of June.
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Thanks for sharing, @Abbey. Though I’d read the article a few years ago, it was nice to see it again.

Julia would have been one of the last Western lowland gorillas to enter the international captive breeding programme and was highly valuable to the breeding programme. It’s tragic her inadequate socialisation led to her being outcast by two silverbacks - the latter with fatal results.

Despite extensive representation on her paternal side, Johari at Taronga remains genetically valuable given the goal of a coordinated breeding programme is to achieve equal representation of all founders. Sadly, I doubt she’ll ever successfully breed.
 
LucaTheStarWarsDude Zoo said:
hey does anyone know if there were hyenas at melbourne zoo
because when i go i see dingoes but back nearly a year ago there were wild dogs
but were there hyenas and wild dogs then back in what 1990s or 80s or something
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Melbourne Zoo were holding African wild dogs back in 1971 - Wellington Zoo imported this species from Melbourne that year. Since “dogs” appear on the 1978 map, I’d assume this species was still in the collection into the 1980’s.

No hyena have been held at Melbourne in recent decades, but I’ve found records of them being held there in the 1940’s (which probably lived into at least the 1950’s).

They held Maned wolf from at least 1992 to 2010, when the last one died. Several Maned wolves were imported into Australia from 1982 onwards, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Melbourne was one of the first holders.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Melbourne Zoo were holding African wild dogs back in 1971 - Wellington Zoo imported this species from Melbourne that year. Since “dogs” appear on the 1978 map, I’d assume this species was still in the collection into the 1980’s.

No hyena have been held at Melbourne in recent decades, but I’ve found records of them being held there in the 1940’s (which probably lived into at least the 1950’s).

They held Maned wolf from at least 1992 to 2010, when the last one died. Several Maned wolves were imported into Australia from 1982 onwards, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Melbourne was one of the first holders.
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i know about the maned wolf but i did not know that
 
Zoofan15 said:
Melbourne Zoo were holding African wild dogs back in 1971 - Wellington Zoo imported this species from Melbourne that year. Since “dogs” appear on the 1978 map, I’d assume this species was still in the collection into the 1980’s.

No hyena have been held at Melbourne in recent decades, but I’ve found records of them being held there in the 1940’s (which probably lived into at least the 1950’s).

They held Maned wolf from at least 1992 to 2010, when the last one died. Several Maned wolves were imported into Australia from 1982 onwards, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Melbourne was one of the first holders.
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but what bears have they had i USED to see the bears when i used to go i still go but what bears havE they had in the LAST hundred years
 
LucaTheStarWarsDude Zoo said:
hey does anyone know if there were hyenas at melbourne zoo
because when i go i see dingoes but back nearly a year ago there were wild dogs
but were there hyenas and wild dogs then back in what 1990s or 80s or something
Click to expand...
They did have Hyenas, but they haven’t had them in a very long time now.
LucaTheStarWarsDude Zoo said:
but what bears have they had i USED to see the bears when i used to go i still go but what bears havE they had in the LAST hundred years
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They used to have a pair of Syrian Brown Bears, the last of which died back in 2016.

Melbourne also had Polar Bears; with their last dying in the mid 80’s.

They’ve also kept Black Bears as well, but I don’t think they’ve had any since at least the 70’s.
 
Jambo said:
They did have Hyenas, but they haven’t had them in a very long time now.

They used to have a pair of Syrian Brown Bears, the last of which died back in 2016.

Melbourne also had Polar Bears; with their last dying in the mid 80’s.

They’ve also kept Black Bears as well, but I don’t think they’ve had any since at least the 70’s.
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ok i do know about the brown bears but not the polar bears or black bears and what other bears did they have i cant remember now
 
Jambo said:
They did have Hyenas, but they haven’t had them in a very long time now.

They used to have a pair of Syrian Brown Bears, the last of which died back in 2016.

Melbourne also had Polar Bears; with their last dying in the mid 80’s.

They’ve also kept Black Bears as well, but I don’t think they’ve had any since at least the 70’s.
Click to expand...
LucaTheStarWarsDude Zoo said:
ok i do know about the brown bears but not the polar bears or black bears and what other bears did they have i cant remember now
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I ran a quick search of what bear species Melbourne has held and came up with the following:

In 1927, Melbourne Zoo announced the birth of a hybrid bear - a male named Teddy born to a European brown bear and a Himalayan black bear.

In 1939, an Indian sloth bear died at a reported age of 45 years (I personally find that doubtful considering 20-30 years is the captive lifespan).

A Malayan sun bear was imported from Singapore in 1948.

In summary, like many of the main zoos in the region (Auckland, Wellington, Taronga, Perth etc), Melbourne Zoo held a multitude of bear species over the decades. It would be time consuming to find and list them all.

Giant panda have even been housed at Melbourne Zoo. A pair were loaned in 1988 for three months to celebrate Australia’s Bi Centenary: From the Archives, 1988: Two giant pandas arrive in Melbourne
 
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