Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo News 2012

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PAT

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I thought I'd start a new thread for 2012 news because it looks set to be a big year for Melbourne Zoo. With the new education precinct under construction and quite a few species coming, going and moving around already.

I visited today because I was meeting a friend in the area in the afternoon and thought it would be nice to go in early and have a look around seeing as it's been almost 8 months since my last visit. BAD IDEA! Mid week in the middle of school holidays and the zoo was really busy with kids and kids in prams, and kids out of prams. Trail of the Elephants was turned into Trail of the Pushers. You could hardly move in some parts. But that's enough whinging for now.

My biggest (and favourite) surprise came at the tapir exhibit. I don't know how long ago this happened but it is now home to at least one Brazilian tapir. I always give this exhibit a little glance on my way past just in case I get a glimpse of the Malayan tapir that usually calls it home but the front has all been cleared out to allow viewing and there was a crowd looking at the 'pig', 'rhino', or even 'peccary' that was in there. Does anyone know how long this/these new inhabitant/s has lived here? And where it/they came from?

Another new species now calls part of the southern hairy-nosed wombat burrow home. A greater bilby now resides in an exhibit added to the last two windows of the underground burrow area. Also the Great Flight Aviary is undergoing renovations (as has been mentioned on here already) to renovate the exit ramp so it's closed off at the moment.

A lot of the species re-locations around the zoo are due to the bottom right hand corner of the zoo being renovated. The small cat alley is even less true to its name nowadays with the inclusion of red pandas to an exhibit that formally held fishing cats and the growing coati family now takes up three of the exhibits (including the former binturong exhibit which has been divided in two). The new order, starting from the bear exhibit end, goes coati, coati, red panda, fishing cat, caracal, serval, serval, coati. The binturongs live in the exhibit near the bear tunnel which held coatis a long time ago but has sat empty for a while.

That's all the news I can think of at the moment but hopefully we can add to it as the year goes on.
 
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a bongo was born in March apparently (included in this article about the new bongo calf at Taronga: Baby bongo makes Sydney zoo debut)

Taronga's Eastern Bongos are part of a conservation breeding program managed across the Australasian region to protect the species from extinction.

As part of this program, Melbourne Zoo also welcomed the arrival of a male calf in March, to parents that originally came from Taronga Zoo.
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Rescuers hope egg drop will be giant leap for rare frog
A foam cooler will be the unlikely vessel carrying the young of one of Australia's most endangered species from Melbourne Zoo to the marshlands of Mount Kosciuszko next week.

Inside the cooler will be five plastic tubs containing 60 black eggs each. Resting on moss like jewels on velvet, the precious eggs belong to the striking black and yellow southern corroboree frog.

With fewer than 100 southern corroboree frogs remaining in the wild, the species' critically endangered status means slumming it in a cooler is unusual. Normally this species enjoys the Rolls-Royce treatment.

These eggs started life at Melbourne Zoo's $75,000 amphibian centre, a purpose-built climate-controlled facility that is playing a key role in the captive breeding program in Victoria and NSW.

And although they will travel to their new alpine address in a cooler, it will be a helicopter that drops them at their remote mountain-top home on Tuesday.

Amphibian keeper Raelene Hobbs said while the zoo had been participating in a national recovery program since the mid-1990s, it was the first time it had released corroboree frog eggs into the wild.

Given the dire results of the most recent ''frog census'' taken during breeding season, it's a tactic researchers are hoping will pay off. Between December and April, researchers recorded just nine males calling in the wild and found just one clutch of eggs.

''It probably means there are barely any females left in the wild,'' Ms Hobbs said.

One of the main threats to the frog's survival in the wild is the water-borne disease chytrid fungus, which attacks the keratin in the animal's skin cells. Because frogs breathe through their skin, infected frogs die from asphyxiation.

After releasing frogs and tadpoles in the past, researchers are hoping a new approach might help pull back the wild population from its precarious position.

''The eggs can't get chytrid fungus because they don't have keratin,'' Ms Hobbs said. ''If we continue to release … then evolution might happen in front of our eyes and hopefully the metamorphs might be able to build up a resistance.''

The 300 eggs produced at Melbourne Zoo during March and April will be released with about 500 from Taronga Zoo and 19 from Healesville Sanctuary.

The eggs will be released at three carefully selected sites into 4 degree water and Ms Hobbs said they would hatch within 24 hours.

However, because the frogs only reach sexual maturity at four or five, the effect of introducing eggs to the wild will take years to measure.

''Really, though, we have to release them now because they are going to be extinct in three or four years if we don't,'' she said.

The frog only occurs in the Snowy Mountains region of Kosciuszko National Park. The small ground-dwelling frogs do not hop, but clamber over their mossy habitat.
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Thanks for the article Chlidonias. I always feel like this is the sort of work that any zoo should really be promoting. Breeding gorillas and snow leopards in Melbourne does do a bit to educate the public about the battle these species are facing but they're never going to directly help their wild populations. Releasing critically endangered species into the wild is going to do a lot more.

And that's good new too Jabiru96. I think this big group of capuchins is one of the best new species that Melbourne has brought into the collection in the last couple of years (along with the coatis :) ).
 
So I visited today and I'm glad to say that the Great Flight Aviary is open again. The exit is now a lot easier to navigate and a new koala exhibit has been added. It's more open than the last exhibit and a lot less immersive but it is bigger and allows for better viewing. The old exhibit is now only home to echidnas.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the GFA is also now home to a black-necked stork in the wetlands end of the exhibit. There was no sign of the brolgas that used to live here but I prefer the storks. (Maguari mentioned brolgas in another thread and that's what reminded me).

And the shuffling around of species because of the construction in the bottom right hand corner because there is now a red panda in the tree-top monkeys and apes exhibit.

And on another note, the youngest orang-utan is really beginning to find its feet and is becoming more independent. Baby apes must be one of the biggest crowd-pleasers around (watching the two baby bonobos at Twycross Zoo is one of the highlights of my entire life :) ).
 
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i know there was a thread for this, but i brought a copy of the book for melbourne zoos 150th. it is fantastic, and i recommend anyone who can buy it buy it.
 
Chlidonias said:
to Auckland Zoo, correct?
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My info was that he was going to Auckland (as in the Airport) but I didn't know if that might mean a transfer to one of the other North Island zoos (eg: Franklin) so hence why I didn't put it in the original post

I thought Auckland had 1:1 anyway? Has there been a death or are they forming a 2nd pair :confused:
 
Nisha said:
My info was that he was going to Auckland (as in the Airport) but I didn't know if that might mean a transfer to one of the other North Island zoos (eg: Franklin) so hence why I didn't put it in the original post

I thought Auckland had 1:1 anyway? Has there been a death or are they forming a 2nd pair :confused:
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Auckland has 1.2, so it could certainly be coming to establish a second breeding pair there. Won't be going to Franklin Zoo as they are not ZAA nor are they likely interested at this time. Could be going to Hamilton, but unlikely given their recent female arrival and breeding success. The other option is Keystone, which has expressed interest in establishing a group, and has "offered a generous space allocation".
 
I popped into the zoo yesterday and went straight over to see the new Black-necked Storks in the great aviary! They are AMAZING! I do wonder where the Brolgas have gone though and I didn't spot the Cassowary at all. The Tapir looks quite unsettled, pacing alot. I hope he/she settles soon. It's great to actually see a Tapir in that enclosure.
 
Just a few things to report from my visit today.
Firstly there was a sign near the station entrance with a brief paragraph about the bottom right-hand corner of the zoo that is being renovated at the moment. It's set to be called Growing Wild and seems to be a children's zoo with a mix of random animals that you can find around the zoo. The sign (which I've attached at the bottom of this post) mentions meerkats and tortoises but I wouldn't be surprised if tree kangaroos and a few marmosets and tamarins were also included.

I also took a couple of photos of the new koala exhibit.

http://www.zoochat.com/51/new-koala-exhibit-281389/

http://www.zoochat.com/51/new-koala-exhibit-281388/
 

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zooboy28 said:
Auckland has 1.2, so it could certainly be coming to establish a second breeding pair there. Won't be going to Franklin Zoo as they are not ZAA nor are they likely interested at this time. Could be going to Hamilton, but unlikely given their recent female arrival and breeding success. The other option is Keystone, which has expressed interest in establishing a group, and has "offered a generous space allocation".
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the female red panda Bo did indeed go to Auckland Zoo, and is being paired with the male Sagar
 
Please, no, don't tell me they changed the great australia area they have in melbourne..... If they are getting new animals, locate them in the area of the old baboon exhibit, plenty of space there, that's a better idea than waste all of it to some educational thing....
 
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