Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo News 2022

Sunbear12

Sunbear12

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Enjoyed a pleasant day at Melbourne Zoo today as part of a trip to Melbourne that also include the aquarium, maru, moonlit and Phillip Island.

A few updates to start off the 2022 thread for the year.

- First and most excitingly nyala are coming to Melbourne making them the third holder in the country. The large maps around the site have been updated with an nyala icon added between the zebra and baboon. No work was seen in this area so it would seem reasonable to assume they will join the giraffe and zebra in their habitat.
- Melbourne have ended their seal training presentation as part of efforts to provide the seals with further choice around how they spend their day. Training will continue off-exhibit with the seals.
- The former coati exhibit which most recently held red pandas while the dinosaur display was present last year is now empty and blocked off.
- Nice to see the reptile house refresh complete with much of the enclosures looking much brighter and the signage now of better quality. Of note is that the basilisk are now on display and the striped legless lizard has been replaced with a grassland earless dragon.
- Elsewhere in the zoo for reptiles, macleay's water are now on display in Digest-Ed making for a nice addition to the collection. The southern pilbra rock monitors acquired last year are now on display in the Gorilla ranger station. Also nice to see the scheltopusik and Kenyan sand boa. These are displayed in the ground education space within Growing Wild. This space is often locked for school group use on weekdays so if visiting to see these species it may be best to make a weekend visit.
- Within the Australian exhibit a new path has been constructed between the current koala exhibit and baboons providing a second entry/exit. Two aviaries in this area now display rainbow lorikeet and major mitchell cockatoos. The original koala exhibit remains empty with the koalas still held in the former bird aviary.
- A new yard was being constructed between the tortoise exhibit and reptile house. No signage was present to indicate what this will be for.

Overall a nice day with the zoo looking good and some works underway to improve the collection. Any questions feel free to ask.
 
Sunbear12 said:
First and most excitingly nyala are coming to Melbourne making them the third holder in the country. The large maps around the site have been updated with an nyala icon added between the zebra and baboon. No work was seen in this area so it would seem reasonable to assume they will join the giraffe and zebra in their habitat.
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This is definitely quite exciting! I’d assume this is fairly new as they weren’t on the map back when I visited a month ago. They’ll most likely be surplus individuals from Werribee, and will be planned to mixed with their Giraffe and Zebra.

Sunbear12 said:
The former coati exhibit which most recently held red pandas while the dinosaur display was present last year is now empty and blocked off.
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The enclosure was recently used to house male, Seba, whilst his previous offspring temporary used his enclosure before they moved. He’s since moved back, but I assume they’ll retain the enclosure to be used in a similar fashion in the future.
 
Thank you @Sunbear12 for this refreshingly positive update on Melbourne. Adelaide and Darling Downs have also expressed interest publicly in acquiring nyala so hopefully this will mark a period of great growth for this species in Australia.
Sunbear12 said:
Elsewhere in the zoo for reptiles, macleay's water are now on display in Digest-Ed making for a nice addition to the collection.
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As in Macleay's Water Snake Pseudoferania polylepis? That would be a very impressive addition. Do they still have Arafura File Snake in the main reptile house?
 
dylan downward said:
On my trip today to Melbourne zoo there was a sign up saying the current giant tortoise exhibit next to the reptile house is getting expanded to make it 50 percent bigger and the night house was getting a full make over to make it better for them
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That’s good news. With the six young tortoises arriving from Mauritius last year, they’ll soon be needing the extra space.

It’d be great to see Melbourne Zoo breed this species one day. The import of six young tortoises should stand them in good stead as and when they become mature.
 
austrlain zoo gower said:
New sign has been put up in the vacant Pygmy hippo enclosure saying something special is coming soon wanted to get some opinion on that it is probably just a mandarin duck or something not very big
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This was discussed in detail when you enquired about it in the hippo thread last week.

Usually this sort of signage is click bait and leads to nothing more than a species already at the zoo being relocated to another part of the zoo; or something low key like a domestic animal.

I’d like to be proved wrong, but from experience, something legit exciting is shouted from the rooftops to generate hype ahead of its arrival.

Maybe next time you’re at the zoo, ask a staff member directly.
 
Jambo said:
Exciting news.

Melbourne have welcomed an eighteen month old female giraffe, Iris, in the hope of pairing her with Klintun for future breeding!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc7d1UeNcNu/
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It’s good to hear Melbourne Zoo have acquired a second female giraffe.

Though not mentioned in the article, Melbourne stated last year that 10 year old Nakuru would also be breeding with Klintun when he matured. He’s now three years old, so will hopefully impregnate her this year (if he hasn’t already) - leading to a successful birth in 2023.

This will be the first time Melbourne Zoo has had more than one breeding female since the 1990’s.
 
Zoofan15 said:
It’s good to hear Melbourne Zoo have acquired a second female giraffe.

Though not mentioned in the article, Melbourne stated last year that 10 year old Nakuru would also be breeding with Klintun when he matured. He’s now three years old, so will hopefully impregnate her this year (if he hasn’t already) - leading to a successful birth in 2023.

This will be the first time Melbourne Zoo has had more than one breeding female since the 1990’s.
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They've always had the space for three, and even more, so it's good to know they've made use of it.

It was hoped Nakuru and Klintun would breed initially but Iris's arrival does seem to indicate that maybe Nakuru won't be breed from after all. She's already ten years old, and not comes from an overly represented line. It's quite possible though they just haven't breed yet due to Klintun being shorter and not being able to reach Nakuru yet. He should be getting within range very soon though!

Hopefully Iris can succeed to get pregnant though in the coming years. An upcoming birth will of course be the first in two decades.
 
Jambo said:
They've always had the space for three, and even more, so it's good to know they've made use of it.

It was hoped Nakuru and Klintun would breed initially but Iris's arrival does seem to indicate that maybe Nakuru won't be breed from after all. She's already ten years old, and not comes from an overly represented line. It's quite possible though they just haven't breed yet due to Klintun being shorter and not being able to reach Nakuru yet. He should be getting within range very soon though!

Hopefully Iris can succeed to get pregnant though in the coming years. An upcoming birth will of course be the first in two decades.
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I don’t see Nakuru’s age as being a barrier to conceiving. She’s only 10 years of age and cows have conceived well into their 20’s.

She’s well represented due to her brother Forrest, though the family lines in the region have long become a tangled ball of yarn through repeated inbreeding. To say we need fresh imports is an understatement!

Zabulu at Auckland Zoo was in a similar position to Klintun (young male; mature females) and he successfully bred both cows a few months before his fourth birthday, so it shouldn’t be too much longer for Klintun. This species typically attains reproductive maturity around three years of age.
 
This relates to a comment on the Sydney zoo forum re mandrills, i recently sold some budgies to a lady who works in the primate team at Melbourne Zoo, and she said they are working towards importing more Mandrill to Melbourne from San Diego. She said it had been held up with covid but it was happening.... fingers crossed that she actually knows whats happening....
 
Astrobird said:
This relates to a comment on the Sydney zoo forum re mandrills, i recently sold some budgies to a lady who works in the primate team at Melbourne Zoo, and she said they are working towards importing more Mandrill to Melbourne from San Diego. She said it had been held up with covid but it was happening.... fingers crossed that she actually knows whats happening....
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That’s exciting news. The fact she mentioned specifics such as the sending zoo implies something is in the works. It’d be great to see this species at Melbourne again - especially with non breeding troops held at Adelaide and Tasmania Zoo.
 
Astrobird said:
This relates to a comment on the Sydney zoo forum re mandrills, i recently sold some budgies to a lady who works in the primate team at Melbourne Zoo, and she said they are working towards importing more Mandrill to Melbourne from San Diego. She said it had been held up with covid but it was happening.... fingers crossed that she actually knows whats happening....
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That is quite shocking to say the least. Imports should began to slowly get back to normal soon, so if this in the works, hopefully we can see mandrills back at Melbourne very soon.

She must be quite high on the primate team because other keepers i've asked previously about returning mandrills have stated they have no idea, which means the move may be getting closer due to management finally alerting zookeepers to a potential import.
 
Astrobird said:
This relates to a comment on the Sydney zoo forum re mandrills, i recently sold some budgies to a lady who works in the primate team at Melbourne Zoo, and she said they are working towards importing more Mandrill to Melbourne from San Diego. She said it had been held up with covid but it was happening.... fingers crossed that she actually knows whats happening....
Click to expand...

Looking at San Diego’s Mandrill numbers, it doesn’t seem they have a lot to spare. An infant born 2016 appears to be the last born there and was noted to be the first in 14 years. His birth brought the zoo’s population to three Mandrill. Presumably they’re looking to move this male (now aged six) out of his natal troop, but females would have to come from elsewhere.

Colchester Zoo has a decent sized troop; compared to several of the American zoos which hold pairs or trios with equally lengthy gaps to San Diego since their last offspring.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Looking at San Diego’s Mandrill numbers, it doesn’t seem they have a lot to spare. An infant born 2016 appears to be the last born there and was noted to be the first in 14 years. His birth brought the zoo’s population to three Mandrill.

Presumably they’re looking to move this male (now aged six) out of his natal troop, but females would have to come from elsewhere. Colchester and Singapore both have decent sized troops; compared to several of the American zoos which hold pairs or trios with equally lengthy gaps to San Diego since their last offspring.
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I believe San Diego have more than three individuals now. It seems like Melbourne maybe will just receive a pair of Mandrills to start off with. To start breeding, they'd have to import from elsewhere, but possibly a female/male could be sourced from within the region to accommodate this, eg. from Adelaide.
 
Jambo said:
I believe San Diego have more than three individuals now. It seems like Melbourne maybe will just receive a pair of Mandrills to start off with. To start breeding, they'd have to import from elsewhere, but possibly a female/male could be sourced from within the region to accommodate this, eg. from Adelaide.
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Adelaide have an elderly pair who live with their adolescent son; while Tasmania Zoo have an elderly female and a middle aged male.

Realistically, the adolescent male at Adelaide is the only likely candidate for transfer and I’m guessing they’ll want to retain him to rebuild their troop with imported females.

I’ve sent an email to San Diego, so hopefully they can shed more light on both their population and whether any are headed for export.
 
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