The video in the link above mentions that a male will soon be acquired for the female fruit-dove for breeding purposes. The zoo used to have Red-faced Parrotfinches in the butterfly house but they started consuming the butterflies.
Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo News 2024
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This species lives both alone and in pairs/family groups, so particularly if she’s a young female at the dispersal age, living on her own until the male arrives shouldn’t bother her. Like you say, it makes sense to try it with a single bird first.
That's hilarious! Sometimes I wonder if the keepers that look after birds are actually bird people. I keep and breed these and I could of told them that was a bad idea!.
Some updates from Melbourne Zoo:
- The first exhibit on the left in the reptile house is being renovated, most likely for King Cobra.
- There’s a second exhibit (where the former Mertens Water Monitor exhibit used to be), being worked on, I’m unsure what it will hold possibly the juvenile Veiled Chameleons
- The Arafura File Snake is currently off display, presumably just for a health check up
- Melbourne Zoo have re-acquired Ball Pythons! There are two individuals on display in Digest-Ed in the former Honduran Milk Snake enclosure (which I presume is off display).
- I spotted a Black Scissortail Rasbora in the Reticulated Python enclosure, a fish that isn’t signed and I hadn’t seen there before.
- The female Rose-crowned Fruit Dove is on display in the butterfly house although I did not manage to see her.
- Noisy Pittas are back on display for the first time in years! They are with the Eclectus Parrot in the second aviary in Trail of the Elephants
- Emus are back after a brief period of absence from the zoo, I spotted four.
- A pair of Leadbeater’s Cockatoo have moved into the Great Flight Aviary
- The two aviaries at the back of Australian Bush currently contain two Tawny Frogmouths in the first and a group of Rainbow Lorikeets in the second.
EDIT: Forgot to mention
- There is now a Shingleback displayed with the Bearded Dragons in Growing Wild
-the Phricta katydids in Growing Wild are now in the former stick insect enclosure on Trail of the Elephants, they have been replaced by Red-spotted Rose Chafers
- The first exhibit on the left in the reptile house is being renovated, most likely for King Cobra.
- There’s a second exhibit (where the former Mertens Water Monitor exhibit used to be), being worked on, I’m unsure what it will hold possibly the juvenile Veiled Chameleons
- The Arafura File Snake is currently off display, presumably just for a health check up
- Melbourne Zoo have re-acquired Ball Pythons! There are two individuals on display in Digest-Ed in the former Honduran Milk Snake enclosure (which I presume is off display).
- I spotted a Black Scissortail Rasbora in the Reticulated Python enclosure, a fish that isn’t signed and I hadn’t seen there before.
- The female Rose-crowned Fruit Dove is on display in the butterfly house although I did not manage to see her.
- Noisy Pittas are back on display for the first time in years! They are with the Eclectus Parrot in the second aviary in Trail of the Elephants
- Emus are back after a brief period of absence from the zoo, I spotted four.
- A pair of Leadbeater’s Cockatoo have moved into the Great Flight Aviary
- The two aviaries at the back of Australian Bush currently contain two Tawny Frogmouths in the first and a group of Rainbow Lorikeets in the second.
EDIT: Forgot to mention
- There is now a Shingleback displayed with the Bearded Dragons in Growing Wild
-the Phricta katydids in Growing Wild are now in the former stick insect enclosure on Trail of the Elephants, they have been replaced by Red-spotted Rose Chafers
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Thanks for this update!
I assume the Emu are in the kangaroo walk through exhibit?
Yeah (although it's not walkthrough anymore!). They were giving the new habitat time to settle before introducing the Emus back again.
70 Spotted tree frogs released:
From socials:
Conservation win! 70 zoo-bred Spotted Tree Frogs have been released at Mt Beauty (with more to come!) in a coordinated effort to bolster the wild population of this Critically Endangered species.
Additional article: Researchers celebrate frog conservation win 'decades in the making' with high country release
From socials:
Conservation win! 70 zoo-bred Spotted Tree Frogs have been released at Mt Beauty (with more to come!) in a coordinated effort to bolster the wild population of this Critically Endangered species.
Additional article: Researchers celebrate frog conservation win 'decades in the making' with high country release
Video of elephant calves:
Recent footage of Melbourne Zoo’s trio of elephant calves, which are growing up fast. Aiyara is looking huge!
It’s nice to see Roi-Yim interacting with the female calves in the pool. He lacks the natural confident of Aiyara and Kati; with the females making far more use of the pool than him on my November/December visits.
Keeping | Hot day? No problem! Melbourne Zoo's trio of Asian Elephant calves are making a splash and melting our hearts. | By Zoos Victoria | Facebook
Recent footage of Melbourne Zoo’s trio of elephant calves, which are growing up fast. Aiyara is looking huge!
It’s nice to see Roi-Yim interacting with the female calves in the pool. He lacks the natural confident of Aiyara and Kati; with the females making far more use of the pool than him on my November/December visits.
Keeping | Hot day? No problem! Melbourne Zoo's trio of Asian Elephant calves are making a splash and melting our hearts. | By Zoos Victoria | Facebook
NathanTheAsian
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I will once again be making my monthly trip to the Zoo within the next few days. Just like previous times, if you have questions for keepers just @ me and I'll try to get them answered. If any of you want any specific species to be uploaded to the gallery, let me know and I'll try my best at getting shots.
I’d be interested to know plans for Pygmy hippopotamus breeding. Namely whether the plan is to transfer Lololi over from Taronga when mature or import an unrelated cow from overseas once the IRA is completed.
What’s the plan for the Malayan tapir exhibit?
Is everything going okay with Nakuru the giraffe? The volunteers I spoke to were estimating a January/February birth.
I had the same question; a friend visited a few weeks ago and said she did still look quite pregnant.
Hopefully she's just a little overdue and will deliver successfully within the coming weeks.
I guess even with an ultrasound, the due date is at best an estimate without knowing the conception date. With most herds keeping their bull giraffes with the cows full time, it’s tricky to pin-point when the calf was conceived. Wellington Zoo weren’t aware their female had conceived when I visited in January last year for example.
Melbourne Zoo have a maternity yard, so it’s also possible a birth announcement will be delayed until the calf is on exhibit.
Here’s a photo of Nakuru from a video taken last Thursday (apologies for the blurriness and the zoom).
I can’t say for sure whether she’s still pregnant as it’s difficult to see, but she at least was on display with Iris and Klintun.
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I’d say she’s still pregnant as there’s quite a prominent bump.
For comparison, here’s a photo I took three months prior (21/11/2023), where she has a clear bump that appears to have grown further in that time.
Hopefully not long to go now!
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FunnyJamie
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I don't have a photo but I went yesterday. All the Giraffe were still on display and no sign of a baby.
In other news for the Zoo it appears there is a decent amount of work going on. The Boardwalk of the Ring Tailed Lemur enclosure is being redone, the enclosure is still opened as the Lemurs are unbothered by the work going on. The Little Penguin Enclosure was fenced off, it may have been just maintenance but there was quite a lot of stuff laying around with tools and ladders. A large Area next to the Red Panda enclosure has been fenced off and there is a fair few pallets of boxed up stuff. I wonder if this is for an actual expansion/construction job or the upcoming Dinosaurs at the Zoo event, I assume this would be the general area they would be found. And finally the tiny Treetops Aviary has had its sign asking guests to guess what could be housed in it removed. Whether this means they are actually close to putting something in there or giving up on it entirely I do not know.
I did also see something somewhat interesting at the Primate food preparation area. One of the sheets was labeled group 1.1 (IRA), and as far as I could tell this was in addition to the other primates and none were missing.
Yes, the boxes would be for the dinosaurs based on the location as last time the dinosaurs were here, they were set up near the carousel.
I saw the “Something big is coming” video on socials last week; and realised what it was.
It’s also on the zoo’s website with the dates they’re here:
Dinos at Melbourne Zoo | Zoos Victoria
Video of elephants crate training:
A short video of Melbourne Zoo’s elephant herd crate training ahead of their move to Werribee:
Preparation is key to planning a big move! Melbourne Zoo's Asian Elephant herd get ready to 'pack their trunks' and head west | Nine Asian Elephants, one mighty migration. Our dedicated team are working hard to ensure it's a smooth journey for all. | By Zoos VictoriaFacebook
A short video of Melbourne Zoo’s elephant herd crate training ahead of their move to Werribee:
Preparation is key to planning a big move! Melbourne Zoo's Asian Elephant herd get ready to 'pack their trunks' and head west | Nine Asian Elephants, one mighty migration. Our dedicated team are working hard to ensure it's a smooth journey for all. | By Zoos VictoriaFacebook
An update from the Australian Bush Trail. A wild-born male koala rehabilitated from the 2019/2020 bushfires has arrived and is now living with a Quokka. Four young Emus, two female Short-beaked Echidnas and four Orange-bellied Parrots are additional arrivals for the section - reported on social media.
The young male Koala is in with the Quokka in the former Koala exhibit (before the GFA). The Short Beaked Echidnas are in the former Tasmanian Devil exhibit too.
I suppose these additions are there to make up breeding groups or pairs?
Melbourne is already a participant in the orange-bellied parrot native species program, I believe!? So, this must be to pair up birds for future breeding (as they kept single sex before ...)?
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