Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo News 2024

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I'm unconviced on the "construction" in TOTE being indicative of anything necessarily. It seems more akin to the early stages of when they removed the vegetation from the island several years ago.

The "village farm" area after Hutan is where the 2-3 sections of cyclone fence with a generic "construction site" sign as you approach it. There may have also been a solitary witches hat.
The construction just has the bamboo and banana treets in that space cut to about a foot or so from the ground. But only plants within that space, not the surrounding folliage. No plants have been removed. Just cut down to just over a foot high. The area is not completely fenced off, just enough to suggest not to walk there.
 
Went to Melbourne Zoo today - almost been a whole year.
Walked most of it. Felt empty... Australian Bush feels quite expansive with very little there. Kangaroo/Emu/ wallabies looks good and full, but everywhere else felt fairly sparsely filled with enclosures and animals. Regent Honey Eater aviary was really good though!

Peccaries were present and out and about. Spent a good while with them when I arrived.
peccaries-mz-4-7-24.732971

peccaries-mz-4-7-24.732972

Peccaries MZ, 4/7/24

Peccaries MZ, 4/7/24

Peccaries MZ, 4/7/24

Peccaries MZ, 4/7/24


Saw the Blue and Gold Macaw out for its free flight along the Main Trail
macaw-free-flight-mz-4-7-24.732974

Macaw Free flight MZ, 4/7/24

Macaw Free flight MZ, 4/7/24


And the Quokka came out briefly on my second walk by.
quokka-mz-4-7-25.732973

Quokka MZ, 4/7/25

Quokka MZ, 4/7/25


Construction still ongoing at for the new Giraffe House. Looks like its closer to completion though - do we know the timeline?
Giraffe, new giraffe house construction, 4/7/24

Giraffe, new giraffe house construction, 4/7/24

giraffe-new-giraffe-house-construction-4-7-24.732975
 
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The Sleepy Hippo said:
Went to Melbourne Zoo today - almost been a whole year.
Walked most of it. Felt empty... Australian Bush feels quite expansive with very little there. Kangaroo/Emu/ wallabies looks good and full, but everywhere else felt fairly sparsely filled with enclosures and animals. Regent Honey Eater aviary was really good though!

Peccaries were present and out and about. Spent a good while with them when I arrived.
peccaries-mz-4-7-24.732971

peccaries-mz-4-7-24.732972

Peccaries MZ, 4/7/24

Peccaries MZ, 4/7/24

Peccaries MZ, 4/7/24

Peccaries MZ, 4/7/24


Saw the Blue and Gold Macaw out for its free flight along the Main Trail
macaw-free-flight-mz-4-7-24.732974

Macaw Free flight MZ, 4/7/24

Macaw Free flight MZ, 4/7/24


And the Quokka came out briefly on my second walk by.
quokka-mz-4-7-25.732973

Quokka MZ, 4/7/25

Quokka MZ, 4/7/25


Construction still ongoing at for the new Giraffe House. Looks like its closer to completion though - do we know the timeline?
Giraffe, new giraffe house construction, 4/7/24

Giraffe, new giraffe house construction, 4/7/24

giraffe-new-giraffe-house-construction-4-7-24.732975
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I’m glad you got to spend some time with the peccaries. I made sure to make the most of them on my visits given once they’re gone, they’re gone. This was all lost on the general public of course.

This signage advised the giraffe house was intended to be completed in summer, so it looks like it’s running behind schedule:

upload_2024-7-4_18-37-23.jpeg
 

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Zoofan15 said:
I’m glad you got to spend some time with the peccaries. I made sure to make the most of them on my visits given once they’re gone, they’re gone. This was all lost on the general public of course.

This signage advised the giraffe house was intended to be completed in summer, so it looks like it’s running behind schedule:

View attachment 713549
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Seeing as Summer bookends the year... Maybe...
 
The Sleepy Hippo said:
Seeing as Summer bookends the year... Maybe...
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It was supposed to be completed at the beginning of this year; in time with Nakuru's due date.

It appears close to completion though, so should be up and running come the next month or so imo.

It appears majority of the previous Zebra back of house facilities have also made way with this construction, which probably explains more or so why they were sent to Werribee last year.
 
An excellent virtual tour of Melbourne Zoo’s reptile house. Nothing really newsworthy but it’s an interesting snapshot of the current collection. The video then gives a good view of off-show with lots of basilisks and crested iguanas. At 5:44 there is a very rare shot of their Mississippi Map Turtle – the only one in the region. There is also some good footage of their new King Cobra that came from Spain, Alvaro. The rattlesnakes and cantil young [7:23]are also growing up well off-show among other young reptiles shown.

 
The Sleepy Hippo said:
Makes sense. Disappointing - but removes all the confusion. I was wondering how could a solitary male Phillipines Crocodile lay and hatch eggs... Answer: even the great Luzon cannot!
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Yes that would be extraordinary. Fingers crossed Melbourne Zoo can import a female one day and breed again. The loss of their previous breeding female was very unfortunate.

The species can live to 100 and Luzon turns 25 this year (22/07/1999), so could have another 75 years in him! He was the highlight of the Reptile House for me.
 
The Sleepy Hippo said:
And near the very end there were baby crocodiles - Luzon?
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Zoofan15 said:
Yes, that would have been old footage. There’s a video of the hatchlings here:

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The Sleepy Hippo said:
Makes sense. Disappointing - but removes all the confusion. I was wondering how could a solitary male Phillipines Crocodile lay and hatch eggs... Answer: even the great Luzon cannot!
Click to expand...
Zoofan15 said:
Yes that would be extraordinary. Fingers crossed Melbourne Zoo can import a female one day and breed again. The loss of their previous breeding female was very unfortunate.

The species can live to 100 and Luzon turns 25 this year (22/07/1999), so could have another 75 years in him! He was the highlight of the Reptile House for me.
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It would hypothetically be possible if Luzon wasn't sexed correctly and if Philippine Crocodiles turned out to be parthenogenetic, but that is almost definitely not going to happen!
 
Osedax said:
It would hypothetically be possible if Luzon wasn't sexed correctly and if Philippine Crocodiles turned out to be parthenogenetic, but that is almost definitely not going to happen!
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Well we know that isn't the case as he sired offspring in the past. Footage does look very similar to past footage of previous hatchlings so I wouldn't put it past that!
 
Osedax said:
It would hypothetically be possible if Luzon wasn't sexed correctly and if Philippine Crocodiles turned out to be parthenogenetic, but that is almost definitely not going to happen!
Click to expand...
Jambo said:
Well we know that isn't the case as he sired offspring in the past. Footage does look very similar to past footage of previous hatchlings so I wouldn't put it past that!
Click to expand...

Interestingly, the first incidence of pathogenesis in crocodiles was only reported last year. The offspring apparently have a lower fitness than naturally bred offspring.

The only possibility is if Luzon was misexed as a male; and Mrs Luzon (now deceased) was misexed as a female, but given male Phillipines crocodiles are larger than females and the expertise of Melbourne’s reptile keepers and the idea is beyond improbable. :)
 
I visited Melbourne zoo today and found out pretty big news.

in the next six months, a pair of Brazilian Tapir are expected to arrive. The male is coming from Austria, a female was sourced from Italy but it may have fallen through. The plan over the next year is for three pairs to be imported, one for Adelaide and I think the other was Darling Downs, but didn’t hear it exactly, to create a regional breeding population. They will be living in where the Nyala are now (old Malayan Tapir exhibit), the Nyala will be moving to the area next to the Baboons sometime so then the can refurbish the enclosure to make seperate areas to help with breeding. It was also the region wouldn’t be continuing with Malayan Tapir due to our sunlight causing blindness.

This was all said as the keepers were cleaning the Pygmy Hippo enclosures. They mentioned they are rewards to import a mate for Felix, but they are just waiting for bio-security procedures to be updated.

I think I caught all this correctly, I didn't ask any questions.
 
Mlawlor said:
I visited Melbourne zoo today and found out pretty big news.

in the next six months, a pair of Brazilian Tapir are expected to arrive. The male is coming from Austria, a female was sourced from Italy but it may have fallen through. The plan over the next year is for three pairs to be imported, one for Adelaide and I think the other was Darling Downs, but didn’t hear it exactly, to create a regional breeding population. They will be living in where the Nyala are now (old Malayan Tapir exhibit), the Nyala will be moving to the area next to the Baboons sometime so then the can refurbish the enclosure to make seperate areas to help with breeding. It was also the region wouldn’t be continuing with Malayan Tapir due to our sunlight causing blindness.

This was all said as the keepers were cleaning the Pygmy Hippo enclosures. They mentioned they are rewards to import a mate for Felix, but they are just waiting for bio-security procedures to be updated.

I think I caught all this correctly, I didn't ask any questions.
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Wow, great news to hear following the rumors surrounding this. It will be exciting to have Brazilian Tapir return, and a new pair from overseas will hopefully re-ignite the regional breeding program. It's promising to hear Adelaide and DDZ also importing pairs as well.

It's intriguing they plan to house them in the current Nyala exhibit which is fairly small for a pair plus offspring. Perhaps expanding their facilities to the next door Peccary precinct is the plan. The Peccary could easily be housed elsewhere at the zoo or at another facility.

The exhibit you mention next to the baboons was actually refurbished a few years back which did make me wonder whether there were plans in place for a species to arrive. Obviously the Nyala addition there has been in the works for a while.

With the Hippo IRA edging closer and closer to completion in the coming years, there will hopefully be the opportunity to import a mate for Felix. You would hope they'd take the time in the mean time to expand the current facilities, but obviously this'll probably be less of a priority with the TOTE redevelopment.
 
Mlawlor said:
I visited Melbourne zoo today and found out pretty big news.

in the next six months, a pair of Brazilian Tapir are expected to arrive. The male is coming from Austria, a female was sourced from Italy but it may have fallen through. The plan over the next year is for three pairs to be imported, one for Adelaide and I think the other was Darling Downs, but didn’t hear it exactly, to create a regional breeding population. They will be living in where the Nyala are now (old Malayan Tapir exhibit), the Nyala will be moving to the area next to the Baboons sometime so then the can refurbish the enclosure to make seperate areas to help with breeding. It was also the region wouldn’t be continuing with Malayan Tapir due to our sunlight causing blindness.

This was all said as the keepers were cleaning the Pygmy Hippo enclosures. They mentioned they are rewards to import a mate for Felix, but they are just waiting for bio-security procedures to be updated.

I think I caught all this correctly, I didn't ask any questions.
Click to expand...

That’s fantastic news. I’ve long been of the opinion that Lowland nyala would be ideal for the exhibit adjacent to the giraffes (old Eastern bongo exhibit).

The reasons for phasing out Malayan tapir are completely valid and replacing them with a sustainable population (founded by multiple pairs) of Brazilian tapir makes a lot of sense. I hope success in breeding these pairs will follow, with additional holders taking on first generation offspring of these founders as and when they become available.

It wouldn’t surprise me if there was additional interest from facilities like Altina, which have been highly successful with breeding ungulates in recent years.
 
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