Thanks for the update. It sounds like the Brazilian tapir have indeed arrived and will be on display shortly. It’ll be fantastic to see tapir return to Melbourne Zoo.
The online map has yet to be updated, but will presumably follow soon.
Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo News 2025
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Thanks for the update. It sounds like the Brazilian tapir have indeed arrived and will be on display shortly. It’ll be fantastic to see tapir return to Melbourne Zoo.
The online map has yet to be updated, but will presumably follow soon.
It will be nice to see em backThanks for the update. It sounds like the Brazilian tapir have indeed arrived and will be on display shortly. It’ll be fantastic to see tapir return to Melbourne Zoo.
The online map has yet to be updated, but will presumably follow soon.
Melbourne Zoo alone had 3583 animals as of June 2024. With a collection that size, deaths are both inevitable and part of the lifecycle. The majority of Melbourne Zoo’s deaths each year are insects, which naturally have short lifespans.
Deaths of high profile species will inevitably make the headlines, but even then, the overwhelming majority are from natural causes (e.g. age related medical conditions).
Interesting, I was in last week and the map still had the Nyala in the Tapir enclosure. I'll look to pop in over the coming weeks to double check - and see if the male from Austria has indeed arrived (and on display).
As much as I would like to see Indian rhinos in other zoos other than Taronga/TWPZ its unlikely
The Sleepy Hippo
Well-Known Member
I believe it is they have currently replaced with insects, but long-term the elephant enclosures will be housing far bigger creatures.
I’ve heard the same.
I replied in more detail in this thread, so we’re not getting off topic in the news thread:
The Future of Zoos Victoria 2025 (Speculation/Fantasy) [Melbourne Zoo]
Insects? Boring? And I'm Mickey Mouse.
I love elephants as much as the next guy but... you do know this trail's also got tigers, otters and orangutans, right?
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Sam.S
Member
Me thinking the Orangutan were the highlight of the trail even when the Elephants were still present aha.
At the moment the otters on the gorilla rain forest trail, and the tiger can be pretty elusive. On two recent visits he was asleep (6/16) and the following week (6/23) only visible for seconds at the back of the exhibit. So I'm with Jambo on this, this is a very decent section of the zoo, which takes time to walk, with little pay off these days. It's a shame that the butterfly house is where it is, because right now it'd be better to otherwise shut that whole section off and save people's time (if not for the butterfly house, which I really enjoyed on both visits).
On this note - does the zoo actually have Lorde Howe stick insects on display? We missed them on the first visit, and on the second particularly made the walk from the orangs to the butterfly house to see the Lorde Howe stick insects, but it didn't appear that there was an exhibit for them. This was right on 4:30, so maybe it was closed; but I couldn't see any obvious place where the exhibit would have been.
Agreed on it feeling empty (as I mentioned after my 6/16 visit last month), as I also mentioned last month. Returning to the zoo a second time, I did note that while I thought almost half of the enclosures were empty, it felt like there were more empty since one of the empty enclosures have two viewing windows (so really there were only 2 empty enclosures, where it looked more without this realization). It was also interesting to notice on the return visit that the second and third exhibits (Black Handed Spider Monkeys) are connected (in addition to the first and fourth, and the fifth and sixth - Colobus), which I'd never noticed before - so despite there being 9 viewing areas, there is only 6 exhibits in the treetop walk.
I was luckily to see the Emperor Tamarins on both 6/16 and 6/23; them being pretty photogenic on the first Monday we were there (ie: I got some cool photos of them being characters).
Named: Popcorn & Pretzel & Adam, the staff at the gift shop informed my koala crazy daughter, FWIW.
Since she's moved from the old mandrill exhibit, we'd never seen Zillie in the GFA. Last year we did not see her, nor did we on 6/16. As such, I have not thought highly of this enclosure, nor the choice to do this when there is a perfectly good former mandrill exhibit sitting empty. But on 6/23, we did the Australia section in reverse (entering from the back and ending at the GFA), and saw her as we were walking up to the GFA, which was very cool. Then once inside the aviary we got to see her hand feed by one of the keepers. That was quite an experience as I didn't take for granted that hand feeding a cassowary safely was possible.
I'd mentioned on 6/16 visit that I didn't see any construction in the taipar exhibit, but on 6/23 noted that there was a sign about it being renovated (which you also mentioned).
It was nice to (for once) visit Melbourne Zoo twice, doing the usual circuit the first time, and changing it up the second time, hitting different exhibits early (namely Lion Gorge) and as a result finally seeing the Indrah in that exhibit for the first time ever, and got some great photos. As well as getting to see the snow leopard, which although I've probably seen before, we're typically rushing through here right before the zoo closes. Not being rushed this time, I did find the scaffolding in the exhibit - odd. They can't use something more natural (like the mock rock blocks that used to jut out from the rear walls when this was bit cat alley) to provide high perching spots for the snow leopard? Additionally, not just rushing through that section like usual, I was able to appreciate how annoying the the dead tree trunks lining the front of that enclosure in terms of viewing the snow leopard. Both seem like odd choices, which I don't think I've noticed before due to rushing through that section.
Funny that even with visiting twice a week apart, we still found ourselves being ushered out of the gift shop at 5pm because it was closing.
The Sleepy Hippo
Well-Known Member
They are not exhibited. They breed thousands of them each year - the zoo that first achieved this, and I believe only 2-3 zoos world wide display them, but not Melbourne Zoo (which I believe houses the most world wide)
As of April 2025, there were six holders worldwide (including Melbourne), with London and San Diego displaying them.
Melbourne Zoo bred 788 Lord Howe stick insects between July 2023 and June 2024; and ended June 2024 with a population of 176.214.156 stick insects.
The inventory records the departure of a staggering 3814 Lord Howe stick insects within the above timeframe. Presumably most of these went to San Diego Zoo, who ran numerous articles about them in late 2023/2024, noting they’d received three imports of the species from Melbourne Zoo since 2012.
Thanks, that explains that. There is a TV program in the States (which is essentially a promo for the San Diego Zoo) that often features them and talks about the breeding program etc. with Aussie zoos, and having seen them in @ SDZ the last couple of times we've gone, we thought it'd be cool to see them in Melbourne where I'm sure some of them came from.
The spider monkey exhibit is larger than it looks, but looks very outdated compared to the vast number of zoos in the region (including all four of New Zealand’s main zoos) that have held spider monkeys on islands or large open air exhibits since the 1990’s or earlier. The importance of exhibiting them in regularly breeding troops is well recognised and Melbourne struggles to accomodate this. A large open air exhibit (mixed with tapir) in TOTE/FOW would serve them well.
I agree Zillie isn’t very visible in the GFA, but there’s many better uses for the old Mandrill exhibit (namely colobus) than sticking a cassowary in there, which always felt like a filler species to me.
I assume they’re there for privacy/screening off the exhibit?
I know what you mean though. Auckland Zoo has these flecks across the glass of their tiger exhibit. They serve zero purpose other than to annoy anyone trying to take a decent photo. They don’t offer the tiger privacy or have any apparent function.
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It's a shame to essentially only have four species on display their currently; two of which are difficult to watch due to the inhibited viewing (windows for the Colobus, and barrier for the Gibbons). That essentially only leaves the Spider Monkeys and Emperor Tamarins. With the Mandrill exhibit also sitting empty, I feel like there's a lot of under utilised enclosures/space within that precinct at the present time. Hopefully Melbourne has plans to renovate/update the whole area within the coming years. New species would be nice to fill empty enclosures.
The Spider Monkeys have had access to both enclosures for a while; probably the last decade or so following the Tree Kangaroos being moved off display. Prior to the Colobus however, the Capuchins were in both exhibits (at least dating back to their arrival from NZ in 2011). So the double habitats for the same species isn't new.
Thanks for this! I'll make a note. I'm presuming those three are the ones kept in the aviary enclosure together.
I was told by a volunteer a few years back that the best area to spot Zillie from was actually outside of the GFA; from the path exiting the aviary. As it loops down towards the wombats you should get a view of the aviary from ground level, and Zillie likes to hang out under the boardwalk there. I tried this on my visit, but without luck.
It's interesting how when you take your time around the whole zoo - it can soon turn into a full day experience! I arrived shortly after 10 and found myself rushing to the Frog House at about 4.30 after realising I'd forgotten to pop in there. I'd never previously considered Melbourne as a full day zoo but to be fair, this was my first visit where I tried to see everything and this meant there was a lot of backtracking and walking the same loops to catch animals I had missed the first time, and to get to keeper talks (perfect opportunity to ask questions).
The scaffolding in Kang Ju's exhibit is a nice use of resources imo. I don't think there was plans for such an elevation platform in his enclosure, and it seems to me that they only made this decision late in an innovative manner. Although it doesn't look 'natural', it's obviously Kang Ju's favourite spot - I've seen him there almost every time he's been on display.
Re. the dead tree trunks, I presume your referencing the ones lining the exterior of the exhibit? If so, they would be for giving Kang Ju more privacy. I agree it is an interesting choice but would have been realistically one of the only naturalistic choices (rather than waiting for foliage to grow). They could've also just decided to put a mock rock wall here but I guess the dead tree trunks would have been easier/more cost effective.
I did see a few smaller looking kangaroos when I last visited - however since they were off at the far back of the habitat, I assumed they were just some of the wallabies.
Good to know Melbourne have already had considerable breeding success with this group; the group consists of five adult females, so hopefully there's a few more joeys yet to emerge.