austrlain zoo gower
Well-Known Member
I am confused, where is the proof in these animals not being allowed in Victoria?
Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo Review 2025 (20/1/25)
- Thread starter austrlain zoo gower
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@Babirusa advised Capybara aren’t allowed in Victorian zoos.
I also found this document regarding prohibited species, which may be of interest:
https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/__da...4/538150/declared-prohibited-pest-animals.pdf
I’ll include this quote by @Steve Robinson regarding a previous meerkat restriction in Queensland, which may be of interest - especially regarding the comment about how the restrictions often reflect outdated assumptions on containment etc:
The Darling Downs Zoo worked for 10 years to have the Queensland government change it's Meerkat policy. Other Australian states could keep Meerkats for 40 years prior to that.
In 2015 we displayed the first group of Meerkat [6] in this state but were not allowed to breed them.
Another few year's battling and we finally were permitted to breed them in 2022. It can be done!
Some other states still have restrictions on what can and can't be bred in their jurisdictions [Victoria and WA come to mind] but those restrictions usually don't reflect the reality of modern day exotic animal containment standards and biosecurity protocols in our zoos.
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I just asked a friend of mine and they've provided me with a document that seems to detail the species that are allowed into Victoria.
Unfortunately I can't share it but it indeed lists Indian Crested Porcupines as the only species of porcupine allowed into Victoria within a controlled population.
Unfortunately I can't share it but it indeed lists Indian Crested Porcupines as the only species of porcupine allowed into Victoria within a controlled population.
Yes but for a period (I want to say around 2021) they fully re-did the enclosure installing new trees and rocks (that weren't previously there) and putting bark all over the grass. This didn't last long however. I assumed they had just repurposed the enclosure for visual appeal rather than for a species but I could have been wrong.
I'm quite certain Melbourne's Giraffe exhibit is much bigger than Taronga's! With Taronga we also have to keep in mind, a fair portion of the outdoor area is fenced off for the Zebra and Ostrich. The new barn isn't outdoors too is it? Even so we can easily see one is bigger than the other via photos;
Taronga's: courtesy of @Hix
Melbourne's (which extends past that back wall): courtesy of @akasha
Yes but for a period (I want to say around 2021) they fully re-did the enclosure installing new trees and rocks (that weren't previously there) and putting bark all over the grass. This didn't last long however. I assumed they had just repurposed the enclosure for visual appeal rather than for a species but I could have been wrong.
I'm quite certain Melbourne's Giraffe exhibit is much bigger than Taronga's! With Taronga we also have to keep in mind, a fair portion of the outdoor area is fenced off for the Zebra and Ostrich. The new barn isn't outdoors too is it? Even so we can easily see one is bigger than the other via photos;
Taronga's: courtesy of @Hix
Melbourne's (which extends past that back wall): courtesy of @akasha
I’d say Melbourne Zoo’s giraffe exhibit is comparable to Auckland Zoo’s exhibit in size (maybe a fraction smaller); but certainly bigger than Taronga Zoo’s exhibit.
At a minimum, Melbourne have enough room to breed a calf each from their herd of 1.2, with the calves transferring out around 12-18 months (as is common in the region due to size/height).
Melbourne's exhibit is far far bigger than Taronga's. Taronga's current enclosure is pretty much on the same footprint as the previous enclosure which was built for them all the way back in the 40's. Many, including myself had called it small for years and the renovations they did prior to covid didn't do much to extend on the space they used to have.
Melbourne's enclosure used to just be up to the wall. I remember recalling to a friend when I visited Melbourne all the way back in 03 that Melbourne's enclosure then was very similar sized to Taronga's and the barns were designed very similarly too. I haven't visited since then but they've since expanded their space by knocking down half of the back wall.
Melbourne's enclosure used to just be up to the wall. I remember recalling to a friend when I visited Melbourne all the way back in 03 that Melbourne's enclosure then was very similar sized to Taronga's and the barns were designed very similarly too. I haven't visited since then but they've since expanded their space by knocking down half of the back wall.
I'd agree on that assessment with the exhibit being roughly the same size as Auckland's. Auckland's is personally the biggest giraffe habitat I've seen in a city zoo but Adelaide seems to be interested in challenging this.
I guess you could say twenty years ago Taronga and Melbourne had similar sized giraffe exhibits but now Melbourne obviously has the bigger enclosure. The back side is roughly the same size as the former space so they essentially doubled the space the giraffes have access too with the extension.
I guess you could say twenty years ago Taronga and Melbourne had similar sized giraffe exhibits but now Melbourne obviously has the bigger enclosure. The back side is roughly the same size as the former space so they essentially doubled the space the giraffes have access too with the extension.
austrlain zoo gower
Well-Known Member
I'd agree on that assessment with the exhibit being roughly the same size as Auckland's. Auckland's is personally the biggest giraffe habitat I've seen in a city zoo but Adelaide seems to be interested in challenging this.
I guess you could say twenty years ago Taronga and Melbourne had similar sized giraffe exhibits but now Melbourne obviously has the bigger enclosure. The back side is roughly the same size as the former space so they essentially doubled the space the giraffes have access too with the extension.
Auckland certainly thought big when they built their exhibit, replacing a small exhibit designed to house a breeding pair. A Tiger by the Tail details attempts to build up a thriving breeding herd, which included the imports of 2.2 giraffe from Honolulu Zoo in the 1980’s to join the zoo’s bull Kahiroa. Their interest in holding three bulls surprises me, but may have been inspired by previous losses of one half of the previous breeding pairs taking them back to square one each time.
Hamilton Zoo has an even larger exhibit, accomodating a decent sized breeding herd of zebra (compared to Auckland Zoo, which has never had a breeding herd of zebra exceeded 1.2 breeding adults). It would be nice to see them breed giraffe long term, but they’ve been a valuable holder of bachelor males - peaking at six males at one point.
Yes but for a period (I want to say around 2021) they fully re-did the enclosure installing new trees and rocks (that weren't previously there) and putting bark all over the grass. This didn't last long however. I assumed they had just repurposed the enclosure for visual appeal rather than for a species but I could have been wrong.
I'm quite certain Melbourne's Giraffe exhibit is much bigger than Taronga's! With Taronga we also have to keep in mind, a fair portion of the outdoor area is fenced off for the Zebra and Ostrich. The new barn isn't outdoors too is it? Even so we can easily see one is bigger than the other via photos;
Taronga's: courtesy of @Hix
Melbourne's (which extends past that back wall): courtesy of @akasha
I think Taronga did actually expand there exhibit, but actual useable space is roughly what it was before. The lake and the island for greenery etc are all expanded space for aesthetics. The barn did get bigger and has more floor space and they still have the old Heritage barn in use/can be used as well (can't be knocked down).
austrlain zoo gower
Well-Known Member
I’m certain that Taronga facility is overall bigger than Melbournes.
However the giraffe may have more access and freedom at Melbourne as they are the only animals in the enclosure
Auckland enclosure looks like it is bigger than the 2 again
However the giraffe may have more access and freedom at Melbourne as they are the only animals in the enclosure
Auckland enclosure looks like it is bigger than the 2 again
I havent seen the behind the scenes area, yet. But id say they did expand the exhibit, the actual giraffes have access to what looks like the exhibit area they used to have and the old closed of zebra area that they couldn't access before which was behind them. This is all now part of the main paddock. The zebras have extra area they can be kept in outside off this which is an expansion and still part of the exhibit. Im not sure if this can be opened up for giraffe use when needed. They kept the old giraffe barn, and built a new bigger main giraffe barn that they use. Which is a true expansion of actual useable area. The greenery islands and water moat/lake part is expansion but isn't useable.
In contrast Melbourne seemed to expand there exhibit, but instead of being very worried about exhibit aesthetics they instead went for useable area. Where Taronga doesn't want or care to breed so they went for making the exhibit look nice which takes space out. But it does serve the purpose of creating line of site breaks that are useful for the animals especially in mixed exhibits. Melbourne's seems to be more for maximising useable space so they can accomodate breeding. Which makes sense as Werribee doesn't breed giraffes, so it's a draw card for Melbourne zoo. Which enables them to send calves out to Werribee and essentially breed as many as they want.
To be fair I was more so talking about the size of the actual enclosure (not the BOH facilities).
But even then Taronga has since divided the enclosure into half; roughly cutting where the barn is across to form the skinnier section that runs parallel to the barn (and currently holds the zebra and ostritch). The giraffes therefore have the lower section and so this would make their area roughly still around half the size of Melbourne's.
Yeah, I'd hoped that Taronga would've expanded the actual footprint of their previous habitat. Mock designs seemed to be indicative of this initially but obviously the end result wasn't as promising. The new barn is obviously a whole new addition, as is the lake and foliage added around and within the exhibit.
The Giraffes still don't have access to the zebra/ostrich area. The intention was to install a fence here which would allow the zebras/ostrich to pass through but not the giraffes. This would've all relied on the success of the introductions however.
Melbourne's expansion was quite simple; they just knocked down the old wall separating the two enclosures and installed some new feeding towers to both sides. There was no implementation of additional trees, water sources to spice up the exhibits aesthetic quality. Because there's really no use for them to the animals!
And on the point of Werribee, I believe they can only accommodate a certain amount of giraffes due to their BOH holding capacity. I believe it's around ten ish giraffes which is a huge shame considering they have a 100 acre enclosure that they keep them in!
Very very true about Taronga's exhibit, and just confirmed what had wondered for many years, that was far from alone in considering it small (personally being a Pethite who became a Sydneysider thirty years ago first Giraffe & Zebra exhibit ever saw was the {new at the time still holds up pretty good, but expansion planned obvs' needed} was the Savannah one at Perth Zoo which includes the waterhole area and the lengthy layout of their space; actually used to be bigger before '99, but a less utilised corner of the exhibit was taken over for Rhino expansion with arrival of the 0.2 from South Africa later that year, but I digress per usual lol)-
- so when first saw Taronga's Giraffe exhibit will say was impressed by the harbour view and how it had been designed using natural elevation in the landscape so we viewed them where they were at a lower altitude where their exhibit yard was given of course their long necks it was always interesting, not to mention the historic Giraffe house, was all pretty cool (irrelevant to point but remember in those days they had Scimitar oryx sharing with them). It did however always seem and feel to be on the small side most definitely however, and was not shocked when learnt that it was a very old exhibit even by the time personally saw them in it for first time in 1994.
So when Taronga's Savannah expansion was announced was very excited and enrhusiastic. The completed result though in completely honest opinion is the Waterhole exhibit is not really big enough for Giraffes or even for the Zebras (maybe the Ostriches but dont know much about their habitat spatial needs).
Think it might have something to do with the elevation of the area (the higher terrain spots became part of the Lion exhibit, re the rocky outcrops that used to be the Barbary Sheeps elevated terrain exhibit).
To be completely honest again think perhaps that area where the visitors path is and the Fennec Fox and Meerkat exhibits are should have been utilised as further space for the Giraffe & Zebra's exhibit, and have visitors see them from the main concreted central path (and can still see the Lions, just in a 'cul-de-sac' and can turn around and head out again down the path), Meerkats and Fenenc Foxes could have very well been exhibited somewhere else in the zoo grounds without too much hassle. Maybe am being too harsh and critical saying, but really agreed with your post.
Btw I emailed Taronga in 2020 or 2021 asking them how big those new exhibits were and they wrote back saying the new Giraffe & Zebra (at the time Ostriches werent in with them) exhibit was 3,000 square metres and the new Lion exhibit was 2,000 square metres.
It’s poignant to consider that Taronga held a multi-male/multi-female breeding herd of giraffe throughout most of the 20th century and were undoubtedly the breeding hub of the region, supplying Auckland, Melbourne, Wellington etc with giraffes.
By the early 1990’s (1992 last calves were born), breeding ceased, indicating the exhibit was no longer deemed suitable for anything more than a non-breeding herd - as remains the case today.
I mean for a lot of years they only had the two boys at Werribee. But they have now passed of memory and the next lot they brought in are aging out as well. By the time Melbourne breed two calves then send them to Werribee and then breed more, Werribee's current older giraffe will have passed opening up space. It's a shame as even a larger non breeding herd would look spectacular in there exhibit. Monarto and Western plains breeding herds always are a popular attraction simply for the larger number of giraffe you see.
I though taronga had mixed there zebras ? unless they have unmixed them. Personally I think they should take a page out of Melbournes book and ditch the zebra and house Nyala with the giraffe. Less issues and would look just as nice.
They stopped breeding due to western plains herd becoming the size that it has. It's a flipped scenario compared to Melbourne. There is no point breeding at taronga when western plains at one point had the largest breeding herd.
I agree Taronga phasing out the zebra would be a good move. The general public are far more interested in giraffe, with most paying little attention to the pair of zebra (which are a non-breeding pair). The exhibit doesn’t lend itself that well to eye to eye views of the zebra compared to Hamilton Zoo etc, where the zebras were breeding and generated more interest.
Werribee Open Range Zoo's first five giraffe were transferred in from Melbourne Zoo between 1984 and 1991:
Fred (M)
Born at Melbourne Zoo 07/04/1981
Arrived at Werribee Open Range Zoo 05/12/1984
Died at Werribee Open Range Zoo 28/10/1989
Sire: William; Dam: Anna
Donald (M)
Born at Melbourne Zoo 04/09/1982
Arrived at Werribee Open Range Zoo 18/12/1984
Died at Werribee Open Range Zoo 02/08/1994
Sire: William; Dam: Anna
Mel (M)
Born at Melbourne Zoo 09/08/1985
Arrived at Werribee Open Range Zoo 19/02/1987
Died at Werribee Open Range Zoo 20/07/1989
Sire: Finnie; Dam: Anna
Mac (M)
Born at Melbourne Zoo 11/08/1988
Arrived at Werribee Open Range Zoo 07/05/1990
Died at Werribee Open Range Zoo 25/08/2006
Sire: Finnie; Dam: Anna
Jamala (M)
Born at Melbourne Zoo 03/05/1990
Arrived at Werribee Open Range Zoo 09/04/1991
Died at Werribee Open Range Zoo 10/11/1996
Sire: Finnie; Dam: Miranda (daughter of Anna)
The next arrivals were 1.1 young giraffe from New Zealand:
Oskar (M)
Born at Auckland Zoo 23/03/1994
Arrived at Werribee Open Range Zoo 06/12/1994
Died at Werribee Open Range Zoo 31/05/2002
Sire: Tsavo; Dam: Kay
Zawadi (F)
Born at Wellington Zoo 25/01/1995
Arrived at Werribee Open Range Zoo 19/12/1995
Died at Werribee Open Range Zoo 17/10/1996
Sire: Ricky; Dam: Tisa
Great point man (that Giraffe legacy of Tarongas hey, those of us who know just how many Giraffes they had a lot of the time and the number of births historically from late 1940s all the way to 1992, thanks for reminding me when they ceased breeding there and Western Plains became the Taronga zoos sole Giraffe breeding location). Lol no wonder Hallstrom himself spent hours in the rain and mud giving instructions when siring male Jan Smuts went sideways on the ground and needed to be brought to his feet again (I mean common animal welfare decency anyway but was extra committed to saving 'Smuts).
I think from memory when did (cant ascertain how completely reliable as were google earth measurements), but the old Taronga Giraffe exhibit yard space for the Giraffes to use (so not including the historic Giraffe house or the newer one) was about ≈900 square meters. In contrast Perth's was originally something like ≈3,300 sq m and then was reduced to about ≈2,350 sq m in 1999 (not including the waterhole and holding yards & night barns/stables, just daytime yard) - but definitely time for that Savannah expansion at Perth, as Taronga's is currently bigger (Memphis & Bakari's current yards are more than 2,500 sq metres so they have more roaming space than Giraffes & Zebras, I mean thats great for the Rhinos and absolutely need that space..but though should be equal. The Giraffe & Zebra's current space at Perth actually looks bigger than it is because of surrounding scenery something that was always part of the precinct's clever design for last 33 years but now all the animals need more space).
I think Melbourne's Giraffe exhibit is something like ≈3,500 - ≈3,600 sq metres (sorry if that's already mentioned on here might have missed) so is bigger than Tarongas still (when measured did make sure not to include the dormant/empty former Bongo exhibit).
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