Melbourne Zoo Melbournes eles heading for Werribee?

[m575]

sorry i'm not sure i follow you. what "new savannah" are you talking about and what does that have to do with melbourne's asian elephants?

Well Werribee is expanding. Dragon mentioned something about separating the elephants. The expansion is occurring away from the lower savana, thus, elephants COULD be housed separately and even enclosed away from vehicles.. Though, as of yet, there are no plans as to what is happening, just that it's gone from "Werribee will not be getting elephants" to "Werribee is getting elephants in the future"

please do go into details. re you saying you've heard melbourne will be moving ALL their gorillas to werribee in exchange for chimps displayed at melbourne?

this seems highly unlikely to me.

Details are hazy. But it has something to do with NSW? getting chimps and Vic getting Gorillas.. NSW eventually got Gorillas and thus, Vic has no reason to not get chimps (sort of a war between zoos?) So Melbourne wants them. I think they will move SOME gorillas off to Werribee, though with the proposition, it could easily be all. Details should start emerging after the servals are opened to the public, as I think the gorillas are the next plan!

shame. having victorias zoo with the most potential biased towards animals from one continent is rather foolish. considering it instantly slashes out so many opportunities.

Yes. Though give it a few months, and what is happening should come out and maybe even be published.

But yes, werribee has a lot of potential, and they have A LOT of animals off display, which they could bring in to expand the zoo..

 

[phoenix]

Details are hazy. But it has something to do with NSW? getting chimps and Vic getting Gorillas.. NSW eventually got Gorillas and thus, Vic has no reason to not get chimps (sort of a war between zoos?) So Melbourne wants them.

oh, that old rubbish. the keepers at melbourne need to get over that one. so melbourne sent its chimps to taronga and taronga gave melbourne their gorillas betsy and bulliman.

the idea was each zoo would focus on what they could do best at the time.

but so what if many years later taronga got gorillas. melbourne couldn't really house all three apes anymore anyway. giving up chimps meant they had room to acquire a new purebred pair of sumatran orangutans as well as keep their poor backup gorilla rigo isolated as insurance should motaba ever get the red light on breeding from the EEP.

those whingers at the melbourne primate department need get over themselves.

 

[m575]

Hehehe. *phew* got the story right ish

But yes, that's the 'premise'. And it's almost certain, from what I've seen and heard, that Werribee is getting Gorillas SOON (Well, enclosure hasn't started or anything, so not that soon) AND they will most likely come from partly or souly, Melbourne Zoo.

 

[phoenix]

they will definitely be coming form melbourne as there are no other "spare" gorillas in the region and the EEP ain't offering australia much at the moment.

 

[m575]

mmm unless they plan on getting some now, some later..

I mean, it is suprising considering Melbournes Gorilla enclosure isn't that old..

 

[snowleopard]

This entire conversation on this thread is all rumour and innuendo, which is somewhat pointless. We can all speculate on what may or may not happen between Melbourne and Werribee, but for now all of this talk about elephants and gorillas shifting between zoos is pure conjecture. There has been nothing confirmed by Zoos Victoria at all, and so most of this talk is simply fanciful dreaming. Eventually there will be some movement of animals, but I'd rather wait until something official is confirmed.

 

[dragon(ele)nerd]

I do rather wonder in which elephants when the time comes will be transported out. the second generation made up of calves born here? or perhaps a split between herds? although I wouldn't like to see that happen it has happened before.

But I agree what was said before even a zoo keeper at Melbourne zoo agreed with me that the current exhibit was only big enough for the current herd and a few calves in the very young stage. I do wish they would of prepared more so though, like colonge or emmen intially they knew they wanted to breed a number of elephants and so made a large enough exhibit.

Then again a baby in australia has never been heard of in the pacheyderm world. Taronga and Melbourne were probably only set on getting the elephants over here in the first place and hoping to create a baby asap and not that all much concerned about what to do when more elephants came up. Though I can't say they've done a bad job though, must of been very hard to get up to this point.

 

[m575]

I wouldn't say it's all speculation.. I'd say that the Gorillas are most likely being put after the Volcanic Plains walk at Werribee

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

The embryonic plan for elephants to be relocated to Werribee ex Melbourne looks certainly good on paper, but questions remain whether it will be followed through. Masterplan elephant as I call it - being 5-6 years down the line (2015+) - it hinges completely on the new management (aka John Willis) staying on. If one reads correctly he will go before long for "family health reasons" and Masterplans require a continuous like-minded management to bring them to fruition. So, to me - all very well and good - but where is the real evidence? I personally adopt a wait and see approach to this!

 

[m575]

Well Werribee never intended on getting Elephants, due to the size, amongst other things. Like I said, that has gone from a no to a yes, but, NO date has been set. Ideally, it'll be from Melbourne Zoo, but even if nothing goes through with that, they WILL be getting them, however, like I said, WHEN is anyones guess. It's not even on the drawing boards.

 

[dragon(ele)nerd]

all and all I'm unsure if werribee wil be able to make a suitable exhibit, mainly because of the asian elephants love for un drafty areas and thus hide amongst rainforests. Would definatly take a long time to construct a suitable exhibit and espicially cause of weather at werribee, certain things must be considered to block out air if the elephants were to come.

just what I think.

 

[boof]

certain things must be considered to block out air if the elephants were to come.

Maybe they should build a giant vacuum to block out the air. Not to sure if the elephants would to happy about this. It would be better if they were left in Melbourne, just to be safe.

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

What is the long-term feel for Werribee. African only (with native species), or extension into Asia (as evidenced by the embryonic plan to move some Asian elephants in)?

 

[phoenix]

all and all I'm unsure if werribee wil be able to make a suitable exhibit, mainly because of the asian elephants love for un drafty areas and thus hide amongst rainforests.

this is a common misconception even amongst zoo people. asian elephants are not exclusively rainforest animals and thrive in a wide range of habitat types including tall grasslands and open woodland. creating a suitable environment at werribee would be no different from creating one in melbourne.

cold winds on the otherhand, ARE a problem for giraffes, yet werribee manages to keep them rather successfully (though i have issue with the way they lock them out of their barn on cold days when the animals clearly want to be warm).

 

[m575]

What is the long-term feel for Werribee. African only (with native species), or extension into Asia (as evidenced by the embryonic plan to move some Asian elephants in)?

Well they've already got some American and Asian exhibits, but yes, they are slowly expanding. I double checked. I'm fairly confident that the next one to open will be servals (they're getting close!) then Baboon island, gorrilas, and the upper Savanah.. (Which I assume would consist of black Rhino!)

 

[MARK]

Black Rhino for Werribee would be a good idea bringing it in with the two other open range zoos in Aust, lets hope so.