Monarto Safari Park Monarto Safari Park News 2020

Update on Monarto's Projects:

Monarto Safari Park have released an update on a few of their projects. The new visitor centre should be open by late 2021/early 2022 as the zoo are close to finalising the building and materials agreement. Also, the new rhinos should be arriving at the quarantine centre by mid-2022. They are currently in the process of constructing new night quarters and holding areas for their arrival.

How quickly time flies - just over a year ago we announced that alongside a new federal and state government-funded Visitor Centre, Monarto Safari Park would transform into the largest safari park outside of Africa complete with safari-style experiences, luxury accommodation and South Australia’s first-ever rhino quarantine centre. We thought we’d provide you with an update on how these projects are taking shape…
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Visitor Centre - planned to open late 2021/early 2022
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We are close to finalising building and materials agreement on the new Visitor Centre at
Monarto Safari Park
that will see it open to the public in late 2021/early 2022. The Visitor Centre, funded by the Australian and State Governments, will provide a first-class gateway to visitors as they immerse themselves into the wild way of life at Monarto.
Plans include a large indoor and outdoor café, nature play spaces, retail, visitor services, offices and improved car parking and accessibility.
It won’t be long now until construction begins and knowing how quickly time flies, you’ll be walking through those new entry gates before you know it!
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Anthony Taylor Rhino Quarantine and Management Centre – planned arrival mid-2022
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Saving species from extinction is at the core of our conservation work. The new rhino quarantine centre will provide a home for threatened Southern White Rhinos.
While COVID-19 might have delayed the rhinos arriving, we have not been idly standing by. A raceway (used for moving animals between areas) is in construction, together with holding areas and night quarters for rhinos. We hope to welcome the newest rhino to Monarto Safari Park’s Wild Africa area mid-2022 and we can’t wait to hear their thundering hooves.
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Luxury resort & glamping – planned to open mid-2022
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Private investor Gerry Ryan continues his plans to create a stellar offering of luxury hotel and glamping facilities within the wilds of Monarto Safari Park. Collaboration between Gerry and designers continue, despite COVID-19’s unwelcome hindrance.
Watch this space for more news – but feel free to start imagining arriving at our new Visitor Centre, waterholes filled with animals and the breeze flowing through your hair as you ride open safari-style through the expanse of wild plains of Monarto...
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Monarto Safari Park have announced the birth and subsequent death of 0.1 Giraffe calf to experienced mother Kinky. Post-mortem results showed that the calf had a major heart defect. Despite being sad news, I am glad the zoo decided to share it with the public.
Friends, some of you who visited Monarto Safari Park recently would have heard that Kinky the giraffe, known for the large kink in her neck, was pregnant. We’re sad to announce that while Kinky did give birth to a female calf earlier in the week, sadly it did not survive, passing away yesterday.
Found by a member of staff at around 8:30 on Monday morning, the calf was by itself and not able to stand. Given that calves usually stand within half an hour of being born, when the rest of the herd moved away the team made the decision to relocate the calf to an off-limits giraffe shed where they could watch it more closely and assist as required.
Once inside the shed, keepers and vets made sure to warm up the calf, who was incredibly cold, and give it some fluids. Though the team worked around the clock to care for her during the day and night, the calf continued to look unwell and only stood up a few times throughout the hours it was alive. Unfortunately, despite the team’s best efforts she died around midday on Tuesday.
Post mortem results show the calf’s aorta (the main artery carrying blood away from the heart) exited from the wrong side of her heart, leading to poor blood oxygenation and energy levels. Such a major heart defect is sadly incompatible with life and this was reflected in her deteriorating condition and the eventual outcome.
Thankfully, keepers report that Kinky is doing really well and behaving normally. Keepers believe that both Kinky and the rest of the herd soon realised something wasn’t right with the calf and moved away to let nature take its course, a stark reminder that natural selection and instinct are powerful things in the animal kingdom.
Rest in peace, little giraffe.
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40 Greater Stick-nest Rats have been released into Mallee Cliffs National Park. These rats were bred at Monarto, Adelaide Zoo and Alice Springs Desert Park. A very rewarding collaborative effort.

Full article: Monarto Safari Park-bred Greater Stick-nest Rats find new home in the wild
Now we know what some of you might be thinking: rats… gross! But hear us out.

Affectionately referred to as ‘stickies’, these fascinating native rodents are larger, rounder and fluffier than their introduced counterparts and are known for their incredible construction ability.

Well-adapted to living in arid regions with little rainfall and water, the rats retain as much moisture in their bodies as possible.

This leaves them with sticky urine which makes a perfect glue to secure sticks and rocks to create their large communal nest.

Housing anywhere between 10 and 20 animals in a large family group, the structures can sometimes be several metres in height and width – quite the feat for an animal the size of a guinea pig!

Recently, a collaborative translocation plan in conjunction with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and independent not-for-profit organisation Australian Wildlife Conservancy saw the rats released into protected pens in Mallee Cliffs National Park.

After a short period of observation, the animals were then released into a wider protected area.

Zoos South Australia’s Conservation Manager Dr Liberty Olds is incredibly happy with how the program has progressed.

“Fifteen months ago, 30 Greater Stick-nest Rats were selected from a remaining wild population on the Franklin Islands off the coast of South Australia to establish an important captive-breeding program at Monarto Safari Park,” says Liberty.

“From there, majority of those animals remained at Monarto, while some went to Adelaide Zoo or Alice Springs Desert Park in the Northern Territory.

“The rats wasted no time, with more than 40 pups being born across the sitessince the program began.

“We’re thrilled to say the breeding program was incredibly successful and all the animals who arrived at Mallee Cliffs last month are offspring of that original population.

“They grew brilliantly and were all given a clean bill of health from our vets before being released.”

Keepers at Monarto Safari Park and Adelaide Zoo report the animals having very distinct personalities, with some being very confident and welcoming of keeping staff.

This has allowed keepers to gain great insight into the species’ breeding behaviours and pup development up close.

Several generations of Greater Stick-nest Rat families can live in the one nest, with the dominant female of the group passing down the home to her female offspring.

Stick-nest rats can have up to three pups at a time with the pups attaching to their mum’s teats until they’re weaned at around one month old, meaning wherever mum goes the pups go with her.

It’s certainly a sight to see stick-nest rats mothers hopping along with babies clinging to her underside!

Once widespread across the southern deserts of Australia, these sweet native rodents were sadly hunted to near-extinction by feral predators like cats and foxes with just one small population surviving on Franklin Island, off the coast of South Australia.

As a conservation charity, we’re proud to be able to contribute to vital conservation programs for species like the Greater Stick-nest Rat.

Visitors to Adelaide Zoo will be able to get a glimpse of the rodents in the Nocturnal House, while the group at Monarto Safari Park are housed behind the scenes.
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Twin Spotted hyena pups were born this week to Forrest:

Monarto Safari Park baby boom, relocation program: VIDEO

Keeper Kat Ferres said the team arrived for work on Tuesday morning and discovered Forest had given birth overnight.

Forest has been doing a great job looking after her cubs - we have seen the cubs suckling and we've also seen her bring out the cubs to introduce them to Dad, Gamba."

As mentioned in the article, the zoo also welcomed a giraffe calf and zebra foal.
 
Annual Report 2019-2020 – Monarto Safari Park:
Zoo South Australia’s annual report was released today giving further information about Monarto’s achievements over the past year. Here is a summary of their key milestones for the 2019-2020 period:

Births:
*three Nyala calves were born recently. We haven’t heard much about the nyala herds in Australia so it’s good Monarto are breeding them regularly and their group is slowly growing.

*other ungulate births included around three dozen Blackbuck and Barbary Sheep, nine Scimitar-horned Oryx, three Plains Zebra and two Giraffe. Other births for the exotics included the four lion cubs and a female Chimpanzee.

*native births included 11 Tasmanian Devils (their best breeding record to date), Greater Stick-nest Rat, Greater Bilby, Brush-tailed Bettong, Tammar Wallaby, Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby and Western Swamp Turtle

Developments:
*birthing dens were added to the African Wild Dog enclosure; the lions, cheetahs and rock wallabies received improved climbing structures; a new visitor centre is to be opened by the end of 2021 - a summary of the progress: “the project is now at the Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) phase of detailed design in which the successful builder from the tender call has been appointed to provide services that facilitate the completion of detailed design documentation by the architect led design team to comprehensively address and manage issues relating to buildability, budgetary limits and high-risk items. 80% completion of detailed design documentation is anticipated at the end of August 2020 to enable the submission of a guaranteed maximum price to deliver the project works. We anticipate the new Visitor Centre will be completed by the end of 2021.”

Arrivals:
*with the completion of purpose-built aviaries, Monarto received their first Plains Wanderers – a group of six birds


Wild Africa Update from the Annual Report:
"With plans to become the world’s largest safari experience outside of Africa and exciting accommodation plans on the horizon, our Wild Africa team is working harder than ever to extend and transform the property adjacent to the existing Monarto site. We achieved significant progress in various project builds within the Wild Africa site, including the Rhino Management and Quarantine Centre, one of three rhino holding paddocks (which now houses one of our male Southern White Rhinos, Ibutho), the 2.2-kilometre rhino ‘raceway’, the four kilometre stock fence around the southern section of the safari experience, a small holding paddock and associated animal handling facilities to compliment the southern section, the 'Valley of the Lemurs' exhibit (including completion of one of the night quarters), and the the external perimeter security and feral proof fence.

Along with constructing animal management facilities, we have also excavated and clay-lined eight waterholes to compliment the safari and accommodation experience, partnered with SA Water to establish a raw water connection from the adjacent pipeline to the property, installed six kilometres of raw water reticulation (with six of the eight waterholes now connected and filled), and formed,ready for building, over twenty kilometres of safari tracks. We also celebrated the completion of a major re-vegetation planting project around the fourteen kilometre boundary. These plantings provide a visual barrier from both within, to hide external infrastructure, and from outside to buffer the safari experience. As well as linking important patches of native vegetation within the project site, the vegetation expands native corridors from Monarto Safari Park through to Kinchina Conservation Park."

Full annual report: https://www.zoossa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Zoos-SA-Annual-Report-2019-2020.pdf
 
I genuinely suspect Monarto might just become the world's greatest safari park. I hope in the future they can compliment it with additional species of ungulates - a park this size deserves gazelles, wildebeest, warthogs and more....
 
There is so, so much potential. I feel as though how great it becomes will hinge on (obviously as well as funding) the ability to import more ungulate species into the region, as well as bringing in new populations of species such as hippopotamus. Hippos would be amazing. Other exciting plans include those down the line for a potential bachelor group of gorillas. I’d love to see Monarto expand it’s primate collection; hamadryas baboons and vervets would be a perfect fit.
 
marmolady said:
Other exciting plans include those down the line for a potential bachelor group of gorillas. I’d love to see Monarto expand it’s primate collection; hamadryas baboons and vervets would be a perfect fit.
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I've not been to Monarto, but judging from the pictures/videos I've seen, I'm very impressed by the size of their chimpanzee exhibit, but a little less impressed with its landscaping. Yes, in West Africa their is a small and aberrant population of savannah chimps - but really this is a jungle species and their enclosure space is very arid and exposed to the harsh Australian sun. I do wish they'd either make an exemption for the chimps and at least selectively irrigate their enclosure for the sake of getting some better vegetation and shade cover, or I would suggest that they switch to baboons in this space, returning chimps to Adelaide in the long run. In contrast with Werribee, it appears that Monarto have a strict "native vegetation only" policy. Which is great for managing the larger space as a whole, but silly to me when applied to a (relatively) very space inhabited by a troop of marauding chimps. This is hardly a natural environment and you'd think some common sense exemptions would apply for the sake of animal welfare. I'm not suggesting a recreated jungle is practical here, but i do think chimps, just like humans, enjoy the benefits of some grass, the shade of a tree and I dare say beauty, of a lusher environment.
 
Having been regularly visiting the chimpanzee community since it opened, I have never had any cause for welfare concerns related to the sun.

Adelaide Zoo doesn't have the space for chimpanzees, which is why the exhibit was built at Monarto in the first place. Monarto's exhibit is largely grassy, though less so in the summer (irrigation would be an easier fix than building something new in Adelaide when the current exhibit is by all accounts very functional). It's more planted out than the vast majority of exhibits for the species I've seen. There are several areas of shade within the outdoor enclosure (more cover has been added over the years), and the mallee trees have survived the marauding chimps exceptionally well (being native to the environment, their shade remains through the summer). The chimpanzees also have constant access to spacious indoor quarters and air conditioning, but I imagine it would only be during intense heat waves that they'd choose to be inside all day.
 
I do agree that more irrigation for year-round greenery would be something positive that could change-- but the enclosure has never struck me as being very arid. I don't think a better exhibit could be created in the space Adelaide has; Monarto's chimp exhibit has always felt to me to suffer with harsh sun less than a lot of corners of Adelaide Zoo do (the orangutan exhibit leaps to mind).
 
marmolady said:
There is so, so much potential. I feel as though how great it becomes will hinge on (obviously as well as funding) the ability to import more ungulate species into the region, as well as bringing in new populations of species such as hippopotamus. Hippos would be amazing. Other exciting plans include those down the line for a potential bachelor group of gorillas. I’d love to see Monarto expand it’s primate collection; hamadryas baboons and vervets would be a perfect fit.
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I agree 100% with your comments they really do have Huge potential and as you have pointed out the ability to import more ungulate species would be the difference. Many overseas collections have outstanding ungulate populations so this is the weak area for our collections within our region and unless Monarto zoo address this area will never be in the running as one of the best anywhere. I did read a few weeks ago some where on one of their blogs that they have a "Mystery" antelope coming?, I am assuming its a possible new import species for the new exhibit. I can see Monarto becoming the leader within the region, I wished that the TWPZ had kept to the plan they had a few years ago of a 500 acre African Safari exhibit which appeared to have got scrapped.
I believe also Baboons would fit well into such an exhibit and Hippos in that much room would look outstanding also they could carry a good number and perhaps become a focal point for Hippo breeding for the region!
 
Zorro said:
I believe also Baboons would fit well into such an exhibit and Hippos in that much room would look outstanding also they could carry a good number and perhaps become a focal point for Hippo breeding for the region!
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There’s huge potential for a massive baboon exhibit. I’m thinking something to rival Singapore Zoo’s Great Rift Valley.

As amazing as a hippo hub would be, I believe their focus will be on the Southern white rhinoceros - with 30 arriving from South Africa over the next few years. Hippos could surely be accommodated in a decent sized exhibit though - revolving around one or two of the waterholes.
 
Zoofan15 said:
There’s huge potential for a massive baboon exhibit. I’m thinking something to rival Singapore Zoo’s Great Rift Valley.

As amazing as a hippo hub would be, I believe their focus will be on the Southern white rhinoceros - with 30 arriving from South Africa over the next few years. Hippos could surely be accommodated in a decent sized exhibit though - revolving around one or two of the waterholes.
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Yes the focus will be on the White rhinos but they could still be a hub for Hippo breeding as well!.
I have been following the rhino import from the start which I believe 80 was the number wanted in the beginning but since the number has dwindled down to the present number of 30!
 
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Jake1508 said:
It’s for rhinos not hippos!
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I believe @Zorro means that Monarto Safari Park could one day manage large populations of Common hippopotami and Southern white rhinoceros in separate facilities; not that the two species could share use of the rhino facility.

Rhinos are clearly going to be the short term/priority focus; but down the line, it will be interesting to see what they construct for hippos. It could well be on the scale of Dubbo’s set up - multiple exhibits; but not as large as Monarto’s rhino hub.
 
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In press releases surrounding the new entrance precinct and Wild Africa area, it has been specifically stated that hippos are among the species hoped to be imported in the future. If imports did come from outside the region, it's hard to overstate how fantastic that would be for the Australasian population.
 
marmolady said:
In press releases surrounding the new entrance precinct and Wild Africa area, it has been specifically stated that hippos are among the species hoped to be imported in the future. If imports did come from outside the region, it's hard to overstate how fantastic that would be for the Australasian population.
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Thank you marmolady. 100% Correct :)
 
marmolady said:
I do agree that more irrigation for year-round greenery would be something positive that could change-- but the enclosure has never struck me as being very arid. I don't think a better exhibit could be created in the space Adelaide has; Monarto's chimp exhibit has always felt to me to suffer with harsh sun less than a lot of corners of Adelaide Zoo do (the orangutan exhibit leaps to mind).
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I'll have to defer further judgement until I finally get to see it with my own eyes.
 
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