Natureland Zoo Natureland Zoo News

zooboy28

zooboy28

Well-Known Member
Now that new owners have taken over the small Nelson zoo, hopefully it can get on with improving the collection - and, if this article is anything to go by, it looks like that's exactly what the new owners are doing:

Story here: Capuchins 'love' renovated enclosure | Stuff.co.nz

A troop of happy capuchins is busy learning the ropes of a newly renovated enclosure at Natureland.

Mike Rutledge and Meg Selby who recently took on the Tahunanui zoo have set about tackling the first restoration chore, which was to modernise the primates' enclosure.

Georgia, the eldest female capuchin at age 22, Paco, the eldest and highest-ranking male, Jazz, Jay, Jacki, Zuchi, Chaz, Sam, and C J are now enjoying the fruits of their managers' labour, and materials donated by local businesses.

Ms Selby said they have ripped out all the interior of the original enclosure, including logs and ropes, and have now added new ropes donated by Nelson based rigging firm Hampidjan New Zealand, and fresh bark from Ferg Brewerton Wholesale Landscapes Supplies, in which the capuchins are enjoying foraging.

Hampidjan netmaker Luke Irving donated his time to splice all the ropes and attach the shackles which means they can be moved around, Ms Selby said.

The trained zoologist with specialist knowledge of exotic species and who has a background in wildlife rehabilitation and animal care, said they now had an exhibit area which could be continually rotated, which kept the environment interesting.

"The capuchins love it. They were making all sorts of noises when they first saw it," she said.

"They waited for the highest-ranking primate to have a go; she [Georgia] stepped out and it was all on," Ms Selby said.

The capuchins were enjoying foraging for bugs in the fresh bark chips.

"We are putting some of their diet in there. They are a really happy, healthy bunch of capuchins."

Ms Selby described the primates as among the species' most intelligent. She has worked with primates in various different countries, and felt the troop at Natureland was among the healthiest she had worked with in an enclosure.

"The family group of nine is very similar to a structure you'd see in the wild. There are four generations semi-related.

"They spend the entire day grooming each other and interacting. They're never bored - it's really beautiful to see."

Capuchins are an endangered species, who develop strong social bonds.

Ms Selby and Mr Rutledge head the Natureland Wildlife Trust which has taken over the operation from the Orana Wildlife Trust. It has set up a new lease arrangement with the council for the land Natureland occupies, for a term of five years, renewable for three further terms of five years.

The small zoo has been a Nelson institution since it opened in the 60s, and has gone through a series of lifesaving reprieves.
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Natureland's manager for the last 15 years is retiring.

Story here: Fond farewell for Natureland's 'matriarch' | Stuff.co.nz

Natureland Zoo is saying goodbye to its long-serving supporter
and operations manager Gail Sutton.

Sutton has been at the zoo and wildlife centre's operations manager for the past 15 years, but started volunteering for Natureland back in 1991.

She had her final day last week with a special staff morning tea, and the public will get a chance to say goodbye and pass on their well wishes on September 5, when Natureland holds it open day.

Natureland's co-owner Mike Rutledge described Sutton as the "matriarch of the place".

"Without her absolute determination over 20 years, it's unlikely that Natureland would have remained open," he said. It was her commitment that had got the place through some tough times and near closures.

For Sutton, over the years there has been a number of highlights in her work.

"Just little achievements we've made, like progression with zookeeping and things like that. But, a lot of it was just watching the kids' faces when they met with something or learnt about something - the interactions and that side of it," Sutton said.

Another highlight was working with rescue and release programmes and seeing injured wildlife recover and go back to their natural homes.

To her, all the animals she worked with were special in their own way.

She hand-reared a number of them, including Ricky, a special needs capuchin monkey she worked with right through his 17 years.

Sutton felt it was time to retire after Rutledge and his wife Meg, a zoologist, took over the zoo and wildlife centre last year.

"My vision all through the years was to see it grow and prosper and be a really valuable part of Nelson and have a valuable place within the zoo industry and captive management, and especially with rescue and relief," she said.

"I know now that with Mike and Meg coming on board, there is a huge future here for Natureland, because they come with a huge skill set between them, but they are just going to move it ahead now and with the support of the Nelson community it is just going to grow and be a real icon."

In her new spare time, Sutton plans to catch up with family, travel around in her caravan, get into the garden, and "do some of those jobs that have been stacked in the corner or in the job jar for a few years".

She will be on-site wandering around on the open day for people to come and have a chat.

"It's just been awesome working with the Nelson community all these years. The support from them and the input from them has just been pretty overwhelming at times. I think everybody knows Natureland has had a hard struggle," Sutton said.

On the open day entry for Natureland will be rolled back - $1 for the kids and $3 for adults - and from 11am until 3pm there will be food and decorations.
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Progress at Natureland one year after the new owners took over:

Story & Photo here: Future looks bright at Natureland | Stuff.co.nz

Since taking the helm of Nelson city's only zoo, its new owners have been "full on busy" getting Natureland into shape.

Mike and Meg Rutledge have spent the past 13 months at the helm of the Tahunanui attraction. There have been upgrades, rebrands and the couple have been working literally at grassroots level since taking the wildlife park off Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Trust last year.

"We knew we were taking over something that needed a bit of love here and there but it has been like completely re-doing everything," Mike said.

The branding of Natureland has been slowly changing, as well, with new signage popping up last August. A new website has been up and running since the start of this month and refreshed entrance and enclosure signs recently completed.

"We needed to do things in stages and as resources became available we made changes. We wanted to get the basics like branding done really well so we can build towards and develop new exhibits, and theming them appropriately," Mike said.

The couple are confident that the park's future is secure.

"Through removal of unnecessary expenses and re-focusing on things that are making a difference, we have been able to significantly improve Natureland while maintaining balanced budgets.

"The changes we have made seem to be getting approval from the public as visitor numbers are up and one thing we are very happy about is that we are now getting schools visiting who either haven't been before or stopped coming because they didn't like how the place was prior to us taking over.

"The feedback is that the teachers and parents are once again seeing Natureland as a very positive place to bring kids for both fun and education," Mike said.

The most recent upgrade has been to the kea enclosure where large viewing windows, donated by Viridian, were added along with upgraded mesh, resulting in more natural light flowing in. It means the two birds are far more visible to the public than ever before.

"The kea are enjoying their improved view of the world," Mike said.

The couple also knocked over the old aviary block which did not meet their own high animal-welfare standards.

A new native aviary block housing tui, kereru and kakariki has been built in its place.

One of the three kereru was rescued after it flew into a window before being picked up by a family dog. It is being rehabilitated in a new home.

Along with a lot of hard work by Mike and Meg, and the five Natureland staff, the zoo has received an unexpected amount of outside help through discounted rates and pro bono work.

"There are a lot of great people in the Nelson community that are helping Natureland succeed," Mike said.

Wellbeing is also never far from the couple's minds.

A strict routine of keeping animals "on rotate" for welfare purposes has been in place since the couple took ownership. Animals are kept off site in open country where they can run around in the paddock and have some time away from people.
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"What can be a concern is if you force people on to animals, the interaction is very much on the human's terms so there is potential for negative behaviour from the animal as they are saying 'hey, I just want to chill out for a bit'. "It is similar to having a whole lot of strangers constantly walking through your home."

Time away from Natureland was even more important for younger animals.

"We like to keep the young ones on fresh grass and we monitor their comings and goings from a veterinary perspective," Meg said.

While the pair do not plan to travel in summer they took a month off in July, travelling to Meg's family home in Portland to get married.

New exhibits of agouti and chinchillas are up and running, and has been joined by the world's smallest monkey, the pygmy marmoset.
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a male porcupine has arrived from Wellington Zoo.
New porcupine mates inseparable | Stuff.co.nz
21 May 2015

Natureland's latest couple have struck up a close relationship since settling in.

The Tahunanui small zoo's female African crested porcupine Akoko, 7, has a new mate Diallo, 11, who arrived from Wellington on April 28.

Natureland co-owner zoologist Meg Rutledge said the couple were introduced in stages and soon after being permanently placed together they were side by side.

Getting Akoko a mate for company is one of the changes the new owners of Natureland Meg and Mike Rutledge have made to Natureland in the 18 months they have run the attraction.

Meg says the idea of finding mates for some of the solo animals was to help meet some of the behavioural needs of the animals. The animals are happy and the place feels more uplifting to visit.

The couple are 18 months into their 10 year plan for Natureland, and have spent the first 18 months freshening up and improving the old exhibits, introducing a few new ones.

Other changes include enlarging the meerkat's enclosure and moving the porcupines into the same enclosure as their African friends.

Meg says the Meerkats are diurnal and make the most of the enclosure during the day, while the porcupines are nocturnal and come out at night.

``It creates a more interesting space for animals. They the porcupine wake up and see what the other animals been up to during the day."

The Rutledges took over the operation of Natureland from the Orana Wildlife Trust saving the much-loved small zoo from closure.

Natureland opened in the 1960s, and faced an uncertain future before the Rutledges took over.

Mike said the couple were keen to work to a cohesive well-thought out overall plan for the zoo. This had involved working with an architect.

They have focused on improving the standard of animal welfare for animals where needed and freshened the existing exhibits. This has included changes to the turtle exhibit and modernising the modernise the primates' enclosure. Other improvements include pulling down the old aviary and placing the birds, who are by nature social creatures, together in a larger space.

The native birds have been placed in a new enclosure made from modifying an existing structure.

As a result Natureland is a fresher happier place and has a new uplifting feel to it.

Mike said Meg had built her profile with Australasian zoos and was well respected, which opened up opportunities for Natureland as other facilities were keen to work with them.

Visitor numbers to the attraction have increased. When the Rutledge's took over 18 months ago Natureland was averaging 28,000 people through its gates a year. For the year to date 35,000 people have visited Natureland.

More people are viewing it as a place they want to visit more often. Natureland had 42 annual members, it now has close to 500. Mike says that is a vote of confidence for the small zoo that ``people are wanting to back here and see it as a really positive place to bring kids".

The couple are also working in conjunction with Project Janzoon to breed Kakariki for release to the wild. They have eight birds, and a new aviary built for the colourful native parrakeets.

``That's a really import part of what we are trying to do here," Mike said. ``We see this place as much more than a destination where people come and see animals and have a nice time. We see our role as being a contributor to conservation efforts across the region and working with other organisations and being able to use the experience we have here to support other projects."

The couple are working at securing funding for their future plans. They are both grateful for the support they have received from business and the city council.
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A pair of the Pygmy Marmosets that arrived last December have given birth to twins! Although one did not survive, the other is doing well. This makes Natureland the second Zoo in NZ to breed the species, following Wellington Zoo's success (the species is also held at Auckland and Hamilton Zoos).

Full story & photos here: Pygmy marmoset monkeys born at Nelson's Natureland zoo | Stuff.co.nz

The newest arrival at Natureland may be hard to spot, but if you look closely you can see a baby pygmy marmoset monkey attached firmly to his dad's back.

Mum Gemini and dad Peru have been sharing parenting duties since the arrival of their offspring on Friday.

"The baby is permanently attached to one parent or the other," said Natureland Wildlife Trust general manager and trustee Mike Rutledge.

Pygmy marmoset monkeys are the smallest in the world and the new arrival, who is yet to be named weighs around 15 grams.

Gemini and Peru were not a breeding pair when they arrived from Wellington Zoo in December and the recent birth means Natureland is the second zoo in the country to develop a successful breeding progam.

"For them to have come to a new space and instantly bonded and now bred is inside the shortest timeframe that anyone predicted," said Rutledge.

"It means the enclosure is catering to everything they need and the care from the keepers has been first rate."

While the birth is great news for Natureland, Gemini gave birth to twins before one of them died last Wednesday.

Rutledge said that in the early stages mortality is likely to occur and it is a learning experience for first time parents.

The birth of the monkeys means that Natureland is now the second zoo in the country to have successfully bred pygmy marmosets.

When they are fully grown their body length is around 13 centimetres long, double that for the tail and each weighs just over 100 grams. Their diet is made primarily of tree gum and supplemented with fruit, vegetables and some insects.

Rutledge said it was common for the monkeys to have several litters a year.

"With this going so successfully it wouldn't be a surprise to have more."

In the wild, pygmy marmosets act as a big family group and the exhibit at Natureland exhibit is suitable for up to eight monkeys, so Rutledge said they could possibly have three or four generations in the family unit.

Natureland keeper Stacey Langham said the baby monkey was doing really well and would remain attached to the back of one of its parents for the next six weeks. The baby would be fully dependent on its parents so the mother was nursing them every couple of hours and the rest of the time the father was carrying it around.

Langham said by 12 weeks it would be fully weaned.
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a couple of bits of news. First from their Facebook, 18 November:
Gemini, our female pygmy marmoset, was taken to Halifax Veterinary Centre yesterday after indications on her behaviour by Natureland staff suggested something was amiss, and she was known to be full term in her pregnancy. X-rays revealed two over-developed fetuses, that would be too large to pass naturally. An emergency caesarian section was performed to save her life and attempt to save the babies. We discovered that sadly, a third underdeveloped baby had already passed away inside her, and was blocking the pelvis and cervix, thus preventing her body from picking up on the cues that the other two were ready for birth. Tragically, the other two were also not able to be saved, but for now, the amazing team at Halifax has managed to save Gemini's life. She will be very closely monitored in the coming days, but the pygmy marmoset exhibit will be closed while she heals in privacy, warmth, and safetey under the careful watch of the Natureland team and Halifax. A surgery like this is very complicated on such a tiny body, and the toll it takes is enormous. It is unknown how well she can recuperate from the ordeal but we will all work around the clock to make sure we do everything we can. Special thanks to the Wellington Zoo vets for their consulting advice throughout.
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...and Cottontop Tamrins have arrived from Hamilton Zoo. These are the only ones in the South Island.
Natureland welcome Cotton-top Tamarins - Nelson Live
6 November 2015

Three cotton-top Tamarins flew from Hamilton to their new home at Natureland yesterday afternoon.

The critters are now in their enclosure for the public to come by and say hello.

The group consists of Mario the dad, and his sons Lucas and Jahli.

For the time being, Jenny says Natureland intend to keep them as a bachelor group but may in the distant future look at getting a female in.

Cotton-top Tamarins are a critically endangered species, Senior Keeper Jenny Petrigrew says that their high endangered status is mainly due to the fact they can only be found in Columbia, South America.

“It’s also due to deforestation and the pet trade, these guys are quite popular pets unfortunately,” says Jenny.

Jenny says the zoo has seen many changes over the past few months.

“The zoo as a whole has made a lot of changes, if people havent been for a while there’s been a lot of new enclosures in, a lot of revamped enclouseres as well. We’ve got the marmoset monkeys that came end of last year, we’re actually hoping for more babies from them very, very soon so that will be quite cool to have over the next couple of months.”
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a bit of late news, two Orana-bred female Ring-tailed Lemurs arrived at Natureland in December for the summer. They will then be sent on to Australia. That may have already happened.
Nelson's Natureland welcomes ring-tailed lemurs

But an equally interesting snippet in the article is:

"The Nelson City Council recently awarded Natureland a grant of $35,000. The funds will be used to update existing structures and to construct a new porcupine den, improve lighting, undertake tarantula enclosure work and rabbit encounter work. There will also be improvements made to visitor facilities."


Elsewhere I have gleaned that the zoo now has Stephen's Island Giant Weta.

The zoo is doing really well at building up an interesting collection.


There is also this article from October about the construction of a large walk-through kea aviary: New kea enclosure for Natureland
 
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Better late than never - a few bits and pieces.

* Natureland welcomed twin Pygmy Marmosets in late 2019. The twins were born way back in September. They join parents, Peru and Inti, and their older sibling Tunche. In the article below the zoo mentions plans on building a tropical house in the long-term.

Full story: Natureland welcomes in new additions

Natureland has welcomed three new additions over the last seven weeks; one big name in the New Zealand zoo industry and two pint-sized mammals.

Twin pygmy marmosets were born on September 30, arriving just a day before new manager Stephen Standley stepped onto the scene.

Weighing around 15 grams when they were born, the twins are being collectively raised by parents Inti (mum) and Peru (dad), along with big brother Tunche, and have just begun to venture out independently from the adults.

Being the smallest monkey in the world, the gender of the pair is not yet known and is only able to be determined when they get bigger.

New manager Stephen brings with him a wealth of knowledge, having been involved in the zoo industry for 40 years.

Stephen-Standley-Natureland-manager-300x199.jpeg

Natureland’s new manager Stephen Standley. Photo: Supplied.
Having moved to Nelson with his wife to retire, he became a trustee of the Natureland Wildlife Trust in March last year.

His impressive CV includes director of both the Auckland and Hamilton Zoo, president of the Zoo & Aquarium Association of New Zealand and contract zoo specialist for the Ministry for Primary Industries.

He says there are a lot of changes in store for the zoo, which last year had an uncertain future after Nelson City Council reduced its funding.

“We’re in the process of developing a master plan which looks at our vision, including how we are going to develop the zoo. It’s like a plan of ideally what the zoo might look like in 10 years.”

He says they had some help from international zoo design experts who gave them “a very special deal” as he has worked with them before.

“It’s a very small site, at just under a hectare, so we are always going to be limited to what we can do, but I think the mix is right; a few domestics, a few exotics and a lot of natives.”

He says Natureland will change considerably, but the core collection is unlikely to change.

“At the end of the day we’re not just a petting zoo, we’re far more than that. A tropical house is very much a focus of the future plans, that will be quite exciting, providing it all stacks up.”
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* Natureland opened a Little Owl aviary back in August - a nice addition.
Have you seen our new little owl aviary, next door to our Native Walkthrough? Our bird keepers moved this little fluff-ball across from off-show last week, and it’s been a HOOT!

Little owls - or German owls - were introduced to NZ in the early 1900s but have since become naturalised in the South Island. Swoop on in this weekend and see if you can spy how little this owl truly is!
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Natureland recently welcomed another set of Pygmy Marmoset twins on the 11th June to experienced parents Peru and Inti. This new set of twins join twins Chia and Muki [born in September 2019] and male Tunche [born in January 2019]. From their Facebook page:
We would like to wish a very happy 1 month birthday to Natureland's newest additions! Our pygmy marmoset family welcomed this gorgeous pair of twins on June 11th. After one month, they are alert and active, and even showing signs of wanting to learn to climb independently.

Check out big brother Tunche showing what he has learned about raring his siblings. He'll soon have enough experience to begin a family of his own.
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Natureland Wildlife Trust
 
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