Wellington Zoo Visit
I visited Wellington Zoo on Sunday, for the first time in over a year, here are some new things/changes since then:
-Saw the two surviving, and very cute, Pygmy Marmoset babies in the cafe. Which incidently charges far too much for coffee.
-There are new signs up about conservation of Asian species (otters, gibbons, sun bears), although these are typically basic.
-The Squirrel Monkeys are an excellent display species, showing very well. I also saw two of the three babies.
-There is now a large Komodo Dragon statue in the space next to the South American enclosure, but I don't understand why it has essentially been placed between the South American and NZ precincts. Maybe it will be moved later.
-A new exhibit, 'Green Zoo, Green You', is being installed below the lemurs, this appears to focus on recycling and minimising resource use.
-Bird Valley progress seems to have ceased, most of the avaries have gone, but the buildings behind them are still up.
-In contrast, the Asian precinct (tigers, sunbears) seems to be progressing very well, will be great to see when it opens at end of September.
-The Roost hasn't changed much, although all the birds have moved around a bit, and some (e.g. red-crowned parakeets) have disappeared.
-Green Iguana were hard to see and didn't seem to have a very well-lit enclosure. They were larger than I thought they would be.
-The 'Scales and Tails' exhibit, which is a set of four small exhibits set in an exterior wall of a toilet block were empty.
-The Nest held two kaka, a kereru, a silvereye, a short-tailed shearwater, and a red-billed gull in the salt water pool. They were going to perform a caeserian section on an agouti later in the afternoon.
-No progress on turning the old kiosk into a reptile house.
-Nyala seem much more confident in the African Savannah now, much more visible, although it appears one of the imported males has died, leaving 1.3. I saw no sign of any Blackbuck (down to 0.1 at start of year).
-Old serval enclosure next to agoutis has been demolished.
-A new goat paddock, an extension to their existing pen in the African Village, has been created adjacent to the African Savannah.
Everything else basically the same. Got to pat a hedgehog too, a very calm one that a guide guy was showing to visitors. He was showing a shingleback earlier in the day too. I think this sort of visitor/animal interaction is very important, and what he was doing was great.
P.S. Don't tell Chlidonias, but we saw everything and went back to a couple of exhibits too, and were there for barely 1.5 hours.
