Background to this trip - So in 2017 I was lucky enough to be invited to a family wedding in Sydney. I decided to accept the invite and make a holiday of it and well as do some zoos. I won't do full reviews because most of the zoos I'm covering have been talked about on here many times before. So I'll just do highlights and general thoughts instead.
This week my adventure finally began with a 23 hour flight from the UK to Sydney. On Wednesday (26th September) I kicked off with the first zoo of the trip.. Taronga.
So for those that don't know, Taronga is situated in Central Sydney and is home to one of the largest collections of native Australian wildlife anywhere in the world.
The good points:
I LOVED the Australian Nightlife house. I think it was my favourite exhibit of the collection. All of the species showed fairly well. The Long Beaked Echidna was a particular highlight. He'd just been fed when I arrived and was hence very active. I thought the Bilby's were brilliant (another new species). I think the only no show in the house was the Long Nosed Bandicoots. Which was disappointing but not a terrible surprise
Great Southern Oceans - a really good exhibit. One of Taronga's stand outs in my opinion. Reminded me very much of Living Coasts (in the UK) in terms of its layout and design and species. Watched the Sea Lion show in the hope of seeing the Australian Fur Seal. Lucky I wasn't disappointed and he was included in the display. The show itself was pretty standard (conservation message, please pick up litter on a beach etc) but nicely done. I got two Penguin life ticks in this exhibit in the form of Little Blue and of course the Fiordland Crested's. Both beautiful species but I struggled with the layout of the Penguin exhibit. Can you view them from above (apart from the Fiordland's small side exhibit) or is viewing to the main Penguin exhibit restricted to just underwater through the glass window in the submarine area? I think it's a bit of a design flaw if that is the case
The not so good:
Tiger Trek - The video as you enter the exhibit is pointless and a waste of space. They could have used that room for many things. Reptiles, maybe some Asian fish or even a small mammal exhibit. I get that it's supposed to be there for theming but it doesn't work. Your just standing round awkwardly waiting for it to end. The Tiger exhibits themselves are OK. I wouldn't say outstanding in anyway or particularly big. The theming takes up a lot of space that really should have been used for the Tiger's. Am I right in thinking they ditched both Snow Leopard and Lions to build TT? I know they're talking about bringing back lions when the new African area is finished but it's surprising for a Taronga's size to only have one big cat species on display currently
The Sun Bear exhibit - Perhaps I've been spoilt having seen the exhibit at Chester (easily world class). But it looks forgotten about when compared to Tiger Trek. Its not huge but I think they could make a lot more of it than they do. One suggestion to maybe tidy it up a bit, maybe fill in the moat and replace it with glass viewing windows. A question for regulars - do they have another enclosure (maybe offshow?) for the Bears or do they share or rotate the main enclosure all the time? Just wondering how it works or would work with a nesseccary seperation etc.
Tasmanian Devils. Or lack of. Where on earth are they kept? Couldn't find them anywhere and they're not on the paper map either.
Overall - I generally liked Taronga. The native species collection is outstanding and something to be treasured. I can see that they've started work to replace some of the older ABC exhibits (Giraffes and Gorilla's etc) but hope they don't go overboard on the theming such as they've perhaps done with Tiger Trek
One more question - what is the long term plan for the Elephants? Are they going to keep two seperate groups long term or relocate the entire herd to Dubbo permanently? I didn't spend much time at the Elephant exhibit but I gather they're now down to 1.2 at Taronga following Tukta's loss?
Still to come - Sydney Wildlife World and Sydney Sea Life. Plus a few other places
This week my adventure finally began with a 23 hour flight from the UK to Sydney. On Wednesday (26th September) I kicked off with the first zoo of the trip.. Taronga.
So for those that don't know, Taronga is situated in Central Sydney and is home to one of the largest collections of native Australian wildlife anywhere in the world.
The good points:
I LOVED the Australian Nightlife house. I think it was my favourite exhibit of the collection. All of the species showed fairly well. The Long Beaked Echidna was a particular highlight. He'd just been fed when I arrived and was hence very active. I thought the Bilby's were brilliant (another new species). I think the only no show in the house was the Long Nosed Bandicoots. Which was disappointing but not a terrible surprise
Great Southern Oceans - a really good exhibit. One of Taronga's stand outs in my opinion. Reminded me very much of Living Coasts (in the UK) in terms of its layout and design and species. Watched the Sea Lion show in the hope of seeing the Australian Fur Seal. Lucky I wasn't disappointed and he was included in the display. The show itself was pretty standard (conservation message, please pick up litter on a beach etc) but nicely done. I got two Penguin life ticks in this exhibit in the form of Little Blue and of course the Fiordland Crested's. Both beautiful species but I struggled with the layout of the Penguin exhibit. Can you view them from above (apart from the Fiordland's small side exhibit) or is viewing to the main Penguin exhibit restricted to just underwater through the glass window in the submarine area? I think it's a bit of a design flaw if that is the case
The not so good:
Tiger Trek - The video as you enter the exhibit is pointless and a waste of space. They could have used that room for many things. Reptiles, maybe some Asian fish or even a small mammal exhibit. I get that it's supposed to be there for theming but it doesn't work. Your just standing round awkwardly waiting for it to end. The Tiger exhibits themselves are OK. I wouldn't say outstanding in anyway or particularly big. The theming takes up a lot of space that really should have been used for the Tiger's. Am I right in thinking they ditched both Snow Leopard and Lions to build TT? I know they're talking about bringing back lions when the new African area is finished but it's surprising for a Taronga's size to only have one big cat species on display currently
The Sun Bear exhibit - Perhaps I've been spoilt having seen the exhibit at Chester (easily world class). But it looks forgotten about when compared to Tiger Trek. Its not huge but I think they could make a lot more of it than they do. One suggestion to maybe tidy it up a bit, maybe fill in the moat and replace it with glass viewing windows. A question for regulars - do they have another enclosure (maybe offshow?) for the Bears or do they share or rotate the main enclosure all the time? Just wondering how it works or would work with a nesseccary seperation etc.
Tasmanian Devils. Or lack of. Where on earth are they kept? Couldn't find them anywhere and they're not on the paper map either.
Overall - I generally liked Taronga. The native species collection is outstanding and something to be treasured. I can see that they've started work to replace some of the older ABC exhibits (Giraffes and Gorilla's etc) but hope they don't go overboard on the theming such as they've perhaps done with Tiger Trek
One more question - what is the long term plan for the Elephants? Are they going to keep two seperate groups long term or relocate the entire herd to Dubbo permanently? I didn't spend much time at the Elephant exhibit but I gather they're now down to 1.2 at Taronga following Tukta's loss?
Still to come - Sydney Wildlife World and Sydney Sea Life. Plus a few other places
He was amazing. The highlight of the day and more than worth the queues. Spoke to one of his keepers as they fed him and she went on to explain that its unlikely he will be replaced or joined by additional Dugong in the future. Merlin (Sea Life's parent company) believe that they are too high mantinece and expensive to keep. So they wouldn't accept another rescued individual even if they were offered one. Shame really but money talks of course... 