Melbourne Zoo Orang-utan Sanctuary opens...

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patrick

Well-Known Member
had the pleasure of visiting the new orang exhibit at melbourne today. it gets a big thumbs up from me. the "sanctuary" continues on from the trail of the elephants and takes visitors up a raised boardwalk to a large asian-style central building. on either side is an outdoor exhibit and in the center of the building is an indoor exhibit area. the building features large glass panels looking into all three exhibits with elevated platforms on the other side where the orangs (and supprisingly the siamang family) enjoy approaching the glass to say hello. they seem especially facinated by small children and toddlers and it all amounts to a much better appreciation for the apes, making for an experience that is not at all unlike the one zoo visitors have with the gorillas. of course the boardwalk also offers otheer viewing points of the outdoor exhibits as well. of the two, one is a large meshed in area absolutely jam-packed with ropes, sway poles, climbing frames and othr play objects the other is more your typical style of exhibit, with high concrete walls, a moat and very tall wooden climbing towers. it is only in this larger, second exhibit that an attempt has been made at replicating a forest environment and that said it is only very mildly done. most of the exhibit is a sea of green painted steel poles that allow the orang-utans to sway between them as they do on saplings in the wild. there is a very small waterfall and moat at the front and the terrain is greatly graded to create a steep hill in the centre. plantings in here include numerous grasses and tough durable plants and there are a few very tall matured palms and another tree species(that i couldn't identify but i think they are a decidous european species) transplanted around the place. the walls are an ochre red colour and have been treated to look old an rustic, but no attempts have been made at creating mock-rockwork or any other simulated naturalistic feature of them. in fact, all in all the exhibit, whilst fantastic for the apes has the feel of a few corners being cut here and there to keep the budget low. as far as architectual decoration it is not quite at the standard of the buildings in the elephant exhibit. neither does the area feature an "o-line" taking the orangs outside of their enclosure and over your head accross to the islands in the middle of the lake that are on the other side of the boardwalk. a missed opportunity in my opinion. however, these are all features that can be added quite cheaply and with little disruption further down the track and the most important thing is that the orangutans have finally gotten out of those revolting great ape pits, into a much larger and more enriching area and that visitors can now get a better sense of appreciation for them and their plight. there is a donation hut at the end of the trail featuring images of elephants, sumatran tigers and orangutans for SE asian conservation projects also. a good thing.

its the best orang exhibit i have yet seen, (but that said i have never been to perth or adelaide) and now undoubtebly makes the extensive south-east asia trail the biggest highlight of a melbourne zoo trip.
 
yea it sounds so koo, i missed out by like 2 weeks bugger hay, i saw bits when i was there, again from behind constructiopn fence, did u get pics?

i reakon the zoo needs next to do the giraffe and small cat exhibits up, even before seals, these are revoting, i was shocked at the giraffes very small(as with tarongas, which i hate ), and the small cat walk, though the right idea, all togetehr under huge trees, a nice walk very close to cats, the exhibits are so small, i reackon it could be done nicely, to move the fishing cats, bintorongs, golden cats etc, i was loking around, and some small exhibits could be added around the place. tht would just make that trail complete.

i thought the big cats were nicely done, i mean old, but they all were really large, the lions and dogs are in great huge exhibits(though only 2 males, i thought more lions, plus the wild dogs shall be moved to werribee soon).

i think the bears need a new exhibit as well, not nice, stingy looking. i loved the bager he (OR SHE) IS kool, as weel as porcupines etc, the zoo will have to build a new precint, once the baoons are out, which werribee wants both, but has defintaly 1 troop.

on another note, werribee wanted the hippos from tipperary, i dont no if i mentioned this, they wanted the new ones in this new kabu exhibit, and the originals to stay in lakes.
 
Adelaide does officialla have the best Arboreal exhibit for any animal in Australia for our orangs,
 
It would be interesting to compare all three of the new asian trails exhibits that are mow ope, Taronga, melbourne and Adelaide, so see if there is much difference instyle and substance.
I can't remember but at Melbourne does the tiger/otter exhibits join onto the elephants?
 
yeah. melbourne would have to win the asia trail competition i would say simply because they are the only zoo that has the all big expensive enclosures covered. adelaide have the tigers and orangs, but no elephants. taronga has elephants but no orang or tiger exhibits have been immersed into that theme. melbourne technically has elephants, orangutans, tigers, siamangs and otters (plus four bird aviaries and quite a few asian reptiles and invertebrates as well). they recently aquired a pair of tree shrews from adelaide or taronga and i assume they will be filling one of the glass fronted avairies near the tigers soon too.
 
yea melbourne is good, though i like tarongas as well, excpet the ele exhibit, the rest is good, if u no the zoo, across the road from ele barn is bear exhibits, they will be converted into sun bears, the next to tht is tigers, and across from tht dholes, so eventuallu tigers and bears will be added to trail, and masterplan says that joins then onto higland trail with pandas, thar, leopards and aivaries

hopefully going to plan, i will see adelaide is xmas break, so then i will have seen all the zoo in oz, minus oz zoo and perth (all major tht is)
 
oh and interestingly, i noticed that the malayan tapir has been taken off the zoo map. whilst it was just a quick visit for me to see the orangs and i didn't go down to that section of the zoo i wonder what this indicates? there is still a small amount of room left in the asian precinct for a larger species such as tapir or sunbear (which melbourne are not indicating they intend on keeping in their plan at this stage), but with so many health problems in our tapirs i wonder if this signals not such good news?

the asia trail is looking great though. the plantings are really establishing themselves nicely. around the entrance where the otters and tigers are the gardens are over 10 years old now and looking really overgrown and lush like parts of the african rainforest. the elephants gardens are coming along nicely, the larger transplanted specimens such as palms, giant bamboos and trees are all clearly over the stress period and have a healthy covering of new sprouts and leaves. the orangutan sanctuary is obviously brand new and everything looks a little stressed and freshly planted, but it never takes long. it helps that the islands in the lake central to the asia trail are so lush with foliage. i noticed that the zoo have made an effort to plant them out with more asian foliage and there was a new planting of palms on the smaller island. unfortunately the area is still home to the zoos large colony of very tame pelicans and cormorants and the stench of guano (sp?) often fills the air. should they remove these birds nextdoor to the australian precinct or coastal development when its finished the zoo could treat the water and eventually put langurs and or gibbons on the islands which would be be a nice touch. of course the zoo also has tree shrews, golden and fishing cats, binturongs and plenty other animals that will eventually need homes in this area. it can be done, especially if the demolishon of the "treetop monkeys and apes" exhibit sees a decent portion allocated to the asian section. however, the zoo seems still somewhat serious about phasing out african savannah species at the zoo, with a few documents that seem to indicate that the rothschilds giraffes will move (presumably to werribee).
 
yeah this is true Zoo_Boy.

tarongas section has the potential to simply and cheaply refurbish a few exhibits and transform that whole dead-end road into an extention of the southeast asian precinct. and when i say refurbish they really just need to re-plant it with more forest vegetation since the current enclosures either feature asian species already or a species thats needs are identical to an asian species (eg brown bears /sunbears and lions/tigers). what would be best is if they could jack-up the bitumen road and replace it with a winding dirt path so it feels like a "trail" rather than a road with exhibits on either side. this would also assits in the transition from "lowlands" into "highlands" since the tigers and snow leopards are both newish exhibits and essentially next door to one another (and unlikely to be demolished or altered for another species). detours and bypasses with a transition of vegetation might better simulate the experience. i assume the lions will move back to their old (current sunbear) enclosure and that the male and female tigers will have an enclosure each relecting the more naturalistic system that i know adelaide and melbourne now use (melbourne built a new larger off-display enclosure when the female arrived).

it can potentially be quite good, though it will take some very clever landscaping to bring it all together nicely. it would probably be best as a sort of loop so you don't have to back track.
 
Werribee is supposedly only keeping a bachelor herd of giraffe so their breeding pair are unlikely to go there. Considering that it is well nigh impossible to bring new blood of giraffes into the country now, I wouldn't be suprised if the zoos stop the rothschilds program (if they haven't already).
Isn't the giraffe house at Melbourne heritage listed? Certainly the animals need more space than what they have.
Also does anyone know of a good map of the any of the asian precincts at TAronga/Melb/Adelaide? Not the rather rough drawings handed out but one that marks all the various aviaries, paths etc.
 
yea, where is this spare area? for the tapirs, when i was there there was a sign saying no animals did he/she die

i love what the asia section looks like, its so kool, the lake is the best feature, u turn the corner, and on the hill the orangs rise, its so nice

how kool would it be for the elephants to swim in tht lake system, iw as thinking hehe

werribee is housing bachlor herd of giraffes only, and will not breed, as it has to much on its plate, plyus they dont want to, they are rebuiling the barn soon, in correspondence with new rhino hards, and so on. as well as they will be having a big cheetah collection like monarto soon, with new facilities to be built behind urrnet cheetah area.

any qns on werribee i can answer i no it all now, hehe i was told everything.


i want melb to deparatly redo the giraffe area, its close to llions, so that can be updated a bit, dnt change thst a great exhibit tht 1, so it could be done easily, move tortises, and take a bit of the lawn, great i reakon

taronga

they will bulldoze all exhibits to redo the continue asian area(except tigers, leopards etc), rainforest, then in to highlands., the road i think you are talking about tht goes to the ferry, will be closed down, and old bear exhibit there wont be used.
 
jason, yeah i believe your right and the rothschild breeding program has been obandoned entirely now, due to the reasons you explained. a real bloody shame i think and should the zoos have sucess at lifting the artiodactyl import ban (and they have to if they want zoos like werribee and dubbo to survive) i hope they choose to continue to import purebreds, and primarily breeding these with other rothschilds, slowly phasing out the hybrids in favour of them.

i don't actually mind the giraffe enclosure at melbourne. yes, it is small, but so is every other city zoos iv'e ever seen. tarongas aint too big either. since they merged the giraffe/zebra paddocks into one i think its reasonable, by regular zoo standards that is...

Zoo_Boy, i know the road you mean and thats not the road i was talking about. i meant the road the tigers are on. the "spare area" i suggested may be used for additional space for the asia trail is between the "tree-top monkeys and apes" in the african rainforest and the lake (essentially the space between the tigers and butterfly house). at the moment there is just a service road, lots of trees and further back a few admin and off-display areas for animals. thees enough room for another tieger sized exhibit -just.

the tapir is still listed as alive on isis. this might just reflect a lack of updating, or the tapir might have been taken permanantly off display for health reasons. if so they obviously dont plan on putting her back on display anytime soon. who knows, maybe they have decided to go with my nocturnal idea (only letting her outdoors at night?)..
 
tht would be kool, i would love to see a new tapir exhibit, maybe try a mixed with bintorong and fishing cat, that would be excellent.

so whts next for melb after the seals, does anyone know?

i thought the giraffe exhibit was ok, i mean you get very very close, and its nice the floiage at front, i just think they could do better, i mean for now its fine, and animals happy, but hopefully they re do africa to some extent (and the bears !!!!!)
 
no idea what comes after the seals, i suppose their might be some hints in the annual report when it comes out. i imagine that the size of the seal exhibit will lend some clues, whatever animals are displaced by the new precinct will no doubt get new enclosures eleswhere. from the overlay i did earlier this year it looked like the samll cats will all have to be relocated...
 
What is currently over where the elephants used to be? The treetops is to go right? Are Melbourne intending to keep all the current species that are there and if so where? Treetops is interesting as it is a collection of primates rather than a habitat based exhibit. It would be interesting to know if different species would be kept together or divided up into regions. The gibbons would logically be with the Asian series of exhibits whilst the colobus would be near the gorillas/mandrills. What other species are there?
 
melbourne zoo has the largest primate collection in australia, but many have been moved outside of the treetops exhibit now. the elephant exhibit is now a taronga-like birdshow. is all grassy with tropical gardens. and visitors enter the area the elephants used to stand (the old elephant house is an asian themed dining hall). opposite are various tamarin species on display. although melbourne has the biggest primate collection in australia (only adelaide even come close) many are no longer displayed in the treetops area. the guenons moved in with the gorillas and an elderly-looking red panda took their place. two of the spider monkeys still reside here, as do the (now without their daughter) white-cheeked gibbons, colobus, lion-tailed macaques, javan langurs and ruffed lemurs. its a nice exhibit, up in the rainforest canopy, just a little small for many of the primates and as you said containing a mixture of afro-asian-american species. i'm hoping the white cheeks can moe to an island soon. i beieve the spider monkeys are taking over the old siamang exhibit, which would have obviously suited the pair perfectly. best would be for them to move to the island within the asian precinct. the macaques are being phased out, as are the langurs (to be replaced though with francois') but the collection isn't going to shrink drastically. my guess is that the treetops will eventually be demolished and replaced with at least a few similar primate exhibits divided neatly so that the african and asian species are only viewed from their respective trails.
 
Auckland giraffes

The giraffes at Auckland zoo have a fairly large enclosure ( my guess it is a hectare ) and it is shared with the ostriches and zebras , and they can look over into the rhino enclosure . There is a small antelope ( maybe a springbok , but dont quote me ) that can have access to either enclosure
 
having visited melbourne zoo a few times now ive too have thought about how it would best be redesigned.
i actually reckon that if the indian rhino became a regional priority then the giraffe exhibit could be overhauled into an indian terrai enclosure, very similar to wpz. it could feature new exhbits for fishing cats, perhaps a primate species and maybe a second otter enclosure. i also think dhole should be displayed at melbourne too.
much as i love giraffes, and also the lions and hunting dogs at melbourne i will reinterate a point ive made before that they really should be out at weribee.
i can see how taronga and adelaide feel they need giraffes because both of their open-range zoos are 'far awayish' from the city, but with melbourne so close to weribee i really think the city zoo should continue on with the asian rainforest/highland/grassland theme, with additional australian, new guinea/oceanic species and african forest and south american species.
 
it would be nice - whilst indian rhino are not currently part of their collection plan dhole are. (i think dhole where a dumbarse choice for the region when melbourne and dubbo are struggling to drum up interest for maned wolves!!)

i believe monarto/adelaide are of similar distance to their victorian counterparts and word is that adelaide are phasing out giraffes too. whilst i personally can understand such a decision, i do agree agree that it would initially cause a fuss if giraffes and the "king of the jungle" dissapeared from the city zoo.

personally i like the idea of open-range zoos being "grasslands zoos" and cities being primarily "forest zoos" each one with a teaching the importance of these respective ecologies (each will still have south american, australasian, africa and asian sections).

but its not a bad idea. putting indian rhino in the old giraffe area.....
 
i agree

but melbourne needs a draw card, they carnt soley depend on the eles, i think we should keep the giarffe at melbourne, especially the breeding program, and theres away around it. new zeland can import giraffe, and many other hoof stock, so if there zoos could hold species for say a year, then send them to australia, which can get species from new zealnd.
 
i don't know all the particular legislation, but it sounds like a plan with potential for giraffes. i dunno how many rothschilds ever where imported but i can't imagine it will be too long before inbreeding begins to occour, hybridising stock or not. if we are to continue importing i am strongly for the idea of bringing in purebreds, prioritising them for the rothschilds breeding program and then supplying surplus offspring or retired breeders to the other zoos to rejuvinate hybrid stock to maintain a giraffe supply to all zoos. this way we will see a very slow but eventual phase out of hybrids.

for the time being melbourne should keep their giraffes. they are still an absolute favorite with kids and adults alike and since werribee don't have breeding facilities and are earmarked as the surplus male dumping ground (and i don't mean that in a nasty way) its important that they continue as a partcipant in giraffe (rothschild) breeding. in the end they may as well just have a develop a small savannah showcase at melbourne. it would make sense if they just displayed surplus or retired animals from werribee, a few giraffe, batchelor zebra, ostrich, lions, meerkats (now thats one they will never be able to phase out!) and maybe even the odd elderly rhino......
 
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