The Zoo has revealed what will be replacing the now empty Asian elephant exhibit. Opening in 2021: the “Australian Walkabout.” 
Santa Barbara Zoo Breaks Ground “Down Under”
Santa Barbara Zoo Breaks Ground “Down Under”
Santa Barbara Zoo Santa Barbara Zoo News
- Thread starter BeardsleyZooFan
- Start date
The Zoo has revealed what will be replacing the now empty Asian elephant exhibit. Opening in 2021: the “Australian Walkabout.”
Santa Barbara Zoo Breaks Ground “Down Under”
Almost a half-century of elephants...to emus.
The latest 'Australian Walkabout' to grace an American zoo is probably exciting for locals, but for zoo nerds this announcement is a slight disappointment. There had been a rumour of tigers returning to the zoo in the old elephant space, but kangaroos, wallabies and some birds will have to suffice.
It appears the zoo will be working with Taronga (which is a nice bonus) for this project
Here is a map I found from the video groundbreaking
It appears they will be utilizing EVERYTHING the old elephant exhibit had to offer, from the old pool to the t\elephant holding it will all be repurposed. I'm actually glad they're taking this small and cheap approach for a new exhibit. This will attract more crowds to the zoo and help fund a better project. It's a very cheap and easy way to get more crowds to come to the zoo. Also, it looks nice, it doesn't look like it will be a bland and open temporary exhibit, it is well forested and will be a great addition to the zoo. And maybe after this, we can get a nice revamp for the South American or Asian areas.
Here is a map I found from the video groundbreaking
It appears they will be utilizing EVERYTHING the old elephant exhibit had to offer, from the old pool to the t\elephant holding it will all be repurposed. I'm actually glad they're taking this small and cheap approach for a new exhibit. This will attract more crowds to the zoo and help fund a better project. It's a very cheap and easy way to get more crowds to come to the zoo. Also, it looks nice, it doesn't look like it will be a bland and open temporary exhibit, it is well forested and will be a great addition to the zoo. And maybe after this, we can get a nice revamp for the South American or Asian areas.
Attachments
What I find depressing is how bland the exhibit seems. I'm all for an Australian exhibit in it's place, but the collection seems quite vanilla. Kangaroos, emus, wallabies, and the normal cockatoos, frogmouths, and kookaburras really don't add anything exciting to the table. With so many better Australian collections in such close proximity (Los Angeles, San Diego), I'd expected some interesting animals be added. There's not really anything wrong with animals they are including, but it gets me down that so many American zoos are following the rest in terms of these exhibits.
Santa Barbara is a small zoo with not a lot of money so I don't think they can afford any rare animals. The best for rare animals I could see them doing is getting Swamp Wallabies but they will probably go for Rock or Bennet's wallabies. This wasn't supposed to be an outstanding exhibit for them so I'm not as disappointed that the collection will be so bland.
Oops! Totally forgot about about the money aspect of it, I apologize. I do think they could bring in some interesting animals. They don't have to be rare but some other parrots, herps, and maybe even fruit bats if possible could spice up the collection a bit.
Ya they definitely could have added just other exhibits in general instead of just the walkabout. They could move their cane toads or woman snakes into a small terrarium inside of the rock building. Or they could trade some rarer species from San Diego or Los Angeles for some of their rarer Californian herps.
Replacing elephants with kangaroos and aviaries may not be what every zoo nerd hopes for, but honestly, this is more creative than the usual route of bringing in rhinos to replace them in my opinion. I do hope that they can eventually get more unique and rarer species to populate the exhibit.
I tend to go with your flow here. Instead of one species, they are creating an entire Australia area. Here is hoping for rock wallaby. I agree though that given their association with Taronga, they might want to try for some unique species (they do not have to be big, just neat and unusual.
Rare Californian herps does trigger my interest! It is good a local zoo invests in exhibiting and highlighting the plight of local herp species. In what exhibitry are they and where in the zoo?
@Westcoastperson, you can see that I am not that familiar with the Santa Barbara reptile collection, but can you elaborate on that?
ALSO: Be nice to have your photograph of the new development in the gallery (so we can blow it up). Right now you cannot discern any of the markings nor lettering. Much of the detail gets lost ... in translation! Thanks if and when you can.
For the blurriness of the image I can't help that. It is a screenshot from a video so that the best quality I can get
For the rarer herps there are
Coahuila box turtle (also held at Columbus and Tulsa)
Granite spiny lizard
Santa Cruz gopher snake
They also have Channel Island foxes which only one other zoo has
For birds, they have Bonaparte’s gull and Livingston’s turaco (uncommon in America),
(If any of these are wrong just tell me)
For the rarer herps there are
Coahuila box turtle (also held at Columbus and Tulsa)
Granite spiny lizard
Santa Cruz gopher snake
They also have Channel Island foxes which only one other zoo has
For birds, they have Bonaparte’s gull and Livingston’s turaco (uncommon in America),
(If any of these are wrong just tell me)
Some more info on the upcoming exhibit
- it will open in the summer of 2021
- The zoo fundraised 3 million dollars for the project
- It will be focused on aboriginal culture which gives hope for a nicer exhibit than we thought
The zoos of Southern California certainly seem to be trending towards Australian exhibits these days. We have this project, The Living Desert's Australian Adventures, The Safari Park's Walkabout Australia, and the LA Zoo has a renovation of their Australian area in the master plan. As a SoCal native, a little more variety would be welcome, but I do look forward to seeing how SB's take on Australia holds up.
The African lion cub is a female and has been named Pauline:
Meet Pauline, Santa Barbara Zoo's new lion cub | NewsChannel 3-12
The zoo said things were touch and go with Pauline for the first few weeks of her life. On Nov. 19, she became "critically ill" due to a lack of milk from the mother. She was then moved to the zoo's intensive care unit of the veterinary hospital. She has been in an incubator and received fluid therapy and bottle feeding as part of the treatment.
Barnes says the cub will remain in the hospital for a little while longer before returning back to the lion holding area to be near her parents. She will continue to be bottle fed until she is weaned, Barnes said.
The zoos Ruppells Griffon vulture El Nino has been moved to the Cincinnati zoo as part of an SSP project
They will be in the netted enclosure across from the penguins. They share this space with golden lion tamarins.
Two female Chilean flamingo chicks hatched in October and November:
New Animals Take Up Residence at Santa Barbara Zoo Through Cooperative Breeding Programs
New Animals Take Up Residence at Santa Barbara Zoo Through Cooperative Breeding Programs
On Friday the zoo will make an announcement about the Humboldt Penguin Montys "next step to stardom". My best guess is he and a few other penguins will be in some sort of movie or tv show.
One of the Zoo's original and oldest residents, a female American alligator named Mary Lou, has passed away. 
American alligator, Santa Barbara Zoo's oldest resident, dies at 58 | NewsChannel 3-12
American alligator, Santa Barbara Zoo's oldest resident, dies at 58 | NewsChannel 3-12
The zoo has acquired two new Emu chicks from Ostrich Land. They will take up residency at the Barnyard until the new exhibit is complete.