well didnt torie just say it was? im 99% sure it is, but even if it isnt, this exhibit should be preserved. its a tangible link with the zoos early history, is structurally sound and given the fact Taronga has plenty of space it need not be demolished for space reasons.
Taronga Zoo Spider Monkeys
- Thread starter NZ Jeremy
- Start date
thanks Torie, i was pretty sure it was. i think Taronga zoo would do well to retain as much of its early heritage as possible. it shows how far the zoo has come in a relatively short time span. as with the elephant temple, some of the more iconic structures can be exhibits in themselves if interpreted effectively
Are you kidding. It might show far the zoo has come in a short time span, but do people go to zoo's to see animals or old, outdated buildings. Take photos of them, put the photos in a book about the history of the zoo and the 3 people in the world who care what the animals were kept in 90 years ago can read the book.
@Boof: I'm glad that we so wholeheartedly agree with each other on this particular thread. I'm sure that almost every single visitor to Taronga Zoo sees that damn spider monkey cage and thinks that it is nowhere near as nice as the rest of the zoo. Also, how many visitors will know that the group of primates in it are a non-breeding set of females? People just see a concrete jungle that should be either bulldozed or given a serious makeover. But heritage sites are a pain to demolish, as the city council might be up in arms with such public destruction.
@Glyn: I enjoy your posts on Zoobeat, especially the info on Taronga Zoo, but I can't agree with your defending of the spider monkey exhibit. But please keep us informed about the African and South American plans, as I'm truly shocked as to how much Taronga continues to spend on construction. When I visited in May I was impressed with most of the zoo, and believe that it ranks as one of the better establishments in the world.
@Glyn: I enjoy your posts on Zoobeat, especially the info on Taronga Zoo, but I can't agree with your defending of the spider monkey exhibit. But please keep us informed about the African and South American plans, as I'm truly shocked as to how much Taronga continues to spend on construction. When I visited in May I was impressed with most of the zoo, and believe that it ranks as one of the better establishments in the world.
NZ Jeremy
Well-Known Member
Taronga is probably the best zoo (IMO) I've been to in my life...
However there were many exhibits which I found, drab or small but seemed to be okay for housing animals:
The Lion and Tiger enclosure
The Great Ape enclosures
I remember whilst being there that the only three exhibits I said to my gf should be torn down, they were the spider monkeys, the Seal pools and jungle cat exhibits...
I agree with Glyn that representations of these "old" style exhibits should be kept (empty) as "living" history or museum type enclosures, i.e.
(Not sure if it's still there) When I went to Melbourne a couple years back they had a (very) old Lion enclosure around which they had a lot of information about it. I found it very interesting and brave to show...
If Taronga had a (renovated):
Jungle cat exhibit
Elephant house
Monkey yard
With info about their history and explaining the difference between yesteryear and todays exhibit, it could be quite an attraction in itself...
Those seal pools have to go though..!
However there were many exhibits which I found, drab or small but seemed to be okay for housing animals:
The Lion and Tiger enclosure
The Great Ape enclosures
I remember whilst being there that the only three exhibits I said to my gf should be torn down, they were the spider monkeys, the Seal pools and jungle cat exhibits...
I agree with Glyn that representations of these "old" style exhibits should be kept (empty) as "living" history or museum type enclosures, i.e.
(Not sure if it's still there) When I went to Melbourne a couple years back they had a (very) old Lion enclosure around which they had a lot of information about it. I found it very interesting and brave to show...
If Taronga had a (renovated):
Jungle cat exhibit
Elephant house
Monkey yard
With info about their history and explaining the difference between yesteryear and todays exhibit, it could be quite an attraction in itself...
Those seal pools have to go though..!
At everyone, the spider monkeys are very very old individuals, all about 40-50 if not older, and they are creatures of habit, and do not like change! They are happy there, ok the exhibit isnt great, but it's just a changing part of taronga. The old girls may not even see the new exhibit open, but imagine the stress caused to move the animals to a completely new home, let alone off exhibit to do the renos. They ddidnt like it, and were happy to get back in there grand old masion.
On tigers, glyn is right very complicated.
the 2 new male sto the region, are father and son. they will be paired with mother and daughter from australia. The mother of the 03 litter, is off to adelaide to breed with the older new male (father). the otehr german male, the son, has been at WPZ and was recently transferred to taronga to breed. He is breeding with the only female of the o3 litter,whos mother is at adelaide i would imagine by now. Does that make sense? And to add more confusuion, the father of the 03 litter is at wpz with his mother, and the 2 boys of the o3 litter were moved to orana. I think that covers everything.
BTW there is still the old heritage pool in the new lower entry precint. it is not part of GSO as sush, and can be used to hosue for expample maybe the californians, which do not fit in with the gso theme.
And basically, everything on the heritage list can not be touched. even to paint it, or anything, there is a heritage re-assesment, and strict guidlines as to how to renovate it.
Thats it from me.
On tigers, glyn is right very complicated.
the 2 new male sto the region, are father and son. they will be paired with mother and daughter from australia. The mother of the 03 litter, is off to adelaide to breed with the older new male (father). the otehr german male, the son, has been at WPZ and was recently transferred to taronga to breed. He is breeding with the only female of the o3 litter,whos mother is at adelaide i would imagine by now. Does that make sense? And to add more confusuion, the father of the 03 litter is at wpz with his mother, and the 2 boys of the o3 litter were moved to orana. I think that covers everything.
BTW there is still the old heritage pool in the new lower entry precint. it is not part of GSO as sush, and can be used to hosue for expample maybe the californians, which do not fit in with the gso theme.
And basically, everything on the heritage list can not be touched. even to paint it, or anything, there is a heritage re-assesment, and strict guidlines as to how to renovate it.
Thats it from me.
Now that I realize how old the female spider monkeys are, it definitely casts a different light on the situation. But the average zoogoer won't even know that they are spider monkeys, let alone how old they are or what sex they are.
the spider monkies really are zoo-zonicly away from anyother species either rpimate or south american, so only minimal signage is needed, such as this is a spider monkey and i beleive there is a master foods sponsership sign as well. the newer parts of tarnga are very interpretive, especially B2B. So when the spider monkeys are moved to a zoographic zone, then an increase in terp would be more meaningfull.
@Zoo_Boy: you have some good points, even with about 9 spelling or grammatical errors in three sentences. Just teasing!
The saga of the spider monkeys will end many years from now, when Taronga Zoo finishes whatever it has planned for a South American precinct. The massive amount of construction over the past few years has definitely made the zoo one of the better collections in the world.
The saga of the spider monkeys will end many years from now, when Taronga Zoo finishes whatever it has planned for a South American precinct. The massive amount of construction over the past few years has definitely made the zoo one of the better collections in the world.
if you go to this link - Taronga and Western Plains Zoos
Has a very rough guidleine to the developments, now take in to note, the first 5 projects on there earmarked for completion between 2001 and 2004, are only just finishing in 07, so as you can tell its a very rough timeline, BUT the exhibits ahve so far opened in that order, so order wise, pretty accurate, though, not on there is the 54 million dollar top entrance precint, that will transform the car park and entry in to a new buet entarnce, complete with 3 story car garage, new landscaping, and al freso dinning, which has started i ebelive this year. this will also have a new 21st century entry scehme, through general admin, and pre-purchase internet tickets as well i beelive. as well as the bull elephant facilities, which are ear makred for completion by december this year- another $7 mill.
Also, on the timeline, the new african rainforest precint, the latest annual report (link below) is earmarked to open feb 2010. Though no official release otehr than this 1 line in the opening pages of this annual report.
in report-Page 3 'yeasterday'
Page 4 'today'
Page 5 'tomorrow' - where it says new rainforest area.
http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au/imagedata/annrep2007.pdf
So thi9ngs are moving along, though maybe not in the original 12 year plans, but who cares, im just happy we'll have the world's best zoo
lol maybe.
P.s sorry about errors, i just get very excited about zoo stuff, and type very fast!
Has a very rough guidleine to the developments, now take in to note, the first 5 projects on there earmarked for completion between 2001 and 2004, are only just finishing in 07, so as you can tell its a very rough timeline, BUT the exhibits ahve so far opened in that order, so order wise, pretty accurate, though, not on there is the 54 million dollar top entrance precint, that will transform the car park and entry in to a new buet entarnce, complete with 3 story car garage, new landscaping, and al freso dinning, which has started i ebelive this year. this will also have a new 21st century entry scehme, through general admin, and pre-purchase internet tickets as well i beelive. as well as the bull elephant facilities, which are ear makred for completion by december this year- another $7 mill.
Also, on the timeline, the new african rainforest precint, the latest annual report (link below) is earmarked to open feb 2010. Though no official release otehr than this 1 line in the opening pages of this annual report.
in report-Page 3 'yeasterday'
Page 4 'today'
Page 5 'tomorrow' - where it says new rainforest area.
http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au/imagedata/annrep2007.pdf
So thi9ngs are moving along, though maybe not in the original 12 year plans, but who cares, im just happy we'll have the world's best zoo
lol maybe. P.s sorry about errors, i just get very excited about zoo stuff, and type very fast!
Taronga Zoo has definitely poured more money into new exhibits than the vast majority of zoos around the globe. I can't wait to visit again in a few years and see the amount of work that has been done. I was there in May and duly impressed with many of the enclosures. Great Southern Oceans was under construction at the time, and I'm envious of you New South Wales folks and your close proximity to such a wonderful zoo.
@Zoo_Boy: thanks for the links!
@Zoo_Boy: thanks for the links!
i do like the master plan on the whole. zoo boy knows better than probably anyone what direction i would like to see both taronga and western plains zoo take in the future, and specifically phasing out species like giraffe at Taronga and instead focusing more on forest biomes.
i believe that the master plan represents a good investment of tax payers money. zoo attendance in the last financial year has surged upwards, and stong attendance is helping Taronga to forge better, more stable fundng links with in-siu programs. as well, the master plan puts the zoo in a better position to fend off competition such as Sydney Wildlife World.
the future redvelopment of the entry precinct will be one of the keystone developments of the master plan. if Sydneys population reaches projected figures then attendance to the zoo will only continue to increase and the zoo needs to approach the future ready for this. the master plan is the most wholistic and complex upgrade of the zoo ever and, as it was formulated along the lines of regional collection planning goals the viability of the program is enhanced.
=some changes i would make is another expansion of the asian elephant enclosure into the area originally earmarked for asian highlands.
=relocation of dhole to the old sun bear canyon on the way to the ferry exit
=a second tapir/otter enclosure and a new gibbon species in the location of the current crocodile/muellers gibbon exhibit
=instead of an african tropical savannah i would build a new hippo exhibit on the site of the giraffe yard and use the rest of the waterhole for lemur, lion, gorilla, mandrill, colobus aves and herpes
the giraffe, zebra and other species would be sent to Western Plains Zoo
i think B2B needs a bit of tweaking to maximise its effectiveness, and I would love to see the heritage centre of the zoo enhanced as such. when it comes to the New Guinea and Australiana developments, if they are built to the same standard as WOLLEMI then id be more than pleased.
overall, i think the zoo is going great guns. of course nothing is perfect. but its pretty dam good and i think the attendance figures and visitor satisfaction levels back this up. also, i can remember when the zoo faced a defecit and some people were calling for its relocation so its good to see it on a steady footing
i believe that the master plan represents a good investment of tax payers money. zoo attendance in the last financial year has surged upwards, and stong attendance is helping Taronga to forge better, more stable fundng links with in-siu programs. as well, the master plan puts the zoo in a better position to fend off competition such as Sydney Wildlife World.
the future redvelopment of the entry precinct will be one of the keystone developments of the master plan. if Sydneys population reaches projected figures then attendance to the zoo will only continue to increase and the zoo needs to approach the future ready for this. the master plan is the most wholistic and complex upgrade of the zoo ever and, as it was formulated along the lines of regional collection planning goals the viability of the program is enhanced.
=some changes i would make is another expansion of the asian elephant enclosure into the area originally earmarked for asian highlands.
=relocation of dhole to the old sun bear canyon on the way to the ferry exit
=a second tapir/otter enclosure and a new gibbon species in the location of the current crocodile/muellers gibbon exhibit
=instead of an african tropical savannah i would build a new hippo exhibit on the site of the giraffe yard and use the rest of the waterhole for lemur, lion, gorilla, mandrill, colobus aves and herpes
the giraffe, zebra and other species would be sent to Western Plains Zoo
i think B2B needs a bit of tweaking to maximise its effectiveness, and I would love to see the heritage centre of the zoo enhanced as such. when it comes to the New Guinea and Australiana developments, if they are built to the same standard as WOLLEMI then id be more than pleased.
overall, i think the zoo is going great guns. of course nothing is perfect. but its pretty dam good and i think the attendance figures and visitor satisfaction levels back this up. also, i can remember when the zoo faced a defecit and some people were calling for its relocation so its good to see it on a steady footing