Spent the morning at Taronga today - jeez I love the joint! It's like no other place and no other zoo!
I know I knock it from time to time, but it really is a cornerstone of my existence (and if that's a bit pathetic, so be it.)
As usual, there is much building work progressing. The new bull elephant complex is well under construction, and it is BIG! I don't know if the barn is to my taste - looks like a 2 storey factory to me, but it will certainly do the job. Checked out the elephants, who all looked healthy and interested in life. Gung, the randy little devil, was closely following one of the cows around with his, shall we say, masculinity well on display.
Despite the fact that it was a damp morning, there were lots of school kids and other visitors. Zoofriends volunteers were well set up with leopard skins, tiger skulls etc. and had a lot of people around them.
Having had a look at Sim's mate the crimson chat, I then went and paid my respects to the Taronga oldies which are not likely to be there much longer and which I try to see each visit - namely Bethel the kodiak bear and the Victoria crowned pigeons. The pigeons, two males, are Taronga's last and are accommodated separately, one in the general pigeon aviary opposite the red pandas and the other housed just up from the (now closed) Asiatic cats exhibit, near the kangaroos.They are both quite ancient (about my age.
)
Poor Bethel looks very worn out, just laying in the sun and warming her old bones. Compared to her, the sun bears were a ball of activity, running around and ripping up some sacks which looked like a great game.
The renovated Moore Park aviary (is this the oldest structure in the zoo?) looks good, and now houses several Amherst pheasants, some Mandarin ducks and the zoo's striped squirrels.
Great Southern Oceans is, simply, great! I spent 20 minutes resting my weary legs and watching one of the leopard seals gliding around its pool - hypnotic, particularly the way it kept coming up to the window and looking out to see who was watching it.
Nothing's perfect, though. Taronga being Taronga, there were sections of the zoo closed for no apparent reason. (I have spoken before about the way my daughter has brought her family down from Brisbane twice, and never yet been able to see the gorillas.) Plenty of gorillas today, but the walk-through Birds of Asia aviary, next to the elephants, was locked up with no explanation and the nocturnal house was closed with an "animals not on display today" sign outside.
39 bucks is a bit steep to get in. Fortunately, I'm a life member of the Royal Zoological Society and so I get in for nothing. (Can't beat that!)
I know I knock it from time to time, but it really is a cornerstone of my existence (and if that's a bit pathetic, so be it.)
As usual, there is much building work progressing. The new bull elephant complex is well under construction, and it is BIG! I don't know if the barn is to my taste - looks like a 2 storey factory to me, but it will certainly do the job. Checked out the elephants, who all looked healthy and interested in life. Gung, the randy little devil, was closely following one of the cows around with his, shall we say, masculinity well on display.
Despite the fact that it was a damp morning, there were lots of school kids and other visitors. Zoofriends volunteers were well set up with leopard skins, tiger skulls etc. and had a lot of people around them.
Having had a look at Sim's mate the crimson chat, I then went and paid my respects to the Taronga oldies which are not likely to be there much longer and which I try to see each visit - namely Bethel the kodiak bear and the Victoria crowned pigeons. The pigeons, two males, are Taronga's last and are accommodated separately, one in the general pigeon aviary opposite the red pandas and the other housed just up from the (now closed) Asiatic cats exhibit, near the kangaroos.They are both quite ancient (about my age.
)Poor Bethel looks very worn out, just laying in the sun and warming her old bones. Compared to her, the sun bears were a ball of activity, running around and ripping up some sacks which looked like a great game.
The renovated Moore Park aviary (is this the oldest structure in the zoo?) looks good, and now houses several Amherst pheasants, some Mandarin ducks and the zoo's striped squirrels.
Great Southern Oceans is, simply, great! I spent 20 minutes resting my weary legs and watching one of the leopard seals gliding around its pool - hypnotic, particularly the way it kept coming up to the window and looking out to see who was watching it.
Nothing's perfect, though. Taronga being Taronga, there were sections of the zoo closed for no apparent reason. (I have spoken before about the way my daughter has brought her family down from Brisbane twice, and never yet been able to see the gorillas.) Plenty of gorillas today, but the walk-through Birds of Asia aviary, next to the elephants, was locked up with no explanation and the nocturnal house was closed with an "animals not on display today" sign outside.
39 bucks is a bit steep to get in. Fortunately, I'm a life member of the Royal Zoological Society and so I get in for nothing. (Can't beat that!)
