Taronga Western Plains Zoo Taronga Western Plains Zoo 2012
- Thread starter Jabiru96
- Start date
Ah placed her now, daughter of Kay and Zabulu.
Went to TWPZ yesterday. New things I noticed since my last visit in August 2011, beside the babies were: Construction of the new Billabong Camp area opposite the Australian walk-thru is progressing well. Baby Giant Tortoise on display in a new extension to the reptile's winter shelter area. New lemur exhibit for breeding ring-tails. Waterbuck on display in one of the old macropod yards. The chital/blackbuck exhibit has been closed and the herd split and displayed in smaller exhibits where fallow deer were in the past and in the old nilgai/zebra exhibit opposite the midway kiosk.
Whilst it was great to see some of the new developments, such as the lemur facility (really just a modern holding area open to public viewing attached to an island), overall, the zoo is starting to look a little 'lost'.
The south american section is now completely empty; the maned wolves boardwalk closed and the tapir/grassland exhibit has no signs of life. From the mid-way kiosk, what was once a fairly logical progression in terms of geographic display has been replaced with a hodge-podge mix of species. With little to no interpretation available, I can not see much value in this current arrangement and hope it is fixed soon. Water buffalo next to lion, which are next to blackbuck, which border wapiti, which border banteng and blackbuck, then p horse and bison, then aussie walk-thru, ostrich, zebra, dingo, waterbuck and then giant tortoise. It is starting to look like management are sticking animals wherever they can fit them, with little thought to what goes where.
Finally, the free access area, although great in theory, is poorly thought out in terms of anyone using the 'zoo circuit; on foot. It is difficult for most people to find the entry, which merges pedestrians with vehicles and by-passes the lemur islands. Once in the zoo proper, the end of the circuit becomes a disorientating mis-match (and this is from someone who knows this place like the back of my hand) of footpaths and empty exhibits. You are either ejected out in to the main car-park, or forced to do a fairly significant trek through some scrub to catch a glimpse of some meerkats and wombats, with basically no signage to help people find their way back out.
This needs fixing as soon as possible.
Whilst it was great to see some of the new developments, such as the lemur facility (really just a modern holding area open to public viewing attached to an island), overall, the zoo is starting to look a little 'lost'.
The south american section is now completely empty; the maned wolves boardwalk closed and the tapir/grassland exhibit has no signs of life. From the mid-way kiosk, what was once a fairly logical progression in terms of geographic display has been replaced with a hodge-podge mix of species. With little to no interpretation available, I can not see much value in this current arrangement and hope it is fixed soon. Water buffalo next to lion, which are next to blackbuck, which border wapiti, which border banteng and blackbuck, then p horse and bison, then aussie walk-thru, ostrich, zebra, dingo, waterbuck and then giant tortoise. It is starting to look like management are sticking animals wherever they can fit them, with little thought to what goes where.
Finally, the free access area, although great in theory, is poorly thought out in terms of anyone using the 'zoo circuit; on foot. It is difficult for most people to find the entry, which merges pedestrians with vehicles and by-passes the lemur islands. Once in the zoo proper, the end of the circuit becomes a disorientating mis-match (and this is from someone who knows this place like the back of my hand) of footpaths and empty exhibits. You are either ejected out in to the main car-park, or forced to do a fairly significant trek through some scrub to catch a glimpse of some meerkats and wombats, with basically no signage to help people find their way back out.
This needs fixing as soon as possible.
Any idea now what (sub-)species the Galapagos tortoise breeding group and offspring belong to? (this is why individual conservation units matter)
Any further egg laying done or incubation of eggs taking place now?
Any further egg laying done or incubation of eggs taking place now?
Animalgeek
Well-Known Member
Possibly the 3 males born n the litter of 4 in 2009 at oran
I think the whole regional Galapogos tortoise breeding program is focused on the species as a whole, not the individual sub-species (similar to the programs for lions, binturong, etc.).
I feel sadly so. Most Galapagos tortoise populations in situ are highly endangered ... so a move to focus on individual species and pure-bred conservation breeding makes sense. I - for one - think it is somewhat a cop out and a fairly limp attempt at a politically correct response from the zoo community. You may not agree with me ... (that is OK), but if we really wish to conserve endangered species ... if we have the means at 100% positive identification at (sub-)species level (thanks to years of genetic research by the GF and overseas reknowned geneticists) I really think we should do the right thing here!