Taronga Zoo Taronga Zoo News 2021

58 Regent Honeyeaters have been released:

"Taronga is proud to announce that along with our partners, we have released 58 critically endangered Regent Honeyeaters into the wild! Regent Honeyeaters are one of Australia’s most threatened species, with only 350 birds left in the wild. To help save this incredible species, Taronga Zoo and Taronga Western Plains Zoo have been breeding Regent Honeyeaters for the last 20 years. The released birds are part of an important breeding program. We would also like to thank the Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council, who have generously made their land available for the birds’ release. Join us in wishing these precious birds good luck in their new home, and stay tuned for more amazing behind-the-scenes stories of what it takes to bring a release like this together!"

Source: Taronga's Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=566802907763897
 
@WhistlingKite24 Nice names, I wonder if the girls will join a pride together and if the boys will stay together as a brother duo when they join a different pride.
 
The zoo is caring for a Short-beaked echidna puggle that was rescued from the wild:

From the zoo’s social media:

A very special patient arrived at Taronga Wildlife Hospital three weeks ago! Say hello to 'Weja', a short-beaked echidna puggle named after the area where it was found.

Veterinary Nurse Liz McConnell is absolutely delighted to be caring for Weja at this critical time - normally it would still be tucked safe and sound in a burrow and feeding off its mother's milk.

A lot of much time and effort goes into handraising orphaned animals like this puggle. Our vets and nurses are so dedicated to their work and love nothing more than rehabilitating and releasing animals back to the wild.
 
Patrick Keegan said:
Saltwater crocodile rin tin tin will be leaving taronga next month to a ZAA welfare accredited facility in far north Queensland
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWMA-zRhvWq/?utm_medium=copy_link
Click to expand...

Interesting that it also says in that post that the saltwater crocodile exhibit is no longer considered of appropriate standard. The exhibit in question is below what used to be Mary the gibbon’s island (a fully-moated fig tree exhibit now housing tamarins) and down the path from the concert lawns and bull elephant, turned giraffe, turned camel exhibit, on the way to the Moore Park aviary and GSO. It will be interesting to see what they do with that area in the future, as it is a heavily forested area of the zoo, but not within a particular precinct or a particularly busy area.
 
It's been a unique setup having a wooden ramp-jetty for him to access an indoor basking shelter; having a good look at how the planting in the exhibit comes right up to the waters edge while aesthetically nice for a rainforest themed are of a zoo is (like they've concluded) not optimal for an adult saltie'; but that exhibit and its residents (a female saltie' I recall before Rin Tin Tin) have done well over time and am sorry for the keepers who would have been amazing and will miss him heaps (but will be happy for him obviously). So very soon the Freshies' will be the sole crocodilians at Taronga with the 'Gators gone too, Wonder what other crocodilians they might be considering for the upcoming reptile centre?
 
A few updates from the zoo's October 2021 map on their website and other sources:
  • Ruddy Shelducks are in with the Capybara now [seen in the capybara livestream].
  • the redeveloped Upper Australia Habitat has been named Iyora Australia. It will be the area for dingoes, macropods, nocturnal house etc.
  • a middle portion of the zoo is now closed for the construction of the new reptile and amphibian house. The only enclosure effected by this development at this stage seems to be the exhibit that had surplus meerkats. Their existing reptile house remains open.
 
@WhistlingKite24 Interesting that they've chosen Iyora as the name for the revamped Australian section being an alternative spelling for Eora the people of the area we now call Sydney before having their country stolen, someone knowledgeable about Indigenous cultures told me the name Eora literally translates to people so its kind of like saying 'People Australia' lol.

Really cool to know that dingoes are returning to Taronga and that nocturnal house hasn't been knocked down.
 
Sorry guys I know this is news from last year because thats when the Savannah opened but I got a reply from the Zoo about the size measurements of the two larger exhibits there.

Lion exhibit is apparently 2,000 sq m
Giraffe, Zebra (and Ostrich??) exhibit apparently 3,000 sq m
 
steveroberts said:
Sorry guys I know this is news from last year because thats when the Savannah opened but I got a reply from the Zoo about the size measurements of the two larger exhibits there.

Lion exhibit is apparently 2,000 sq m
Giraffe, Zebra (and Ostrich??) exhibit apparently 3,000 sq m
Click to expand...

The lion enclosure is really big and impressive, and I quite like it. It’s possibly one of the biggest in Australia (discounting the open range zoos).

On the other hand the Giraffe and Zebra exhibit is quite small, and is not much of an improvement space wise from their previous enclosure. Considering the amount of unused space Taronga has, I would’ve loved to see them build a bigger enclosure, with additional animals such as Nyala and Ostrich.
 
@Jambo You're so right, wish they'd been able to make the Giraffe/Zebra area bigger and had room for Nyala maybe. Yeah the Lion exhibit has got to be the biggest out of the city zoos. In terms of space wish they maybe built the Lion exhibit where the Centennary Theatre is now (so long as they could still get 2,000 sq m which I imagine would need to include some of the foliage and tree area that leads up to the former Orangutan current Ringtailed Lemur exhibit) and then perhaps the Lions 2000 sq m could have been used to expand the Giraffe/Zebra area. If their exhibit was 5,000 sq m instead of 3,000 do you think the Nyala and Ostrich could co-inhabit with the Giraffes and Zebras in one larger exhibit?

(I know its a could-have scenario now but am glad we get a chance to run ideas no matter how hypothetical to each-other on this universe gift of a website)
 
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Taronga just confirmed by email that Rin Tin Tin the Saltwater Croc' has departed the zoo now but they didn't mention in the email which facility in north Queensland he went to for some reason?
 
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