The only zoo in Australia to see.....

[Chlidonias]

How colourful was it? Obviously the one I saw at Healesville the other day was in the nocturnal house, so the lights are quite dim - that said, it did look rather bright in the circumstances.

you should get to Perth Zoo, where the numbats are displayed outside (they are diurnal, not nocturnal). The photo doesn't properly show how bright the reddish colouration is, but you get the idea.

 

[Grant Rhino]

you should get to Perth Zoo, where the numbats are displayed outside (they are diurnal, not nocturnal). The photo doesn't properly show how bright the reddish colouration is, but you get the idea.

Thanks for that - I'm actually hoping to get over to Perth later this year (and of course that will include a trip to Perth Zoo). So obviously I'd be interested in having a look at them when I'm there.

 

[Dassie rat]

I'm not sure I follow your logic there, you won't find the Australian species found in Australian zoos in the Exotic Mammals thread; to see a list of the native mammals held in Australian zoos you need to read that thread (http://www.zoochat.com/24/native-mammals-australian-zoos-355163/).

The point of zoos is to display animals to the public, and for Australian zoos that means the Australian public, who will want to see exotic species at zoos (as you do), which is why there are a lot of exhibits devoted to exotic mammals.

Exporting endangered Australian animals would contribute 0% to saving their species, while using up available resources for supporting endangered species from countries where conservation is less well-developed.

Hello Zooboy28. I agree with you, up to a point, as I feel that having large captive populations of certain ABC species takes up valuable space that could be used to safeguard small, endangered species. I would much prefer it if the money currently spent on expensive enclosures for ABC species were used to protect these species in the wild. I also understand that many people are more interested in seeing exotic species, rather than native species. When I visited Madagascar, I was told that Madagascan people much preferred giraffes to lemurs. But if many Australian zoos are not going to keep display viable populations of endangered native species and are not going to export them to zoos that could keep and breed them, how does this correspond with the idea that zoos conserve species from extinction? The red-necked wallaby does well in captivity, so couldn't Australia export some other species of wallabies to safeguard against extinction in the wild? I think it's sad that there are more collections of captive merkats in London of captive numbats in Australia.