I visited National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra a week ago, and thought I would write a short review, as I always enjoy reading other people's reviews of their visits.
I'm not sure if anyone knows this as it hasn't been posted about, but National Zoo now has 6 male white lions. They presumably got them from Mogo Zoo. I believe they are the litter of 5 males born last year, and an older brother. They are in the large lion exhibit. In the exhibit where the tigons were are 2 adult male and 1 female tawny lion, and in the other exhibit against the aquarium building are 2 tawnys. So, all those exhibits are full now.
There is a new aviary type enclosure for 2 female black and white ruffed lemurs that arrived a few months ago from Perth Zoo. It is well planted with plenty of climbing structures, and is up in front of the cheetah exhibit.
The Tasmanian devil exhibit is closed, with construction tape around the perimeter, so I guess it's empty. Other than that, not much else has changed at the zoo. I didn't see the Snow Leopards or Servals - not on display anywhere, so I'm not sure where they are?
Overall the zoo looks pretty shabby. All the signage is very faded, and some almost unreadable, some signs are broken, with bits hanging off them. The perspex barriers at the Sun bear enclosure is very scratched and really hard to look through, though the sun bears were really active!
The penguin exhibit looks abandoned, however it isn't - the penguins are in their nesting boxes. The water had a greenish tinge and it all looks in need of a good overhaul.
The aquarium leaves a lot to be desired. Lots of the tanks were dirty and had green slime on the glass - a couple of dead fish spotted on the bottome (though to be fair, every aquarium I've been to I've seen dead fish in the tanks). The shark tank particularly was very dirty and hard to see into.
I spent about 2 hours there, and had plenty of time to spend a fair amount of time at each enclosure, and witness the amusing spectacle of staff trying to unlock a toilet a youngster had gotten stuck in! Lots of crying, poor little thing.
I guess it's quite a nice little zoo, but every time I go there it seems a bit shabbier. And a bit too much mock rock and wire for my tastes.
I was suprised to see the white lions there though, as it seems to me Mogo Zoo has given up one of their major draw cards of being the only zoo in Australia with 'white' animals. And Canberra is only 2 hours from Mogo, so lots of Canberrans go to the coast, and the white lions are one of the things they go to see. Now they only have to go to their own zoo instead.
I'm not sure if anyone knows this as it hasn't been posted about, but National Zoo now has 6 male white lions. They presumably got them from Mogo Zoo. I believe they are the litter of 5 males born last year, and an older brother. They are in the large lion exhibit. In the exhibit where the tigons were are 2 adult male and 1 female tawny lion, and in the other exhibit against the aquarium building are 2 tawnys. So, all those exhibits are full now.
There is a new aviary type enclosure for 2 female black and white ruffed lemurs that arrived a few months ago from Perth Zoo. It is well planted with plenty of climbing structures, and is up in front of the cheetah exhibit.
The Tasmanian devil exhibit is closed, with construction tape around the perimeter, so I guess it's empty. Other than that, not much else has changed at the zoo. I didn't see the Snow Leopards or Servals - not on display anywhere, so I'm not sure where they are?
Overall the zoo looks pretty shabby. All the signage is very faded, and some almost unreadable, some signs are broken, with bits hanging off them. The perspex barriers at the Sun bear enclosure is very scratched and really hard to look through, though the sun bears were really active!
The penguin exhibit looks abandoned, however it isn't - the penguins are in their nesting boxes. The water had a greenish tinge and it all looks in need of a good overhaul.
The aquarium leaves a lot to be desired. Lots of the tanks were dirty and had green slime on the glass - a couple of dead fish spotted on the bottome (though to be fair, every aquarium I've been to I've seen dead fish in the tanks). The shark tank particularly was very dirty and hard to see into.
I spent about 2 hours there, and had plenty of time to spend a fair amount of time at each enclosure, and witness the amusing spectacle of staff trying to unlock a toilet a youngster had gotten stuck in! Lots of crying, poor little thing.
I guess it's quite a nice little zoo, but every time I go there it seems a bit shabbier. And a bit too much mock rock and wire for my tastes.
I was suprised to see the white lions there though, as it seems to me Mogo Zoo has given up one of their major draw cards of being the only zoo in Australia with 'white' animals. And Canberra is only 2 hours from Mogo, so lots of Canberrans go to the coast, and the white lions are one of the things they go to see. Now they only have to go to their own zoo instead.
