Wellington Zoo Wellington Zoo News 2015

LaughingDove said:
I've been pondering that picture for about 20 minutes now, and I have no idea what it is supposed to mean. How odd.
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the best I can figure is that they are saying that the animals at the zoo aren't just African ones (read, "exotic") but you can also experience native NZ wildlife there.

It is more bizarre than the zoo's marmoset doll-house.
 
LaughingDove said:
An exhibit of native 'kiwi' species without any Kiwis?
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Wellington Zoo has a nocturnal house with kiwi quite close to this new development, but separated by some South American animal exhibits. Its a little frsutrating for someone like me who prefers everything perfectly geographically aligned, but there isn't an obvious solution to this at the moment, short of building a new kiwi house in Meet the Locals and putting exotic species in the existing nocturnal house.
 
here's an article and video about the opening of Meet The Locals, with the description "Wellington Zoo opens its doors to its new interactive petting farm".

Wellingtonians Meet the Locals as zoo's new $6 million expansion opens | Stuff.co.nz
Wellington Zoo's newest addition is a "love story to New Zealand".

The $6 million expansion, Meet the Locals, featuring the country's animals and agriculture opens on Saturday after 15 months of construction to create a bush-lined valley simulating a journey from the sea to the mountains.

Community engagement general manager Amy Hughes said the feature includes everything from an enclosure for little blue penguins, to an eel pond, to roaming lambs and chickens.

Meet the Locals opens to the public on Saturday, allowing them to interact with exhibits and animals in the 7000 square metre area, at least a fifth of the zoo's overall footprint.

She said the zoo was describing the feature as its "love story to New Zealand", with a series of zones starting at Penguin Point, through a farm section, native bush and up into the home of the mountain parrot, the kea.

"Visitors will be able to walk through with the sheep, they'll be able to pat rabbits, they'll be able to meet a whole range of animals they might not have met before like grand skinks or Wellington geckos."

The interactivity includes a secret blow-hole that blasts a stream of water in the air on unwitting visitors, and a walk-through kea enclosure through a rock alpine landscape.

Hughes said Meet the Locals was built in an area of the zoo that had been unused for four years, after being home to a row of aviaries, and zebra grazing.

"We really wanted to celebrate New Zealand, and New Zealand as it is now. That's why we have the farm, because so much of New Zealand is farmland."

The feature was a good combination of animals and interactivity.

That included the roaming chickens - rescued battery hens - that had settled in well and started laying eggs immediately.

"We moved them into the coop yesterday and they laid eggs straight away. The idea is kids will be able to feel how warm a chicken's egg is when it's been laid."

The kea enclosure, which features a path winding through alpine rocks, would not be completed for about a fortnight, she said.

Once completed it will link Meet the Locals through to the area outside the zoo's tiger enclosure.

AT A GLANCE

Meet the Locals cost $6m.

It covers 7000 square metres, at least a fifth of the zoo's footprint.

It includes lambs, eels, penguins, a beehive, rare Otago skinks and kea.

It took 15 months of construction after six years of planning.

More than 4000 native plants were planted in the native bush area.
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A Nyala calf has been born, this takes the zoo's (and therefore Australasia's) population to 8 (2.4.2) I think.
 
zooboy28 said:
A Nyala calf has been born, this takes the zoo's (and therefore Australasia's) population to 8 (2.4.2) I think.
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the email newsletter says:
Pop into the Zoo this month and spot the newest addition to the African Savannah! Joining an older brother and sister, this doe-eyed calf is just over a week old.

Nyala are medium-sized antelopes native to southern Africa. Females and young are distinctly red with white stripes, while males are a darker brown with spiral horns. The eight Nyala at Wellington Zoo are part of a regional breeding programme for these beautiful animals.
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On Tuesday Vilson the White Cheeked Gibbon escaped his enclosure and tranquilises a spider monkey by accident.
Wellington Zoo tranquilises a spider monkey by accident | Stuff.co.nz
Winnie, the Wellington Zoo spider monkey that was hit by a wayward tranquilliser dart.

An unsuspecting Wellington Zoo spider monkey got hit by a wayward tranquilliser dart as a guilty gibbon made a getaway.

On Tuesday morning gibbon Vilson escaped from his enclosure.

Zoo animal care general manager Mauritz Basson said staff got out the tranquiliser guns and aimed at Vilson, a well known escape artist.


* Did you see the Great Gibbon Escape? Email news@dompost.co.nz

But the 10 gram dart with a "fluffy tail" was caught in strong winds and sailed clear past Vilson and jabbed into three-year-old spider monkey Winnie, who was simply hanging out in her own enclosure.

Winnie was promptly given veterinarian treatment and revived after five minutes and was now "100 percent", Basson said.

Wellington Zoo's male gibbon Vilson made a great escape from his enclosure on Tuesday morning.

Wellington Zoo's male gibbon Vilson made a great escape from his enclosure on Tuesday morning.

The spider monkey and gibbon were roughly the same weight so the dart would not have caused her any issues, he said.

While Vilson was out of his enclosure, the public was kept away from the area and were not at risk of copping a wayward dart.

No individual staff member was to blame but the zoo would do more practice of shooting the darts in strong winds.

Zoo primates and carnivores life science manager Paul Horton on Tuesday said the darts were not needed for Vilson as the gibbon was coaxed back to his habitat after finding his bearings.

A long branch overhanging the open-topped enclosure may have provided Wilson with a path to the greater confines of the zoo.

He was probably stunned and disoriented after falling in to the moat surrounding Gibbon Island.

"The first thing he saw was land ahead and he went for it but it was the wrong side of the moat."

Gibbons cannot swim and dislike water.

"He was never in mortal danger but he was keen not to linger."

The gibbon escape came on the same day The Dominion Post revealed a list of 41 zoo incidents in a year around New Zealand.

They included a five spider monkey escape in Christchurch and a school girl at Wellington Zoo who managed to reach inside a cage to pat a cheetah.
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A male Golden Lion Tamarin has arrived from The Bronx Zoo in America via Auckland
 
Endangered Golden Lion Tamarin arrives at Wellington Zoo | Scoop News
A new arrival has touched down at Wellington Zoo – an endangered Golden Lion Tamarin, originally from New York’s Bronx Zoo, as part of efforts to help save the species from extinction.

The new male is named Bronx, in recognition of his former home. After a stay at Auckland Zoo, Bronx travelled to the capital to join Clementine, Wellington Zoo’s female Golden Lion Tamarin. After being introduced to each other over the last two weeks, they are now settling into their home together in Wellington Zoo’s Mini Monkey habitat.

“These beautiful and charismatic Golden Lion Tamarins are still getting to know each other, and Bronx is getting used to his new environment, so we’re expecting him to be a bit cautious and stay up high for the next few days,” said Paul Horton, Wellington Zoo Life Sciences Manager.

“Clementine arrived at Wellington Zoo in September of 2013 from Santa Ana Zoo in California. We have high hopes that this new pairing will contribute to the international conservation breeding programme for these little monkeys.”

Wellington Zoo supports Golden Lion Tamarin conservation through a partnership with Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado (AMLD) in Rio de Janeiro. AMLD champion a holistic conservation programme for Golden Lion Tamarins – managing the wild population, restoring habitat, and providing guidance for sustainable development in the region. They engage their community by building native plant nurseries and training local teachers to inspire kids to protect the native forests that Golden Lion Tamarins call home.

“We’re really proud to support AMLD’s work. We know successful conservation is about working together,” said Daniela Biaggio, Wellington Zoo Conservation Manager. “Protecting their native Atlantic forest habitat helps save Golden Lion Tamarins, as well as many other animals that share this environment.”

“However, the conservation breeding programme is just as important – Golden Lion Tamarins almost went extinct in the wild in the 1970s, but the conservation breeding efforts of zoos brought this precious species back from the brink.”

“It’s great that Wellington Zoo can be a part of that effort, and that our community has the opportunity to connect with these beautiful monkeys when they visit the Zoo!”

Wellington Zoo visitors can now see Bronx and Clementine in the Mini Monkey habitat, and learn more about these endangered primates.
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Notes from a recent visit

I visited Wellington Zoo on 25/11/2015. It was my first visit in three years, so I was looking forward to seeing all the changes. Obviously, the biggest changes are the addition of the ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Meet the Locals’ precincts, as well as the ‘Grassland Cats’ exhibit. As ‘Meet the Locals’ has not been reviewed on ZooChat yet, I will post that separately (see here: http://www.zoochat.com/17/meet-locals-review-432214/#post922585). This post will just be a series of updates and observations on the Zoo.

-The entrance area of the zoo is looking rather unloved now, with two of the three exhibits empty, although the five new otters make a great display for an entry exhibit. There are signs stating that a ‘Welcome Precinct’ will be built here soon, I look forward to seeing what form this will take. I think it will be a large (two-storey) building, which will bring visitors up to the lower zoo level from street level via indoor stairs/ramps, removing the initial steep paths that visitors encounter.

-The monkey islands and adjacent exhibits appear unchanged, and are looking pretty tidy. There are Agouti in with both the Cotton-top Tamarins and Squirrel Monkeys, the latter of which have even more offspring than previously.

-The Twilight (a native species nocturnal house) is looking very tidy, and the Kiwi talk was very good. I had no idea that Kiwi technically have the shortest beak of any bird species, as beak length is technically measured from the nostrils to the end of the beak.

-The centre of the zoo, including the Mini Monkeys, Hero HQ and other reptile exhibits, The Nest, and the Red Panda exhibits, are all largely unchanged from my previous visit. The Kea were still in their old aviary opposite the Ruffed Lemurs, whose exhibit has been renovated with much more vegetation. The Australian bird aviary currently holds Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Cockatiel, Rainbow Lorikeet and Banded Rail. A dragon sculpture has been installed near the Wild Theatre (http://www.zoochat.com/15/wellington-zoo-new-dragon-sculpture-432213/).

-The African exhibits were looking very tidy, with all species active and visible. The Nyala herd is growing, but I only saw one adult male on display, I wonder if they have the other males elsewhere. I hope the Zoo is able to obtain some more African Wild Dogs soon, their empty enclosure looks rather sad. But the new Grassland Cats exhibit - two adjacent meshed enclosures for Serval and Caracal are fantastic. Definitely among the very best exhibits I have seen for these species anywhere, with the Caracal making use of a climbable fence.

-Neighbours is the new Australian exhibit, at the very back of the zoo. It is largely a single walkthrough exhibit, holding Cape Barren Geese, Emu, Red-necked Wallaby and Eastern Grey Kangaroo. There are a couple of exhibits on the sides, these hold Eastern Water Dragons, Dingo and Tasmanian Devils. The Devil enclosures are excellent, I think these have been particularly well done. However, overall I am not a fan of Neighbours, the theming is yuck. Each species signage is based on an Aussie TV show, and the overall theming is very odd - I don’t know why they thought ‘suburban’ (down to astroturf and a trampoline) would be a good theme.

-The Asian precinct is now quite hard to get to, as it is not on an accessible loop, but rather at the end of an otherwise empty pathway (the Falcon aviary has been demolished and the old Sun Bear exhibit sits empty). But the relatively new precinct has matured very nicely, and looks better than ever. The Sun Bear exhibit has had the dividing fence removed, meaning both bears occupy a larger area. A Sumatran Tiger was sitting against the glass viewing windows watching one of the bears which was reclining in the climbing frame, which was great to see.

So overall, Wellington Zoo is looking very tidy, with most exhibits looking very good. The gardens and other vegetation are definitely a highlight. The entrance is not a great first impression, but it does get better. The Zoo is very up and down with its developments, some are fantastic, others make me cringe. Hopefully future changes give the Zoo a more cohesive feel and make it easier to explore, with more obvious links and routes between exhibits.
 
zooboy28 said:
I had no idea that Kiwi technically have the shortest beak of any bird species, as beak length is technically measured from the nostrils to the end of the beak.
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there are actually three different ways of measuring bill length, and all are equally valid (i.e. none are the "wrong" way to do it, they are simply used in different forms).

1) total culmen (i.e. from the tip of the bill to the skull)
2) exposed culmen (i.e. from the tip of the bill to the feathers [or skin] of the face)
3) tip of bill to the anterior edge of the nostrils.
 
Chlidonias said:
there are actually three different ways of measuring bill length, and all are equally valid (i.e. none are the "wrong" way to do it, they are simply used in different forms).

1) total culmen (i.e. from the tip of the bill to the skull)
2) exposed culmen (i.e. from the tip of the bill to the feathers [or skin] of the face)
3) tip of bill to the anterior edge of the nostrils.
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That makes sense, but why is option 3 any better than 2? In what situation would 3 be useful?
 
zooboy28 said:
That makes sense, but why is option 3 any better than 2? In what situation would 3 be useful?
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there is actually little difference in reality between the options because almost all birds have the nostrils at the base of the bill. The difference in measurements between the tip and the nostrils, and the tip and the skull, are fairly minimal. Usually bill lengths are used in discussion of feeding methods or species differences.

Where things get complicated if you are using the tip to nostrils option is in the exceptions to the rule: in kiwi (nostrils near the tip), jacanas (nostrils half-way along the bill), tubenoses (complicated nasal structure), cormorants and anhingas (external nostrils only as chicks), and gannets and boobies (no external nostrils at all [the nostrils open inside the mouth because they are plunge-divers, and hence they breathe by gaping]).

So if one wants to get really technical (in line with the kiwi example Wellington Zoo uses) - boobies trump the kiwi because they have no external nostrils and therefore no bill... which is just plain silly!
 
Chlidonias said:
there is actually little difference in reality between the options because almost all birds have the nostrils at the base of the bill. The difference in measurements between the tip and the nostrils, and the tip and the skull, are fairly minimal. Usually bill lengths are used in discussion of feeding methods or species differences.

Where things get complicated if you are using the tip to nostrils option is in the exceptions to the rule: in kiwi (nostrils near the tip), jacanas (nostrils half-way along the bill), tubenoses (complicated nasal structure), cormorants and anhingas (external nostrils only as chicks), and gannets and boobies (no external nostrils at all [the nostrils open inside the mouth because they are plunge-divers, and hence they breathe by gaping]).

So if one wants to get really technical (in line with the kiwi example Wellington Zoo uses) - boobies trump the kiwi because they have no external nostrils and therefore no bill... which is just plain silly!
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That makes sense, exceptions to the rule.
 
zooboy28 said:
I visited Wellington Zoo on 25/11/2015. It was my first visit in three years, so I was looking forward to seeing all the changes.
.
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I was there for a couple of hours on 22 November. There wasn't time for an in-depth look around and it was my first and only visit. I got the impression of a very attractive zoo but with not many species, some represented by just one individual. Maybe I didn't look hard enough? I'll upload some photos eventually.
 
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