Taronga Zoo What happened to the xxxx enclosure/exhibit?

I

Interested

Active Member
15+ year member
I've had a look through the threads in this forum and I couldn't find this information so I hope I'm not repeating something that's been discussed before.

I was wondering if anyone had information on the various enclosures at Taronga and the history of these enclosures. I'd appreciate your knowledge.


- Flamingos - I'm pretty sure Flamingos were displayed in Sydney. I remember they used to be housed in a small exhibit near a gift shop or kiosk on the way to the African Waterhole. When were they removed, and what was in the enclosure before and after the Flamingos? Last I remember it sat empty.

- Lions - Were the Lions always in their current enclosure? I remember maybe about 10 years ago or so the Lions were exhibited in what I remember to be a large pit with a glass viewing window at the top looking down. Does anyone have any information about that? Where was it and what is it now?


Many thanks!
 
the last remaining geriatric chilean flamingo is held off display. not sure what the exhibit held prior, but i imagine it was purpose built for the flamingos. they have been there for a very, very, very long time.

the lions used to be housed in the pit the sunbears are in. they will be returning when teh sunbears move into the kodiak bear exhibit when the elderly kodiaks die. i remember the white tiger being held in these pits back in the 90's also.
 
And i have a pic of JAGS pat, in that exhibit, very kool, lounging naturally on a log infront of window!

The old flamingeo pond i belive was opposite friendship farm, which is now wild asia. The pond was next to the kodiak bears, now that pond is a 600 seat food hall! Also there is interp outside the food hall to the old flamingo ponds i belive.
 
Thank you both.

The lions sure have moved around a lot haven't they, along with the other animals? (The Lions and Tigers and Sun Bears... oh my).

I remember when I was younger looking at the Flamingo pond wondering where the Flamingos were and wondering if my memory was playing tricks on me. It sat empty for a while and I always that that was a shame... but it was a good resting spot.

So does anyone have info on why the lions moved around and are moving around so much?

I do remember the Cheetahs being in one of the big cat enclosures sometime in... the past. Late 90s I believe... so that was one reason I think.

Anyway, thanks for the info.
 
Interested said:
So does anyone have info on why the lions moved around and are moving around so much?
Click to expand...

I'm guessing it has to do with Sun Bears being added as a species... Quite a sturdy exhibit is needed to contain these climbers (they have gotten out of their enclosure at San Diego Zoo a few times in the last 20 odd years), and so something had to be moved...

Why move the Lions..?

As a rule, as a species there aren't too many enclosures that Lions don't do well in or adapt too easily... In the Auckland Zoo gallery you can see some in Boyd's Zoo, in about 1915 - 1920, inside cages barely bigger than they are, here they breed amazing well (demonstates how hardy most Lions are I think)...
 
lions hav been moved aorund the taronga site a bit....in the late 1980s the death of zoo keeper Vicki Schreivener after she was mauled by a tiger led the zoo to revise many of its policies in line with keeping big cats, an eventually upgrade the exhibits.
in the 1990s Taronga did hold hybid Asiatic Lions for a short period, a US bred brother and sister pair who were supposed to be trialled at WPZ before WPZ acquired pure-bred animals. obviously this didnt go ahead, but in the 1970s Taronga did have a pure-bred Asiatic male.
by the late 1990s Taronga was lionless, until it got 3 cubs from the Mogo Zoo as the nucleus of a renewed breeding program.
on cheetah-Taronga did have 4 cheetah in 2001 en-route to WPZ. these animals came from South Africa and were displayed over the Easter Holiday period. since those animals left cheetah have not been on display.
Taronga has had, I believe, Sun Bear for quite some time. in the ealry 1990s it exchanged sun bears for American Black Bears and got a new pair. the current pair were rescued by the Free the Bears Group and did live for many years in the old rocky exhibit at the bottom of the zoo until they were displaced by construction work in Wild Asia.
hope this helps.
 
Thanks both for that, great information.

I do remember the Cheetahs... I actually saw them at Taronga (as I have just remembered... 2001 was that long ago).

And I also remember the old Sun Bear enclosure, near the old Red Panda enclosure on that long walk at the southern end of the zoo.

I'm just interested in how the zoo has changed in the past decade or two in the lead up to more changes coming in the near future.
 
Thanks.

I just located an old map of Taronga which I believe is from 1999 (and which I have uploaded).

It shows the Lions and Sun Bears in their old pits as discussed.

Btw... what is the deal with the Alligators? I saw the masterplan for the zoo via a link provided in this forum (not that I could make much from the image but still great to see) and read the discussions and I don't think the Alligators are going to play a role in Taronga's future. Is their enclosure one of the older ones on site?

There's not much that can be observed at the enclosure other than people reacting to the statue (which can sometimes be amusing).

There surely is an interesting story behind them. They just seem forgotten.
 
so funny you should say that about the alligators interested, and yes they have an incredibly interesting history.
but ill start with the most recent history----my last visit to taronga, when, in the rain, they put on a real good show.
ok, their current exhibit used to be a sandstone quarry back in the day, and was apparently linked in with the original creek which ran through the park.
its been used for alligators for decades and decades, the pit used to have an island in the middle of it with a sea of hyacinth around it.
anyway, in the late 1990s the two males and one female alligator left at the zoo were sent to Australia Zoo. only a pair came back, what happened to the second male i do not know.
the current exhibit, amazonia, opened in 1997,8 or 9, i can remember anymore. in the future it is supposed to be used for salties, fruit bats and tree roos to serve as an introduction to the australian biome.
last year, the female alligator actually escaped from amazonia. as for their future im unsure, only because i cant be bothered rolling on to the floor and checking all my info. im sure they have a place though.
as for the sun bear and lion exhibits.................oh back in the days of the old hand drawn maps of taronga zoo. weve come along since then ;)
 
Believe it or not, years ago the zoo's water meter was actually inside the alligator area (near the old quarry). The Water Board meter reader was instructed to read the meter in winter rather than summer, as the alligators were considerably less active then.
(Wonder what Occ. Health & Safety would make of that today?)

As for the current lion and tiger enclosures; when first built they were classic old-style concrete floored wild animal pits. The public stood at the top and look down at the big cats, which were fed by the keeper hurling haunches of meat down to them. (For those that don't know Taronga, these days these former pits are opened at one end, with glass panels, and you look in at the animals, rather than down on them.They are grassed and landscaped with shrubs, bamboos etc. You can now get much closer to the lions and tigers.)
 
most of you know that i'm a bit of a die-hard melbournian, but what you may not know is that since my father lives in sydney, as a child i spent almost just as much time visiting taronga zoo as i did melbourne.

glyn, your description just brought back an old memory - i remember the old alligator exhibit with its island surrounded by water hycinth very clearly.

i also remember seeing black rhinos in concrete boxes with iron bars at the front. where these the original great ape exhibits? i have read about?
 
Now, now, patrick, it's true that the black rhinos were in "concrete boxes with iron bars in front" as you so emotively put it, but remember that next to those holding yards was a large (i.e . the size of 3 tennis courts) paddock with trees and a mud wallow in which the rhinos were rotated each day. This was a successful breeding set-up for black rhinos, when the rest of the world's zoos were not able to breed too many of them.

The original great ape exhibits (now they WERE bad!) were located between the current condor aviary and the free-flight bird show arena. Concrete , wire fronted boxes, probably boring as hell. Funny though, the apes bred o.k in them. Probably nothing else to do!)
 
Patrick,

I am interested as to why the Lions might go back to the bear pit when it is available?

Would that be to allow more space for tiger?

Its been a few years since I've been to Taronga but from memory the lion and tiger enclosures are next to each other and both viewed through the tunnel.

Thanks

Tim
 
in the future lions will get a brand new enclosure. yes, this will effectively double the zoos capacity to hold tigers.
if the bear pit youre referring to is the current sun bear enclosure, then this could be an option but id say due to the timing of the tropical savannah development lions wont ever go back there. just a guess
 
If in future tigers are going to be housed in the present lion enclosure, then a bit of height will need to be added to the walls, or we will have another "San Francisco" on our hands.......
 
ARA, if youre referring to the half of Cats of Asia currently holding lions then the chance of a tiger escaping seems remote. especialy as the exhibit has held tigers on a number of occasions, most recently in 2006 when the lions and tigers had a bit of a swap.
when chester the white tiger was at taronga he always lived in the left hand side enclosure and the sumatrans were almost always on the right hand side......its quite safe man
 
Ara said:
If in future tigers are going to be housed in the present lion enclosure, then a bit of height will need to be added to the walls, or we will have another "San Francisco" on our hands.......
Click to expand...

I'm a bit worried this may happen at Auckland Zoo... The female Tigress is kept in a pit originally designed for two prides of Lions and at some points the wall looks quite low...
 
@Ara: Speaking of the San Francisco Zoo, the 4 tigers (3 sumatran and 1 siberian) and 4 lions have been locked into their tiny night quarters for 60 days. Apparently the new alterations to their exhibits have taken a long time to finish, but I feel sorry for the big cats in their puny environment. They haven't been let out into the refurbished exhibits.
 
I'm a bit worried this may happen at Auckland Zoo... The female Tigress is kept in a pit originally designed for two prides of Lions and at some points the wall looks quite low...

quote by NZ Jeremy

I have asked my contact at Auckland zoo to find out some actual statistics of the wall heights .

There is a hotwire around the top of the enclosure , but whether it is enough to discourage the tigress ......
 
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