Taronga Zoo What happened to the xxxx enclosure/exhibit?

Just before you came up they were cutting back all the ivory around the top of the exhibit... Wasn't too overgrown and I thought it may be due to San Francisco...

Could you PM me the heights when you get them..?
 
they were cutting back all the ivory around the top of the exhibit



I wonder if all this ivory was sponsored by Kashin and Burma ? ( the 2 resident elephants ) :) :)
 
Well, thank you to everyone who gave some wonderful insights in this thread. I'm glad I asked.

Now, I hate to make suggestions since I only arrived here, but with so much knowledge and 'expertise' from members here, and with so many questions always posed, would it be an idea to have dedicated threads to each animal/exhibit at Taronga all linked in a sticky thread which acts like an index.

The idea being that when new members come, or old members are seeking information on, say the Chimps, they can simply click on the Chimp link in the index thread and be taken to the latest information as well as old discussions on the animals and enclosures rather than searching through all the threads.

I know that sort of happens here, but there seem to be about 5 threads talking about elephants, and maybe 3 talking about seals and GSO.

Just an idea, and all respect if it gets knocked back, but I've seen it work elsewhere and it's handy.

Maybe... maybe not... :o
 
Ara said:
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!)
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I remember seeing one or two black rhino at Taronga Park on my first visit there- circa 1990(?).

The original Ape exhibits were HIDEOUS(!!!) perhaps the worst I've ever seen in a major zoo (mind you, many zoos worldwide had pretty dreadful Ape enclosures in that era) from memory they were easily the worst enclosure at Taronga Pk. There were still Orangutans in them when I was there( the first time) I guess all three Great Apes once used to live there including the various gorillas Sydney had?
 
Hi all, Ive just registered here. Found this site while looking up the latest on the tiger escape at San francisco zoo. Im very interested in tigers and lions. Have found this thread about old enclosures very interesting cause from my childhood can remember alot of them, the old lion and tiger pits, the apes, the alligator exhibit etc.

I vaguely recall when the tiger zookeeper was mauled. Could anyone clue me in on what actually happened? Did it have something to do with tiger cubs? Did it happen in the current cages or was it when tigers used to be housed in where the smaller jungle cats are now? Someone mentioned that there were lots of changes and upgrades prompted by this. Any details?

Also very interested in any info on the tiger and lion pits and their setup. i can remember years ago looking down into them after they had been modernised and before all the plants grew and could see above the tunnel where people stand and look at the cats there was a cage like setup where I thought I saw a tiger. Is that their behind the scenes cages? I also rremember seeing some sort of chute - is that how they are fed?

I can remember the old lion pit which is now the sunbears having the current window and also another window which looked directly down at them. I think it was tinted blue and was that colour as thats the colour the cats see in. Think it used to have tigers at one stage? Way back when it first opened? Does anyone else remember something like this?

Also interested in the old elephant house. I visited Taronga in January and it looked like it was being turned into a museum display?

Man what a long first post. Thanks for anyone who managed to read through it all! Am I allowed to ask so many questions??
 
Zoointerest said:
I can remember the old lion pit which is now the sunbears having the current window and also another window which looked directly down at them. I think it was tinted blue and was that colour as thats the colour the cats see in. Think it used to have tigers at one stage? Way back when it first opened? Does anyone else remember something like this?
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i don't know where it was exactly, but on my first taronga visit as a real little kid with my dad, i distinctly remember viewing a tiger through a dark-tinted glass window.
 
@interested

I seem to remember someone mentioning (on this site) the mauling happened in the early 90's and was a female keeper... Google it, it'll be somewhere or PM the member Glyn (he one of the Taronga fanatics on the board)...

I went to Taronga last September and the lions and tigers are kept next to each in the pit style enclosures, lions on the right, tigers on the left...

I found the enclosures to be drab and very cage like (mock rock had only replaced bars)... The animals were viewed through (clear) glass, you don't look down on them, in fact the viewer is slightly below the animals... The tigers in paricular were pacing a lot...
 
I agree with NZ Jeremy in his assessment of the Taronga lion and tiger enclosures. When I visited in May of 2007 there was a decent amount of foliage in the background, and it was cool to see the big cats up close and against the glass...but the exhibits aren't really that large and seemed to be in renovated pits rather than new areas. The pacing of large carnivores is especially troublesome even in the best zoos.
 
I've never really thought they were that bad. Smallish but otherwise ok. Nor have the animals seemed discontented. I have some good pictures of the lions in the gallery.
 
You are right about the blue tinted glass. There has been some changes since then. Opposite the current sun bears you can see where boards have been put up. Behind these boards are windows that looked into the lion enclosure. There was a walk way that came out of the wall between the sun bears and the lion pit.
 
hey i want to see some photos of the apparently refurbed tahr mountain. has anyone got picks of that?
 
just so happens that i was at Taronga yesterday. I just got a new camera so i was taking photos of things that I wouldn't normally photograph. i have some of the Tahr mountain, but I don't think they include the renovations that pretty much aren't that exciting. All that has been done is move the fence to give the animals a little bit more space. The mountain is still the same. i will post photos in the taronga gallery.
 
just down loaded the photo on to the taronga gallery. It does not show the renovations, but I posted it anyway.
 
Hi just found this site and topic after a search. Went to the zoo yesterday and have a few questions - hope you peple may be able to answer. Whats happening with the old seal pools? What is happening in the front entry? Are there any plans to upgrade the big cats enclosures? Will Taronga get more lions and tigers at some point in the future?

Reading the previous posts in this topic I tried googling about the tiger zookeeper mauling and nothing came up. Could someone tell me what happened and where? And what the implications were for the handling of the big cats? What changes were made to their enclosures?

Thank you and I apologise if I'm repeating any questions.
 
Sorry another couple of questions. What happened to the white tiger? I think I heard years ago that he died? Where did he come from originally? Also did Taronga once have a black panther? Thanks
 
The tragedy with the tiger keeper occurred in 1980. A 33 year old keeper of 9 years experience went in her lunch break to (unofficially) photograph a litter of cubs born to a Sumatran tigress named Meta. She moved the mother into another den away from the cubs and went in to photograph the babies. Somehow the tigress got back into the maternity den and mauled the keeper. The keeper was rushed to hospital but tragically died early the next day.

Chester, the first white tiger seen in Australia arrived at Taronga from Henry Doorly zoo, Omaha in 1992. He was a big boy, weighing close to 200 kilograms, and about 11 or 12 years old when he arrived. He lived another 6 years in Australia and was euthanased when old age caught up with him.

As for the black leopard, Taronga had many black and spotted leopards over the years.(None now, unfortunately.) I think you may be thinking of the very striking looking black jaguar named Ali (after Muhammad Ali the boxer) who was Taronga's last jaguar.(none of them left, either.:() He arrived from Rotterdam zoo in 1979 and died of old age in 1996.
 
zoofan12 said:
Hi just found this site and topic after a search. Went to the zoo yesterday and have a few questions - hope you peple may be able to answer. Whats happening with the old seal pools? What is happening in the front entry? Are there any plans to upgrade the big cats enclosures? Will Taronga get more lions and tigers at some point in the future?

Reading the previous posts in this topic I tried googling about the tiger zookeeper mauling and nothing came up. Could someone tell me what happened and where? And what the implications were for the handling of the big cats? What changes were made to their enclosures?

Thank you and I apologise if I'm repeating any questions.
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the tiger incident was a long time ago which might be why you didnt get any links, I dont know exactly what happened only what i have read and been told so i dont really feel comfortable commenting in it. as far as changes to procedure i know that they now have to have two keepers on at least to double check locks, but i dont know if that happened prior to the incident.

the front entrence is one of the next big projects and is going to turn nto a large open plaza where peple can eat, take the sjy safari and ee a museum with out entering the zoo. the entrences are going to be at the water bird pond and near the koala encountours.

i think the lions may get a new exhibit in the africa savanna project but cant be sure
 
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