Join our zoo community

Hamilton Zoo Hamilton Zoo Day Trip/Review

Discussion in 'New Zealand' started by NZ Jeremy, 23 Dec 2007.

  1. NZ Jeremy

    NZ Jeremy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    13 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    1,086
    Location:
    Auckland, New Zealand
    Hello all,

    I went to Hamilton Zoo yesterday and thought I'd give everyone an idea of its layout and the updates since last time I went (two years ago)...

    First some history, the zoo opened as Hilldale Game Farm in 1969, the local council took over in 1976 and it almost closed due to lack of funds in 1984… Today it houses 440 animals on 25 ha…

    After entering there is a Children's playground to the left, this is next to a Parrot Court which contains Australasian, South American and Indian Parrots, including Luzon Bleeding Heart Doves, Yellow Bibbed Lories, Blue and Gold Macaws, and Galahs... The enclosures themselves were about room sized each, glass fronted and contained about 5 - 10 birds...

    Immediately in front of the entrance they a food bar and have the Owls and Raptors aviaries including Antipodes Island Parakeets (which have been renovated since I last went) and a section of NZ reptiles’ enclosures containing mainly gecko's and skinks, about 8, glass 1 x 1m...

    Slightly below this down the middle of the zoo is the Kea aviary which was of a good size and seemed well stocked with BE (it needed more fauna), there was a couple of small aviaries under construction up the hill from here. Then followed the Free flight aviary and it is one of the highlights of the zoo. 17 m high at the peak and filled with NZ native plants... The birds are hard to see but it is like bird watching in an NZ forest... Their calls are excited and when you see them they are behaving very naturally…

    The remaining exhibits in the centre of the zoo are the Red Panda's and the Agouti's... The Red Panda have a large enclosure approx. 10 x 15 m with a few trees, (including one huge one where they seem to spend most of their time)... The Agouti's enclosure has some small trees and running water, quite nice...

    Coming out of the free flight aviary and heading back to the entrance takes you past the two White Rhino enclosures (one large, one small), it is clay, and with a path that takes you close into viewing and then back out into planted areas as you head up the hill... A 9 month old Rhino was in the smaller enclosure (presumably with its Mother)... At this point one of the zoo visitors said, "What's that", to which his sister announced, "I think it’s a large horse"… Ha Ha…

    At the top of this is the Reptile House (generously named it could be also known as the Reptile Room) which contains about 7 exhibits including Tuatara, Eastern Water Dragons, some gecko's and I heard another interesting animal analysis, Blue tongued skink = crocodile...

    The Reptile House is by the entrance... Going through the previously mentioned Parrot Court you can go around the remainder of the zoo in a loop...

    After the Parrot Court you come to the Capuchin Monkey exhibit… They are kept in an octagonal cage approx. 4 m across and 7 m high, it has a retractable run going through to a small exercise room filled with BE equipment… There is a troop of 8 (that I could count) and the cage is very 1960’s… Not nice… As you continue around the loop you come to Black and White Ruffed Lemur enclosures (with same type of cage as the Capuchin’s, only smaller)… The cages had bark on the ground and a few stick and ropes between the bars…

    Further around there are Cotton Topped Tamarins kept in a glass house… The Tamarins looked to be in less condition than the ones at Auckland Zoo… A large administration block has been built here, which was not there two years ago… It is for housing the zoo records and there seemed to be some quarantine cages here too…

    Next were the small cat's… The zoo has Asiatic Golden Cat and Bobcat… These exhibits also appeared to be quite old and are basically a 3 m high by 5 m square chain link cage, they were quite well planted though… The small cats area of the zoo plus the small primate’s area are the most in need of an upgrade at the zoo… Beyond the small cat was a Ring-tailed Lemur exhibit which was quite spacious and very natural, again these animals didn’t look to be in as good a condition as Auckland’s…

    At this point you take a path to either the Chimpanzee exhibit or back towards the Free Flight Aviary which goes through to the Rhino exhibit, from this line back up to the entrance it is very heavy planted with NZ natives and the feel is that of going through a walk in the bush and happening upon exhibits…

    If you take the path to the Chimpanzee’s you go over a bridge which looks down on their enclosure… This exhibit confused me… The indoor area is excellent with baskets and shredded paper… It was well landscaped outside and naturalistic on a hillside with bushes and other foliage inside the perimeter... It appeared to be superior to the exhibit they were housed in at Auckland however the Chimp’s were kept in by chain link fence with 28 (I counted) hot wires..! The animals also appeared to be in worse condition than in Auckland they had lost much of their hair (over grooming?) and look bored out of their minds… My opinion is they need some features to get them off the ground and some behavioural enrichment which doesn’t involve food… As much as the Free flight aviary is a highlight, the Chimp exhibit was a low light for me…

    The lower half of the zoo is less planted than the upper half and has more of a feel of chain link fenced exhibit after exhibit; it is still relatively well planted… Past the Chimp’s are a couple of ponds for Water Fowl, they seemed to be more for native animals to fly in rather than exhibits as such and there was an exhibit off to the side which contained a type of deer species (no signs and I could not place them)… Going left as this point takes you down a spur off the main loop, past a new ablutions block and then past Alpaca’s which were kept in a corral type exhibit… On the left as you go down this spur are Wallabies and African Hunting Dogs kept in square chain linked fence exhibits, say 10 m by 10 m…

    The end leads to the Sumatran Tiger exhibit… It is fairly large and very natural and has a stream with a pond for bathing… There is a Pagoda with a glass front for viewing plus other clearings through the fence… It has some problems though, for instance the zoo has planted bamboo around the perimeter which grows as high as the fence and has been planted about 1 m out from the fence so the Tiger’s can hide whenever they like behind it and spend the majority of the day out of sight. There is no reason the bamboo couldn’t have been planted against the fence as in the Lion hill enclosure at Auckland Zoo… Both times I have been in the two years there has been at least one Tiger off exhibit pacing vigorously down a very small run at the back of the exhibit…

    Coming back to the main loop there is another spur off at the bottom, which is the Waikato Wetlands exhibit… This area has recreated a wetlands area and done so marvellously… The only animals kept here are New Zealand Falcon, a type of brown rare geese and off to the side Sitatunga… Like the Free Flight Aviary this is one of the highlights of the zoo… It doesn’t even look like it has been recreated and is filled with birds…

    Back to the loop and past Kune Kune, wild pig (where I heard a man say, “Well they don’t jump when you reach in and pat them OR bite like the sign says”)… There were three little piglets in the enclosure all with different coats… Brogla were kept next (in the lower of the two cheetah enclosures last time I was there)… Followed by two male Cheetahs (both appear to be juvenile and were from an Australian Zoo I was informed) in a spacious exhibit…

    To the right was a mixed exhibit of Spider Monkey and Brazilian Tapir however the pond (presumably for the Tapir) was almost empty and I could not see the Tapir (I was disappointed as this was one the animals they don’t have at Auckland that I had come to see), later enquires found that they are still at the zoo…

    The spur off this part of the loop lead to the Giraffe, Nilgai, Bison, Zebra, African Hunting Dogs and another Deer species (Asian it seemed to me, without a sign)… They were all kept in grassed enclosures with chain link fence… The Giraffe enclosure was mixed and not very suitable for animals of this size (the fence was also only 6 – 7 feet high..!), enquires at the info centre said that this enclosure is next to get the renovation treatment…

    This leads the loop back to the start of the Free Flight Aviary and the Rhino exhibit when it is a short walk back to the entrance…

    So what were the Pros and what were the Cons…?

    Cons:

    - There were some exhibits that were out of date and in severe need of renovation/removal, these include the Black and White Ruffed Lemur and Capuchin exhibits…
    - Some exhibits lacked clear signs of what the animals were let alone any educational signs…
    - Chain link fence is prevalent through the zoo and it is used in combination with hot wires in all primate exhibits…
    - The Chimp exhibit… However it may be something as small as providing ropes, chains, towers, toys and better nutrition (?) to fix this, (it was the animals not the exhibit itself that was the negative aspect)…
    - Many animals were hard to find in their exhibits (this may just be sour grapes as it seemed to be the animals I had come down from Auckland to see..! Animals not on display at my local zoo; Tapir and Golden Cat etc…)
    - Some of the animals were not in as good condition as their Auckland counterparts…

    Pros:

    - The Zoo has an excellent collection of New Zealand Birds and Reptiles, their (on exhibit) collection is far larger than Auckland’s (this may be one of the driving factors of Auckland’s planned NZ development)…
    - The Free flight aviary and the Wetlands exhibit are excellent and would be a welcome addition to any zoo in the world…
    - It feels different from other council run city zoos I have been to… It’s more like taking a walk through the bush and discovering animals in exhibits which is quite a neat feeling…
    - They have relatively good breeding record and most animals looked healthy, happy and entertained…
    - They had no Elephants or Lions… Some may put this in the cons category but it is interesting to go to a zoo that has neither and is still relatively successful… I cannot think of another city zoo that doesn’t have one or the other…
    - The staff was visible and seemed caring…

    So all and all it is a good little zoo… Sure there are things that need upgrading and there are no major planned exhibits but the lack of a budget such as Auckland Zoo’s was quite obvious, one gets a feeling of consolidation at the moment… I recommend a visit if travelling through or a trip down from Auckland, it only takes about 1 hr 20 minutes each way and the whole zoo can be seen in depth in about 3 hours…

    Here’s their website:

    Hamilton Zoo
     
    Last edited: 23 Dec 2007