New Auckland Zoo Exhibits » Auckland Zoo

26-01-2008

@NZ Jeremy: Sponsorship of exhibits is a rare thing in North America, and I can think of only a handful of examples. At the Atlanta Zoo they have the "Ford" African Rainforest, and there are a few more that currently slip my mind. I was simply surprised to see a list of sponsors at Auckland Zoo, and usually major zoos might have at the very most one or two corporations putting money behind a specific enclosure. But I suppose that every little penny helps, even though that old adage doesn't really work in New Zealand as you guys have eliminated both pennies and nickels. Must be nice.

02-02-2008

I see Auckland have announced the birth of 3 meerkat, to one of the females brought in from Wellington.

02-02-2008

Wow, I didn't know it was so soon... One of the keepers I was chatting to a couple of weeks ago said one of the girls was pregnant...

Believe it or not that is the first successful birth at the zoo in over 17 years exhibiting them...

16-05-2008

From your pictures, NZ Jeremy, and all the information found in the threads...the Auckland zoo sounds very interesting and wonderful.

With the addition of Te Wao Nui, how much of the zoo would be affected with the movement of New Zealand species from other parts of the zoo into the new exhibit?

16-05-2008

About a third of the zoo's footprint or 15 acres...

After this project is completed there is only one area of the zoo (small consisting of avaries and stone walled enclosures for small mammals) which would not have been completely renovated since 1987...

17-05-2008

@NZ Jeremy: keep up the great updates on this zoo! I also really appreciate the massive amount of history that is on the wikipedia site, and I seem to remember that you were the one that typed all of that information in. The data is intriguing, and the year-by-year breakdown of the zoo's history is well laid out. Everyone should go to wikipedia to read about this zoo's past.

The Auckland Zoo reinventing itself since 1987 is commendable, and I only wish that many other zoos were continually renovating antiquated exhibits rather than building brand-new, splashy ones. One of my pet peeves is to see numerous new enclosures constructed in a particular zoo, while other exhibits have remained the same for countless decades. All of the big, commercially successful zoos have been opening expensive new exhibits while right next door there are pits and cages from 50 years ago.

Anyway, the $16 million Te Wao Nui sounds amazing, and how is the progress on what will become a third of the entire zoo? Has construction started, as it is supposedly opening to the public in less than two years now.

17-05-2008

All I basically did was get the book: A Tiger by the Tail, a history of Auckland Zoo and re word and write out the most pertinent information... Its an excellent book written by Derek Wood who was the director of the zoo for almost 30 years...

Heres a link to my wiki page which has links to wiki pages zoo ethusiasts may be interested in including the Auckland Zoo page:

User:ZoofanNZ - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On Auckland Zoo I think they are now seeing the results of having a masterplan and sticking to it for a few decades, demonstrating taste and using a value for money approach... By the end of Te Wao Nui the zoo would have spent $100 million (todays money) in 25 years and have used the money to upgrade the whole zoo...

Construction has began, the aquarium and large free flight aviary has closed, its hard to see what going on and it appears to be moving quite slowly at the moment...