I was looking through the Auckland Zoo history book which was published in 1992 and i was amazed at the species they had only 20 years ago that they no longer have eg, in 1992 they had: Polar Bear Cougar Wombat Leopard Does anyone know of any others?, I think there was black bears there at some point
Larry the camel was the last drom .camel at Auckland ( he died due to complications in surgery ) There were either black or brown bears ( or both ) Llamas .. Sunbears were not far from the Motions Road entrance and I recall several species of cattle in the early 70s , but I was too young to remember what they were . Chimps have almost vanished . There were also bison where the Australian walkabout is now located Do you have a copy of " A tiger by the tail "? That should have more species
Its true that the Zoo used to have many more species - in common with most zoos, it had a lots of animals in smaller enclosures. The approach in modern times is few species in natural(istic) exhibits with a focus on promoting natural behaviors and breeding. Several different species of bear - Polar, Black, Sun and Brown Bison, Bateng Various antelope - blackbuck, nilgia, Wildebeest and many more Various deer - lots of red and fallow Camelids - Droms and llamas Felids - jags, puma, cheetah, lion, tiger, serval, leopards, golden cats Canids - wolves, foxes as well as hyena (yes I know these are not canids ) Equines - various zebra and asses and even a Zonkey If you look at the Tiger by Tale or if you can get hold of one of the old guide books they come up on TradeMe ? New Zealand online auctions and classifieds. Browse, buy and sell online on trademe.co.nz from time to time) you will be amazed and the numbers and variety of animals once kept at Auckland Zoo. If I get the chance I'll list the original animal collection here for people to see.
I've got a copy of Tiger by the Tail I used it almost exclusively when writing most of the Auckland Zoo wiki page... The species Auckland has had over the years is pretty astounding...
Cheers, I'm very proud of it... It was only a few paragraphs long at the start and took about 20 hours of work...
