free range animals

free range animals
23-03-2006

When I was in Singapore zoo last year I noticed they had a lot of animals moving around not in enclosures. Mainly marmosets, tamarins, leaf monkeys and lemurs. I have also seen a T.V show about Auckland zoo. They had cotton top tamarins that where free range. Is it true that Adelaide tried this aswell? Does anyone know of other zoos that does this? I know most zoos have birds free range (peafowl, guineafowl etc) Does any one know of any other free range animals?

23-03-2006

Adelaide had teh tamarins free range but they were caged after many people complained about them stealing there food, then they left for alma park zoo

23-03-2006

Did one get eaten by a tassie devil?

23-03-2006

Yep, a female, tahts same tassie has also eaten possums, the bintutrong has also killed some possums

Wellington
24-03-2006

Hey Boof , ask Jay what his website title is , and check out the Wellington Zoo chapter in it . The photos are mine , but the script is Jays .

Although not exactly free range , Aucklands elephants often get taken for walks around the zoo during open hous on public paths , and Wellingtons cheetah cubs likewise . Both of the above animals are with keepers , but elephants at least are big enough to override keepers instructions .

To see a couple of elephants come ambling down the path towards you is something to behold !!

Many Australian wildlife parks have free range emus , kangaroos , wallabies etc

24-03-2006

whts jays website

25-03-2006

Singapore zoo's gonna have free-range orang utans soon. Several mature trees connected by artificial vines and rope nets, ringed with hot wire around the trunk, will serve as natural climbing frames for juvenile apes.

Free-ranging can't work in every zoo because of the behaviour of visitors. Asians generally are more reserved so Singapore takes advantage of that. If all visitors were able to show restraint, then many more animals could possibly be free-ranged.

25-03-2006

so it will be sorta like the orang line at tje National zoo (in America) where the orangs can go all around the zoo

25-03-2006

if you're interested my website is
www.angelfire.com/ab5/ozzoos
I haven't updated it in over a year (lost interest) but you might find it interesting.
Jai

25-03-2006

When my wife and I were at Singapore zoo (and Singapore in general) we did comment to each other that every body appeared a little more relaxed and less stressed. People spent more time at each exihibit and there was no noise. The crowds at my home zoo (taronga) seem to be always in a hurry to get to the next enclosure. Taronga is in my opinion a very noisy place. Maybe one day we might get to the stage were free range is an option. We do have walk thru enclosures,I guess thats a start.

25-03-2006

not quite the whole zoo, its more of a managed free range, where the keepers will still keep watch on the orangs. The free-range area covers about 1/3 of a soccer pitch, with several large trees about 15 to 20m high. Its meant as a sort of 'playground' for the juvenile orangs.

ANother problem with free-ranging is theft. There were instances of visitors trying to steal animals, the most recent case being an attempted theft of a parrot from a free flight aviary.

26-03-2006

having animals free-range always opens up certain possibilities of danger doesn't it? the dreamworld/australia zoo practice of walking tigers around with special paying visitors is in my eyes an accident waiting to happen.

then there is, as mentioned the possiblities of theft and greater opportunities for animals to injure themselves or come accross a fatal accident (like a tasmanian devil or an eagle!).

i believe perth introduced free-range squirrels to their zoo - and thus much of perth as well!

i think a great way around the problem is to have large walk-through aviaries for visitors for small mammals as well. like the woolami exhibit at taronga. a system like that would work great for marmosets, tamarins and squirrel monkeys.

26-03-2006

Yeah, walk-thrus are great but again the success of such displays depends very much on visitor behaviour.

We have lots of walk-thrus in Singapore, but it always pains me to see irresponsible visitors pushing their luck. Recently we opened a kangaroo walk-thru and during a feeding session this guy kept teasing the kangaroo by holding the food high beyond the roos' reach. i ticked him off, but he wasn't the least bit remorseful. At that point i really wished that the roo would give him a good kick in the groin.

Biggest problems with walk-thrus/free-ranging:
1.Indiscriminate feeding
2.Theft
3.Plain stupid behaviour like teasing/antagonizing the animals
4.Disease transmission (zoonoses)

As for free-range animals being preyed upon, it seems we don't have a big issue with it. We have wild pythons (retics, big enuf to kill and eat one of our wing-clipped Aussie pelicans), moniter lizards and birds of prey living in and around the zoo, but we've never lost any marmosets or tamarins to them. For some reason, our monkeys are more savvy i guess and avoid predation on their own. We do put out snake traps around their nest boxes as an added precaution.

26-03-2006

I agree with you Patrick. I would like to see a south american exbihit built in the same style as the wollemi walk thru.

26-03-2006

yes i agree, but it would need Jaguars and giant otters, yes