I spent about 3.5 hours at Mogo Zoo this morning. The zoo is rather starkly divided into two separate parts. The older part, which you enter immediately from the front entrance, is characterised by fully-enclosed, steel wire cages for primates and big cats, as well as open-topped, colourbond-fenced enclosures for small carnivores. Third, there are no fewer than seven glass-fronted enclosures for callitrichids, and a (very) small reptile house. This section of the zoo is rather heavily planted, with mature trees and garden beds containing mostly native plants. The effect - especially on a morning like today, where there had been showers just before we arrived - is of a humid, sub-tropical garden. The best features of this area are the callitrichid enclosures - especially two that are collectively called "Callitrichidae Castle" and house family groups for cotton-top and golden lion tamarins. There are another two cotton-top, one golden lion, one emperor tamarin and one pygmy marmoset enclosure in a row that faces onto the otter enclosure. The cages are all generous in terms of space for the monkeys, have mesh above the glass windows (which allows for the ear-splitting calls of the monkeys to be fully "appreciated" by the visitor!) and contain live plants. The miniature primates were, in my opinion, the greatest strength of the zoo. There are no fewer than four red panda enclosures, each of which had two red pandas. These are all of the colourbond fence/open top variety. One had a large tree for the occupants, the others had a variety of climbing options but more or less at eye level for visitors. Two young pandas that were less than a year old were very active and thought nothing of climbing all over their keeper as she fed them at the keeper talk. Enclosures for meerkats and fennec foxes are both average in terms of size and quality. The meerkat exhibit is solid, but in my opinion marred by a poorly executed fake termite mound. The fennec fox also has a fatal flaw, though I'm sure it's there for good reason: a series of glass barriers along the top of the colourbond fence, angled inwards. The result on a wet day like we had is that unless you're very tall, you're restricted to peeking through the gaps in the glass panels to try to spot one of the foxes. The otter enclosure is badly in need of an overhaul. I may be prejudiced by the fact that only two days previously I'd enjoyed the excellent enclosure at the National Zoo and Aquarium, with its deep, fast-flowing pool. But the Mogo exhibit is still the poorest that I've seen in person (and I've been to Melbourne, Dubbo, Taronga, NZA and Australia Zoo to see otters). The pool is concrete, has no moving water and was only half-full... but worst of all is the large number of coins in the water that have been thrown there by members of the public. Why is this? Because there are signs in the enclosures asking people not to feed the animals (fair enough) but to "make a wish and throw a coin in the pool instead". I'm no otter expert, but I worry that new otters introduced to the enclosure would have a go at swallowing a coin. Now I come to the enclosed or mostly enclosed wire cages. Primate enclosures of this type were for silvery gibbons (a family group of three), lar gibbons (two) and de brazza monkeys (two enclosures, separated but with direct viewing of each other, for two and one monkey respectively). The best is the lar gibbon, which is relatively large and very high. The silvery gibbon enclosure (which is the first you see directly after entering the zoo) is adequate, but no more than that. The de brazza enclosures are small, covered in concrete and quite uninspiring. I believe the collection calls for de brazzas to be replaced with colobus. That's fine - as long as the colobus get one of the primate island enclosures found later in the zoo. Finally, there are the cats. These consist of two lion enclosures - one fairly generous in size for a male and two females, and the second tucked in behind it where I saw a single lioness. This enclosure was more or less adequate in size, but had no vantage point from which the lioness could see outside the enclosure as far as I could tell. Two large serval enclosures were probably the best of the cat enclosures in this half of the zoo. I think both were originally for larger cats. Neither is particularly attractive, but both are quite a bit larger than any other 'small' cat enclosures than I have seen. One had a group of three servals, the other two. I didn't get to see the snow leopard enclosure up close as there is apparently a new male snow leopard from Sweden that is being introduced to Mogo's female, but it looked more or less exactly the same as the serval enclosures. What is large for servals is fairly small for snow leopards. The worst enclosures in this half of the zoo were the three for tigers. All the tigers had access to water but they were FAR too small for large cats. They are what I would expect an off-exhibit area for a tiger to look like, not a territory suitable for a big cat for a lifetime. Combining the three enclosures into one would only make what I consider an "adequate" habitat for a tiger. The last exhibits in this half of the zoo are the reptile house. This is decent enough for what it is - large enclosures for a few large pythons and iguanids, with a particularly good open-topped rhinoceros iguana exhibit. However, the limitations of the collection - only two different 'categories' of reptile and only about 6 species all up, falls a bit short of what I look for in a reptile collection. It seems at Mogo that if it isn't a mammal, it's a bit of an after-thought (though to be fair, much the same thing could be said of its chief competitor, the National Zoo and Aquarium). The second part of the zoo is newer and a hopeful sign of the future direction for Mogo. This area consists of three large field exhibits, the new and potentially excellent chimpanzee exhibit, two white lion exhibits, a tapir enclosure and six fair-to-very good primate islands. The first exhibit that you see is home to a large herd of fallow deer and a couple of kangaroos (though I only caught a short glimpse of one roo). The kangaroos, with the exception of a coastal carpet python, are the only native animals at the zoo. The enclosure is large and reaches all the way to the border of the zoo, perhaps 100 metres away. However the deer all stick close to the fence because visitors can buy bags of deer food for $2. I'm always a fan of opportunities to interact with the animals, but to be honest the smaller herd of free range fallow deer at Halls Gap were more fun. The first of the white lion enclosures, "Timbavati" is a basic but quite nice chain-link enclosure, and generous in terms of size. The enclosure had three lionesses in it, and featured a massive eucalyptus tree that, it occurred to me, would make for just about the best gibbon enclosure in the country if it weren't used for lions. A second white lion enclosure further along the path is broadly similar, but not quite as picturesque. It used to be the African hunting dog enclosure. Mogo's savannah exhibit is currently split into three parts - the first for three pure Rothschild's giraffes (male, female and 9 month old calf) and two female ostrich. The enclosure is again basic but sizable, and giraffe feeds are offered at 11.45 for $5, which is better value than visitors from Canberra or Sydney would find at their home zoos. Immediately next to is another paddock that holds (I think) five zebra, and further off again, but disappointingly not able to be viewed at close quarters, is a smaller fenced off section that houses two scimitar-horned oryx. The newest - and almost certainly the most expensive - enclosure in the zoo is the chimpanzees. We only saw one chimp in the enclosure (I'm sure the other member of that pair was in there somewhere), so it was underwhelming, but it has huge potential once there is a decent-sized group of apes in the exhibit. The design looked like it was made out of sandstone blocks, with two large viewing windows and a decent amount of climbing opportunities. This enclosure will be worth returning for in the future when Mogo has an integrated troop of chimps using it. An adequate sized tapir exhibit has two different perspectives for viewing the pair of Brazilian tapirs - at ground level (where close-proximity viewing is possible) and from a podium above the enclosure. Finally we come to the primate islands, which consist of one very large and one small siamang enclosure, two islands for ring-tailed lemurs, one for ruffed lemurs and one for two spider monkeys. Most have a moderate amount of climbing opportunities (the large island for the family group of four siamangs has by far the most). These islands are reminiscent of the similar complex at Dubbo. Unfortunately at present you need to double back along the entire track back past the lions, giraffes, chimps, deer etc to exit the zoo, but hopefully this is only until new enclosures are built to complete a loop around. Tigers and gibbons, in particular, would benefit from such a development. Overall, I've tried to judge Mogo based on its own potential rather than potentially unfair comparisons to other zoos. On this basis, I give it a 6/10. The tamarin and marmoset enclosures, red pandas, chimpanzees, open paddock exhibits and primate islands are highlights, whereas the zoo is let down by several too-small big cat exhibits (mostly for tigers), an otter enclosure-cum-wishing well and a couple of ugly primate cages near the front entrance. I wouldn't mind seeing at least *one* bird aviary, perhaps for South American parrots in keeping with the zoo's exotic focus. There are a number of cages near the entrance that could work well for macaws, for instance. There's also potential for a greater variety of hoofstock at minimal cost. Overall, I have no doubt I'll be back to Mogo, but probably not in the short term. Pictures will be posted to the gallery, hopefully later tonight.
Last time I was at Mogo there was a macaw off display. The time I visited before there was a cougar. Mogo is one of my favourite zoos but I do agree that the first half does need some improvement. I once visited and there was a lion in the dens under the viewing deck, the whole thing shook when he called. AWESOME.
Today I visited Mogo Zoo for the second time, 3.5 years after this thread (incidentally, it was my first zoo visit of any kind for about ten months, which is a big deal for reasons I won't go into). The zoo is substantively similar enough that I won't do a full review, but I will revisit the post I made above. If nothing else,it's interesting to read it back and see to what extent my views have changed. First, the changes to the zoo. Species that have departed from the collection include scimitar-horned oryx, chimpanzee and American alligator. At least I think the oryx have gone - I didn't see them and there was no signage for them that I saw. Replacing them on the roster are the gorillas from Taronga, a binturong (also from Taronga), cheetahs, dingoes, radiated tortoises, a bearded dragon and a number of frog species. The full species list on display is as follows: Mammals - Gorilla, Lar Gibbon, Silvery Gibbon, Siamang, De Brazza's Monkey, Black-capped Capuchin, Black-handed Spider Monkey (though these were off display today), Cotton-top Tamarin, Golden Lion Tamarin, Emperor Tamarin, Pygmy Marmoset, Ring-tailed Lemur, Ruffed Lemur, Lion, Sumatran Tiger, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Serval, Meerkat, Red Panda, Binturong, Fennec Fox, Dingo, Giraffe, Fallow Deer, Zebra, Brazilian Tapir, Eastern Grey Kangaroo Birds - Ostrich Reptiles - Radiated Tortoise, Boa Constrictor, Carpet Python, Burmese Python, Rhinoceros Iguana, Green Iguana, Inland Bearded Dragon Amphibians - Green Tree Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Dyeing Poison Arrow Frog, Splashback Poison Arrow Frog. There was also a small fish tank with tropical freshwater 'pet shop' species in the entry building, but I didn't really look closely at it and wouldn't have recognised most of them anyway. As you can see, it's almost exclusively about the exotic mammals at Mogo. Substantively the zoo retains the 'old zoo, new zoo' dichotomy I described in 2010, but some developments have taken place in both halves. In the 'old zoo' one of the two enclosures that contained servals last time has been converted into a truly excellent larger cage for the silvery gibbons (who are now a family of four). It's probably about the size of the gibbon enclosure at Taronga, and has plenty of brachiating opportunities. I didn't see any of this group of gibbons at ground level, which to me is a subtle sign of a gibbon enclosure that is functioning well. I only saw one serval and it was in the other former serval cage, which it think originally housed jaguars. The snow leopard cage is, indeed, much the same as the serval one but whilst I think it's small, it's not greatly different to the snow leopard cages I've seen at Taronga, Melbourne and Canberra with the exception that it lacks much opportunity for the cats to use the vertical space available to them. In other words, it's fairly flat. The De Brazza's cages that I criticised back then are still in use, though both have had their concrete floors covered with substrate and each had a decent amount of furnishings to maximise the usable space. One still contains two De Brazza's monkeys but the other houses a troop of three ruffed lemurs. The gibbon enclosure that I called 'adequate' has been expanded and houses a troop of capuchins. Incidentally, all the new or expanded primate enclosures have a mix of wire and glass sides which is nice. The ugly meerkat termite mound has been partly obscured by a series of wooden platforms that the meerkats took full advantage of to watch their surroundings from. The old otter pool has been concreted over and replaced with tables and chairs, where I sat for lunch watching the gibbons. Incidentally, in this part of the zoo there's an ongoing cacophony of gibbons, lemurs and big cats which is great - I think the more glassed-in and spaced-out big zoos become, they become less audible for visitors, which is a shame. The new otter exhibit (which occupies the space vacated by the alligators) is quite nice, with a deep pool and running water. I note that three years ago I was very critical of the practice of inviting visitors to 'make a wish and throw a coin' in the otters' pool. Sadly this sign has also made the move with the otters. I don't begrudge zoos from seeking donations, but I don't feel it's appropriate to ask patrons to throw coins into an active animal exhibit. I withdraw the concern about otters swallowing coins - clearly that hasn't happened for so long that it won't, at least with these two otters - but I still feel it crosses a boundary that shouldn't be crossed. The other thing I criticised back then was the size of the tiger enclosures. I was wondering, before arriving, whether I had exaggerated how small they were but I think I was reasonably fair last time. There are three on-display cages (all in a row) and two of them had two tigers. I also caught glimpses of two off-display tigers so there are at least seven at the zoo. This brings up something I failed to adequately praise in 2010 - Mogo doesn't keep a lot of species but it keeps *lots* of many of the species it does have. I counted 7 tigers, 8 lions (in three groups, including both whites and tawnies), 3 cheetahs, 5 giraffes, 6 zebras, 5 red pandas, 11 meerkats and 7 radiated tortoises. There were also multiple groups of siamangs, ruffed lemurs and four different callitrichid species (of which there were a total of ten exhibits). So they're not only providing lots of spaces for program species (a valuable contribution) but they're also providing decent group sizes which means lots of interesting group interactions to watch. This deserves a lot of credit. At the same time, the tiger enclosures in particular *are* small. Especially for pairs of tigers, as two of the cages had. I realise they're not cheap to accommodate but I really do feel that if they're going to house seven tigers they need to build probably two new, bigger enclosures for them. The zoo still has plenty of land to expand - it can double in size, at a guess - and better tiger exhibits should be the next priority. But I realise it's a double edged sword - improving what they already have, in the absence of funding, might mean reducing tiger numbers. There have been fewer changes in the newer 'open range' half of the zoo. Cheetahs and dingoes have a pair of chain-link style enclosures that face on to a row of four very expensive-looking callitrichid exhibits. These are all concrete and glass-fronted affairs that look very nice indeed - one group of each of the four species present occupy these new exhibits. The 'Callitrichidae Castle' has been superseded to an extent, but coming at this time of the year I discovered something very cool about them. The cotton-tops one has a large tree contained within that bears edible fruit the monkeys were taking full advantage of. In-built seasonal enrichment - I like it a lot. The white lions have been split up to an extent. One pair are still together but a white lioness has been paired with a tawny male, and they've had two tawny offspring (somewhere under 2 years old) who carry the white gene. I didn't catch where the male cub is headed but he will leave Mogo and they will apparently bring a new white lion male from South Africa in a couple of years. I don't remember noticing one of the primate islands last time, but it's truly great. I love seeing primates with full, unfettered access to large trees and one of the siamang groups (I saw two) have a massive eucalyptus at their disposal, along with a smaller second tree. I spent a good ten minutes watching one of them brachiating right up in the highest branches. The red panda and binturong enclosures also have decent access to trees, and the new binturong was testing the carrying capacity of the highest branches in its enclosure (before deciding discretion was the greater part of valour). Finally, the very pricey looking ex-chimpanzee enclosure now contains the troop of five gorillas from Taronga. This is a very impressive exhibit of which Mogo should be proud. I had thought they had a bachelor troop like a Werribee does, but it's actually a fully-fledged family group with a silverback, younger male, two females and one of their young. I'm not entirely certain why they are on contraceptives - I guess placing possible male offspring would just be too difficult, but it's a shame because at the moment the group dynamic, like with many species at Mogo, looks very positive. In 2010 I gave Mogo a 6/10. This time I'm giving it an 8/10 - partly in recognition of the developments it's made, and partly from noticing things I didn't last time. I still think they should have a bit more species diversity - show me some birds, please! - and I would love to see them making a contribution to a couple of native species programs, such as Tassie devils and bilbies. But to each their own. I wonder if the near total lack of natives is as part of some non-competition pact with the much older Birdland Animal Park in Batemans Bay, which is only 10km away and focuses on birds and native mammals. Mogo is one of the growing troop of small private zoos, along with Halls Gap, Darling Downs and Altina, which are contributing a great deal to Australian zoos through importing and breeding exotic mammal species - in a sense freeing up resources for the major city zoos. They deserve our support.
Thank you for that great review. I haven't been to Mogo for a couple of yearsnow so it was interesting to read about the changes etc. I was very interested in your comment about hearing the animals, I hadn't thought of that but listening to animals is a very important part of understanding them.
As an addendum, I visited today with a 'non zoo person' friend who had previously gone to Taronga, Melbourne, Perth and the four Singapore zoos. So Mogo was his first experience of a small private zoo. I found his thoughts interesting: - He acknowledged that Mogo wasn't as 'pretty' as the others and that some of the enclosures were less photography-friendly, but that he couldn't see any indication that the animals were worse off as a result. - He felt that $29 for an adult admission was too high, but again noted (without prompting) that major city zoos receive a government subsidy helping them to keep prices lower. - He wasn't bothered by the lack of birds, native mammals or more than a handful of reptiles. He didn't mind the relative lack of species diversity at Mogo because there are plenty of ABC species such as tigers, gorillas and giraffes. He said he'd have felt short-changed if there were the same number of species but they were all smaller animals. - He found the unsealed paths quite disconcerting!
