Taronga and Western Plains in the news » Taronga Zoo

18-09-2007

Perhaps there are some sour grapes there.

18-09-2007

thats my opinion too.

whilst glyn and i often knock heads over this one, and even though i see straight through some of the rediculous statements of the anti-elephant camp, i sort of have always had this "if the zoo was dumb enough to think people wouldn't whinge, then they deserve the flack" kinda policy.

they totally half-arsed it all the way.

Enclosure size
18-09-2007

The Taronga elephant exhibit measures a little more then 2,000 m² which is exactly 1/5th of one hectar (one hectar is 10,000 m²)

This is a quote from Yassa just a little while ago .

Auckland Zoo only has 2 elephants , and their enclosure is 4160 metre 2
Thats more than double the room for less than half the number of elephants !
for the benefit of any American members , a metre is very close to a yard

And Auckland elephants are regularly taken out of their enclosure to go for walks , to do heavy lifting/pulling work , to go off site ( behind the scenes ) to eat browse or just for a change of scene .......sometimes they seem to be out of their enclosure more often than in .
Does Taronga Zoo do all this for their elephants ( including the bull ? )

Out of interest , how big is the Melbournes new elephant enclosure ? I am sure that they have more room than Auckland

18-09-2007

i can tell you that if they do do it now it wont be for long. melbourne's bull is apparently very docile considering his age and sex (and he's bloody tall for an asian elephant too) but the zoo would never dream of walking him unprotected. it denies bulls a valuable enrichment opportunity which is true, but they are potentially the most dangerous animal in a zoo.


i can't actually tell you that, its quite small, too small. but what i can tell you is that the style of the exhibit and the facilities are in my opinion excellent. the 3 paddocks all interconnect with eachother in a circular fashion, so that elephants can be rotated very easily. one paddock is connected to a very large cow barn, which has lots of natural light thanks to a roof of skylights, another paddock is connected to a smaller bull barn.
both barns have smaller, off display "holding yards" ajoining them (with crush's). all paddocks have pools, though only one has a deep pool (i believe tarongas pool is better). essentially its perfect for managing a breeding group because of a high degree of flexibility it allows for. something taronga zoos exhibit lacks from the sounds of things.

now if only at least one of those paddocks was 10 times larger!!

18-09-2007

i have seen both facilities, the land size is roughly the same for both developemnts, but taronga encorperated more exhibits, melb has more interp such as the research hbut, a nice little village.

i think melbournes is best due to the rotation and variations in the paddocks, and just the whole manageablitly of the facility. i would have liked to see now what i have read about other ele exhibits. at denver, there new exhibit will have 5 paddocks, for 3 species (ele, rhino, tapir) more than 2 exhibit can be used at a time, for eg, they can connect the 3 back exhibits so they are all open to eles at once, or a mix of 3, but what im getting at, is that instead of using the visitor paths 2 move, the eles travel over via a bridge, therefore the whole facilitiy can be open, whilst the public is around. sorry a little confusing, see there site.

what does melbourne do? do the open the hill exhibit, and the bull exhibit to make alrge 1 for the females? or are the 3 exhibits, during visitor hours, always kept separate?


on this also, melbourne is better equiped form introductions, with a bull etc through the fence, just the mngmt of the facility overall i saw as great! i spent most my day in that facility and it was great, whilst taronga has more species, melb has a betta developed trail previous.

i hope i have made sense i have been having many diff converstaions whilst writing this, whilst in class! lol 1 month exactly to HSC!

18-09-2007

hmmm. mostly makes sense. though i think your comparing the taronga and melbourne asia precincts, not just the elephant enclosures as we are.

i would be keen to know your thoughts on size comparision between the spaces each zoos allow their elephants. ie - paddock size comparsion.

would i be right is saying melbournes barn is much better also? when i saw tarongas it wasn't quite finished, but seemed much smaller and darker than the melbourne version. i like that melbournes has all those sliding glass windows into the barn. it has effectly become another presentation area and works very well.

as you said Zoo_Boy, the bull and "hill" paddock (i think its now called forest paddock one) can be joined without blocking the vistor paths (for those that don't know the visitor path runs around the village paddock and thus there is elephant/human "crossings"), however it is not often opened up when i visit. the cows are often split into pairs, with dokkoon and kapah prefering eachothers company and the two younger cows haveing an equally close bond. of course they do all spend considerable time together as well and i have seen those two particular paddocks "open" for the elephants. i suspect they often leave certain paddocks opened up at night as i know the elephants are given access to outside most nights if they wish.

18-09-2007

Taronga also has openings in the side of the barn that they can open to let visitors see in. the openings at Taronga are also just holes, that is there is no glass or mesh or aanything, and the elephants are walked up to this side of the barn once a day so that visitors can watch them being bathed and also have a pat of the elephants. but i can say if this makes it better than melboure because i have never been to melboure zoo

18-09-2007

I think the barns in Melbourne and Taronga are virtually identical, the inside looks very similar and both have a similar size with 5 (if I remember right) medium sized stalls. And both barns are too small to house a breeding group with calves of different ages. I don`t think that each stall can hold more then one female with one calf.

19-09-2007

Went to Taronga with my family yesterday.(Full report later.)

A jaw- dropping moment occurred when Gung, rampant, mounted and attempted to mate Tong Dee. I didn't know he was old enough, but that big boy sure seemed to know what he was doing! He wasn't just playing around.

It was hard to tell from a distance if he was successful, but the whole thing lasted quite a while. People were photographing it; one guy even videoed a lot of it.

When it finished, Tong Dee was quite agitated, tapping her trunk on the ground and swishing her tail from side to side.

Looks good for the future, people!

19-09-2007

even though he may not have inseminated, that is a great sign that he can mount, but yet to see if he does the job

melbournes barn is bigger, it has fromw hat i know 4 'pens'. there is 3 about 15 times tarongas, and a huge one where they can act as a group. and as both, there is ability to open up the 4 areas to make 1 large one. i like melbournes barn, due to it's larger off exhibit afcilities, but despite this many people dont know taronga also has an off yard, which is rubberised floor, similar to the rest of afcility, out back, and is quite large in comparision, where all the elephants would fit.

i will talk more later, cause at the mom i feel crap, and have to get to skool!

19-09-2007

Move the Elephants. 17 Sep 2007. ABC Western Plains NSW. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

remeber it is the greens saying those figures, so dont belive it all! these are the newest hacks at taronga zoo, thansk Lee Rhiannon u crased oath!

19-09-2007

Pics of melb, just uploaded, more of taronag to come soon, i ahve many more taronag times as i ahve seen the exhibit about 4 times now! i ahve only been to melb once, and went to ytrail of eles 4 times through day, staying in the asia precint more a far part of day, just such a great exhibit, and needs to be throually explored, easily best ele exhibit i have seen (taronga, dubbo, melb) and from all otehrs i have seen pics of one of best in world, in my opinion.