Zoo visit » Melbourne Zoo

Zoo visit
12-08-2008

Went to Melbourne Zoo on Sunday afternoon for a quiet stroll around. As always, an easy and enjoyable way to kill a few hours....Updates.........

New Pygmy Marmoset enclosure constructed in the rebranded, more generic (and less geographic) gorilla forest (it seems Melbourne is orientating the visitor experience away from an African rainforest and more towards a jungle within melbourne frequented by the famous gorillas and other animals in lieu of the departure of the pygmy hippos departure to Sydney). Fischers lovebirds in the aviary at the entrance to the forest, guenons in one of the old orang pits (with the rest boarded off), otter and carp in the hippo pools.
Tree shrews in the arboreal primates
Red Lory have been relocated from their aviary in TOTE to the aviary near the peccary
Ring-tailed lemurs in a nicely done-up island near the bears
No jaguar or clouded leopard on display, nor coati or 2nd red panda
Seal development site levelled and going ahead well from the look of it
Baboons still in deplorable enclousure
Patagonian Cavy replaced with quokka
Trail of the Elephants looked amazing; both the animal and visitor areas. Was blown away by the orangutan sanctuary.
Some redevelopment work is going on down in the old hoofed stock paddock, though im not aware what it is for. The old macropod walk-through has been closed, im hoping to extend the giraffe's enclosure and there is excavation to the left of the water recycling plant. Any ideas????
Small cat collection is....well.............small. A sign of the times I guess....serval, fishing cat and binturong. Gotta get used to it guys lol
Overall thought the zoo looked really good. Looking forward to the marine precinct opening to balance the zoo out a bit more, as currently all the really outstanding attractions are on one side.

12-08-2008

Nice update Glyn. I've never quite seen a zoo like Melbourne, where the overwhelmingly better exhibits are all stacked up on one half of the grounds. It can be disappointing to compare the two halfs of the zoos, but hopefully as you say the seal precinct will add a splash of life to the "lesser half".

13-08-2008

compared to the other zoos I have gone to (not many) Melbourne is a very unqiue warming zoo although it may not be as magnificent to the eye with Taronga or Singapore the exhibits have their own great vibe, I always love going there,