Sydney Zoo $36 million zoo with roaming African animals planned for Blacktown

I just get a "subscribe to The Daily Telegraph" page from that link, no story.

EDIT: actually now I just get a "Page Not Found" page.

 

thanks, I got the link to work through "Claws out in Sydney's zoo battle".

When was the last time you saw Sean Connery? - Burgess looks like a younger version of him!

 

yeah that's basically a brand new site. Says they are planning on opening in 2017...

Lots of graphics on there for what the entire zoo will look like. I like how happy the baby gorilla and the chimps are - the chimps look like they're doing the Gangnam and the baby gorilla is just rockin' out. The siamang are all walking round with their arms straight up in the air, coz they don't care. The pride of tigers don't seem to be paying any attention to the nearby herd of Cape buffalo...

Anyway, I like how in the walk-through Australian enclosure the rock wallabies' hills are provided over the tops of houses (presumably nocturnal and aquarium) - clever use of space. Something really obvious from the pictures, and the video, is how almost everything at the zoo is purely ABC material - elephants, lions, tigers, apes, monkeys, zebras, etc. There may be an aviary in the Australian section, and they are supposed to have an aquarium, but otherwise the entire zoo is populated by animals chosen purely as typical zoo animals and which can be housed in "non-cages". I think it may be very popular when it opens.

 

I was just musing over the species line-up that the Sydney Zoo has proposed, with regards to whether they could actually stock their zoo from within Australia. The named animals are from their video, and I left out the Australian section for obvious reasons. Don't take the following as definites of course, it is just my thoughts.

"African Grasslands"
*Lions - lots of these
*Zebra - lots of these
*Rhino - I think they may be waiting quite a while for these!
*Hippo - they have already decided against these (replaced with Water Buffalo)
*Giraffe - lots of these
*Ostrich - lots of these
*Leopard - these would need an import obviously (none at all in Australia)
*Antelope - plenty of these about, with several species
*Cheetahs - they could get some from within Australia, but whether they will be able to is another matter
*Meerkats - these shouldn't be a problem...
*African Wild Dogs - I doubt they would be able to get these for opening, but as a future animal they shouldn't be difficult; there are a lot in Australia and they breed well.

"South East Asian Tropical"
*Sun Bears - I doubt they'd be getting these from within Australia, the only way would be if one of the exisiting holders wanted to off-load an old animal.
*Tigers - tigers seem like an animal which shouldn't be difficult to get in Australia, but I dare say they wouldn't be getting any Sumatrans and there aren't many hybrids left outside Dreamworld and Australia Zoo; I reckon they would need to import these as well
*Orangutans - maybe they could take the hybrids, otherwise no
*Asiatic Elephants - I really think would need an import

"African Highlands"
*Chimpanzee - probably no
*Lowland Gorilla - no
*Arboreal Primates - the only African monkeys left in Australia outside baboons and Mandrills are a few pensioner De Brazza's Monkeys, one troop of Vervets, and scattered Black and White Colobus; so, no
*Hamadryas Baboon - shouldn't be difficult to get a few animals

Other animals:
*Water Buffalo (replacements for Hippo) - easy
*Siamang (on the designs) - probably no

 

the graphics are in two lots (all on that same page). The first lot are basic computer cut-out shapes so everything is depicted as flat and green. The second lot are more realised. Compare the Australian walk-through, for example, between the basic cut-out look and the realistic look. Same enclosure, completely different appearance.

I think what they mean by "most advanced" is in a similar vein to where they say it won't be like "traditional zoos". They are going the route of "no cages" equals "better than a normal zoo".

 

I don't think those need to be worried about; like the Sphensicus penguin photo in that same document, or the Cape Buffalo herd depicted in one of their exhibit designs on the website, they are the faults of the artists.

But I do still wonder as you about how much research they did beforehand (or even still?), because of their seeming lack of awareness of how or from where they are getting their proposed animals. The hippos on their list was a prime example. It's especially weird because the guy behind it is from the zoo world (admittedly not "proper" zoos but still he should know what's what).

I had some more thought on this - I expect they will just go with capuchins.