Taronga Zoo Great Southern Oceans

new zealand fur seals, australian fur seals, australian sea lions, californian sea lions and leopard seals.....

and great southern oceans has just two pools.

sounds like taronga has a few too many pinniped species to me!!!!

 

most the fur seals are for shows, and the calfonians i belive will be going to the entance pool.

and i guess the fur seals will rotate a bit.

 

in my (very biased) opinion Taronga has a really good marine mamamals department. as patrick pointed out they have such a huge variety of seals including the only leopard seals in captivity anywhere in the world (according to ISIS) and with the new pelicans they also have a good marine bird department with especially with the fiordland crested which again are the only ones in captivity. its great to see that they are finally going to get the exhibit they need to show of this awsome collection to its full potential

 

i think the penguins in a better display will be a hit as big as meerkats, and will be the centerpoint of the new expansion

(after the show)

 

biased or not biased torie, taronga DO HAVE a very good marine mammal department. and yes, i am eternally jealous that they have leopard seal and fiordland penguin.

it'll be very interesting to see how melbournes marine precinct shapes up. we actually have two fur-seal species at the zoo, sub-antarctic and australian yet they are usually all kept together and only labelled as "australian fur seals". melbourne zoo doesn't breed its seals anymore and i wonder what the long-term plan is? one thought is that it would make sense for australian zoos to focus their energy on breeding australian sea lions, since they are the most endangered endemic pinniped. on the otherhand there is such a resonably steady supply of "rehab" seals coming in from the wild, that i assume would largely make redundant the need to breed animals. one artifact of this however is that when you rely on a stream of wild-born animals to fulfill display purposes, you may often end up with a very mixed bag collection of species.

but that seems not to be much of an issue, since many of the fur seal and sealion species mix well together.

but i do wonder how useful it is to continue to fill space with imported californian sea lions..... are they really THAT much better at responding to training?

 

When the animals take up their new home here (Great Oceans) what will go in their place, i.e. what is planned for the current area the seal species are in..?

 

As far as I know the old sea enclosures where Brooke (leopard seal) and James and Orson were is heritage listed so can't be demolished completely. I don't know what will happen to the seal show pools.

 

Heritage listed but they're not really suitable for animals anymore...

 

and thats the problem..... there are a cople of buildings around the zoo that are also heritage listed but tottaly unsutable for animlas like the onld elephant temple, its one of the big problems the zoo faces as it tries to update itself

 

I have no idea what can become of those pools either, unless they can gut the inside. Glad I don't have to deal with it it is a nightmare of a space.

 

apparently the old seal pools will be filled in to make a new grassed picnic type area, for children to play.

 

I guess Taronga is the Australian equivalent of London then?

Both are trying to modernise themselves, yet are restricted by heritage buildings.

 

taronga seems to have less restriction by size though, but yes, except taronga seems to be able to work around them a bit more, as it hasnt got 'pavillions' as such around, as i ahve heard london does. most things can be incorperated into the design, eg) ele temple, now mueseum is just one part of the new elephant exhibit to open end of 08, which includes a quite bold, and modern building, contrasting the pat and present ways of keeping elephants, also old aivaries can also be themed, such as the old moore aivary in GSO, which now creates a new entarnce, along with the old aquarium entance, which is now the entrance to the seal show!

 

taronga and london arent really in the same boat. for starters taronga has alot more space, and most of the heritage listed strucutres are still relatively functional.

 

oh right, fair enough

I've never visited Taronga so I was only basing it on what've read on these boards.

 

from what ive seen from years ago, i think i rember a waterfall, to link the whole zoo, like a watercourse runs through the park, then seal thetre, then gibbon lake

i dont remeber though properly, ages ago i heard about it, but yea, sounds boring, i thought it would make for a great leopard enclousure, somewhat like snow leopards!

 

I went to Taronga in September and remembered thinking that the changes I would like to see were:

- When the Kodiak Bears pass and the Sun Bears and Lions get rearranged, (Sun bears --> Kodiak enclosure, Lions --> SunBear enclosure) that the area from the Orangutan enclosure down to the Gibbon Island get earmarked for an Asian Rainforest immersion exhibit including new Tiger/Orang accomodation (I found the current Lion/Tiger exhibit outdated IMO)...
(Hope thats clear)

- The area from the food hall down to the Red Pandas gets updated/renovated including removing the big cat exhibit...

Does anyone know if any of this is planned, what is the master plan..?

 

I agree with you on the tiger/lion exhibits, but I can't see anything happening there for awhile. Interesting to see Taronga, Melbourne and Adelaide zoos all duplicate each other with Asian immersion themes within the span of a few years.

 

i would say the lion tiger exhibit is heritage, as it isthe original pits, just modified.

the sun bears are- moving to the kodiak enclosure, but the lions are egtting a new exhibit with the 2010 african precint (annual report 2007). when that happens the old lion exhibit, will be for another tiger, enhancing the opportunities for both dubbo and taronga to breed, by both being able to house a apir, currently, dubbo holds the male, when ever they are recommended to breed.

the area from the food cournt down to red pandad, will be a continuation of tropical asia (to tigers) then asian highlands, for thar, snow leopard, red apnda, some phesants, and dhole.

 

Are you sure about the seal pools being heritage..?

I had a look at my Map of Taronga from September and all the Heritage buildings/areas have a "H" surrounded in a red circle...

The seal pools were not one of them...