Taronga Zoo Great Southern Oceans

well the pools are not really a feature the zoos want to adveritse. i mean, arcitectually, very unappealing to a visitor, unlike the clock or ele house. The original giraffe house is also heritage, but i dont ebelive it has a H. The map, remember, is just a thing for genral visitors. It does not advertise everything, such as all heritage things, the vet block, even offices will not be advetrised.

 

Just going by what the marine keepers told us, sometimes they have the wrong info though.

 

te big cat enclosures will stay largely as they are I think because of the ammount of money invested into them. they are one of the oldest exhibits on the site but were renovated quite extensively in the 1990s and i think they still rate highly amongst the general visitors.
they arent huge, but theyre not small either and the big cats breed well in them. perhaps better landscaping around the front of the exhibits might help to create an immersion sensation (although the pathway still needs to be big enough for a forklift needed to move animals in and out of the second story of the building), this combined with better interpretation etc would be wonderful. overall though i think they are quite good and will be excellent as a breeding centre for Sumatran Tigers well into the future.

 

IMHO they need to move one species or the other asap and knock out the middle wall, there was a whole lotta pacing going on...

 

they definately could be larger in size, but it would be best for them to maintain them as two individual enclosures to manage the animals better. i think thats the long term plan.

 

Whats going on with the GSO? I read or heard somewhere that the official opening date would not be until Easter. I thought it was to open towards the end of the month. Does anyone know when the public will be able to access this area?
Any other news from Taronga? I havn't been for a few months and won't go during school holidays. Has anything been done with the cassawories yet?
Were the Fordiland Penguin eggs layed a few months ago infertile? Zoo Boy, you are usually a good source of information about Taronga. Whats going on?

 

I have no idea, i know the public had access the otehr day to GSO, but not many animals in it as of yet. Anyones guess the is best guess!

 

The zoo is hoping to have the animals moved back and the exhibits opened before the end of the month.

 

I've seen this area from afar. It looks nice. Thanks for the photo Sim.

 

Will they be keeping the Califorian and Australian Sea Lions together..? Can they cross breed..?

 

the two male Californian Sea Lions are used in the shows. im guessing they will live in the off-display pools when they arent in the presentations. it would be illogical to keep them in the main pools, they arent really a Great Southern Ocean species

 

Checked out the photos it looks great... Imagine when the plantings take hold in a few years...

I hope Auckland Zoos next big project looks this good...

 

At Taronga today. GSO is ready to open in a few weeks according to a keeper. looks OK.

 

I know that for me when i visited in 1999, i was disappointed not to see the leopard seal that was kept at the time in an enclosure with underwater viewing, will the GSO have such facilities for their 3 leopard seals?

 

Yep- a huge glass vewing panel will be included in the submarine research vessel. It's huge from pictures i have seen, and looks extremely expensive.

 

when does it open to the public

 

Just rang taronga to ask when the GSO opens. Was told the 2nd of April.

 

That means I'll be able to see it when i'm up there for WYD and the 2nd of april is the day before my birthday.

 

taronga has announced GSO is now open....................