marks photos..

hey mark,

just wanted to say thanks for uplaoding the extensive range of zoo photos from your travels. i enjoyed them much.

oh and by the way, nice tash man!!!

 

Thanks Pat, They are only a few of the pics I have, yer I like the tash as well, hehe. I am back at work now doing my 12 hour days so I wont get very much time to be on the web for a while. I am hoping to get to Australia zoo soon so if there are any requsts from you guys out there for pis of anything there let me know and i do my best to get them for you,

 

elephants and tigers, a full documentation of both exhibits hehe, and if ya do any tours, back of house tigers is meant to be great. also any information on gorrillas, and expansion.

and a map, is it possible for you to scan a map in. i have never seen an oz zoo map

u roc, hve fun and peace out? hehe

 

I do what I can Zoo_Boy but not real sure as to when i be going yet, depends on work ect ect.

 

thts kool mark, its good thats some1 may actually be going to oz zoo, so when ever im not complaining lol.

 

whats with all the (presumably) native conifers at dubbo? i have never been there but every photo i look at, the place appears to be littered with conifers, making for an almost european rather than distinctively australian look...

 

I am real sure those conifer looking plant/trees were there areadly, The first photos taken there was in 1977 just a few months after it opened, I bet Zuki would know what they are?.

 

they are native cypress

 

and they represent a really important habitat for a number of nationally threatened species which live on the dubbo site including babblers and owls.
as far as horticulture at dubbo goes i prefer it when they just leave the cypress as is and build the enclosures around them. in places the cypress gets quite dense which can be quite effective. conversely some of the 1990s exhibits resulted in rather 'clumsy' horticultural plantings. i particularly hate the weedy plants like plumbaego and umbrella sedge, boh invasive species, that are supposed to give an 'african feel' but end of looking more like potential biological hazards.
on the other hand, the indian rhino exhibit (theres nothing wrong with the exhibit, or the rhinos for that matter, as long as they breed). the zoo has just used native grasses and casuarina to landscape the area, which combined with the terai landsape and ruined buildings looks fabulous. more of this, less of the chicken wire, copper logs and plumbaego hedges.

 

and whats a tach? is it moustache? lol

 

a tash is something special that a male can only achieve when he comes of age and has the guts to go out there and do it. many a man become so attached to their "tashes" that they feel naked without them and thus hold onto them for decades...

 

I could not of put that any better, 100% correct.

 

Just to say it was great to see Mark's archival photo of the Whipsnade Indian rhino dated 1972- by the fencing I know that this is the original Indian rhino paddock in the centre of the zoo and the rhino would have been either the original female Mohini or her son Manik- I'm pretty sure its the latter. (They were kept together for some years around that time)

Later that paddock, which was so churned up by the rhinos longterm usage that it was just a glorified mud wallow housed Congo Buffaloes for some years- but on my last visit I discovered it has now disappeared completely- no fence or outline trace of it left, just a grassy area instead.

 

Glad you like them, i have another pic of the Indian rhinos face with its top lip turned up as i was feeding it some grass, I can post it if you want a look.

 

Mark- no need- I've got several postcards of Indian rhinos like that...
But I've saved this first pic and will make a copy sometime (just for myself)- is that okay? I first visited Whipsnade Zoo when I was just a little kid(1950's) and the Indian rhinos in their quagmire paddock always made a big impression and on one visit I saw them chasing each other- probably courtship so Mohan & Mohini, their first pair, became firm favourites for me. Mohan was already dead by 1972, but the shape of the animal in the pic indicates a bull so I'm guessing that this is his son Manik, who unfortunately never bred.

And about forty years later I got to see them in the wild too...

 

hay mark yea still put it up, i would love to see al ya pictures!!!!!

 

Sure Grant make a copy for yourself, no worries. Ok Zoo_Boy i will post the headshot of the Rhino in the next day or so, hehe.

 

Thanks Mark.

 

No worries at all, hehe, your welcome.