Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo Review

I visited Melbourne Zoo on 15.01.2023. I have been twice before, once in 2003 when my family spent the whole day there. The things I remember most from that visit are the variety in the reptile house, the lively Mandrill troop, the Butterfly House and the thing that was a favourite for all of us; Cat Alley. I remember seeing Ocelot and Bobcat among others and it’s a real shame it’s gone. I also did a flying visit in April 2011, arriving shortly before closing and making a dash just to see the baby elephants, Mali and Ongard.
I spent seven hours at the zoo on this visit and it wasn’t quite enough time to see everything. In my usual fashion, I criss-crossed all over the zoo during the day, but I have arranged this review trail by trail. I entered the zoo via the rail gate, but I’ll start my review from the front gate and work my way back.
It was a cool, overcast day following a very hot day on Saturday. Due to the weather I postponed my return home by a day, to visit the zoo when it would be more comfortable for both me and the animals. Unfortunately everyone else in Melbourne had the same idea, and combined with school holidays, the zoo was very busy. Still, it was good to visit again.

Gorilla Rainforest Trail:

This trail began with a walk-through for Ring-tailed Lemur. I was excited to see this exhibit as it was a first for me, and I actually didn’t know it was there until I saw it. The enclosure is entered through locked gates which can only be opened one at a time to prevent escape by the lemurs. It’s spacious and landscaped well to be aesthetically pleasing and good for the lemurs. There was a roped off area where the lemurs were. Most of them were huddled together on top of a platform for warmth, but a couple were on the ground. I was standing by the rope when a lemur approached. It jumped up onto the rope, almost touching me. At the entry there is a sign requesting that visitors keep 1.5m distance from the lemurs, and I always try to obey zoo rules, but I honestly just got caught up in the moment because it was so cool. It’s definitely the best look I’ve ever had at this species.



Ring-tailed Lemur Walk-through



Ring-tailed Lemur

Exiting the walk-through there was a viewing area for Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur. I saw two lemurs here.



Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur

Next was the Western Lowland Gorilla exhibit. It’s spacious and green. The first viewing area was open air, which I prefer to glass even if the animals are a little further away. Further along the path there was also a viewing window. I saw Kimya sitting on a platform in the centre of the exhibit, and Kanzi was slowly moving about foraging.


Gorilla exhibit


Kanzi

The next exhibit was for Pygmy Hippopotamus. It had two sections, with open air viewing and also a window which includes underwater viewing. The idea is good but I didn’t like this viewing area. With the trees all around and being partially underground, it’s dank and was swarming with bugs. It wasn’t a place I wanted to stay for long and preferred the third viewing area which looked down on the pond.


Pygmy Hippo

Next was an exhibit for Southern Cassowary. It works given the jungle setting, but I believe this is the exhibit which once held Mandrill, a species which would work even better on this trail. Phasing them out makes absolutely no sense. The Cassowary was sitting right by the viewing window, and was consequently drawing a crowd. Throughout the day the crowds did make it difficult to access and enjoy many of the exhibits.



Cassowary

The next section of the path was a boardwalk which passed several treetop exhibits for apes and monkeys. The first was for Cotton-top Tamarin and was an outstanding enclosure for this species with large trees and plenty of opportunities for climbing and hiding.


Cotton-top Tamarin exhibit

The next two were for Black-handed Spider Monkey. The monkeys were putting on an acrobatic show making them very popular. These exhibits are perhaps a touch small for their inhabitants, and the monkeys were making the most of every inch available.



Black-handed Spider Monkey

Next was good-sized exhibit for Emperor Tamarin.


Emperor Tamarin exhibit

The next two were for Black-and-white Colobus and White-cheeked Gibbon. They had screening mesh on the viewing windows which made photography very difficult, but it affords the animals some privacy so I’m all for it. I saw one colobus and both gibbons. The gibbons were on opposite sides of the enclosure but they both looked relaxed.

Descending from the treetops, there was viewing for the other side of the gorilla exhibit. I saw Otana snoozing from here.


Gorilla exhibit

Near here was a viewing window into the primate food preparation area. There was a keeper there weighing and sorting vegetables into various buckets. It was interesting to see behind the scenes and it adds something different to the zoo experience.


Primate food prep area

This concluded the Gorilla Rainforest Trail. It is home to most of the zoo’s primates with a sprinkling of other rainforest species. I love the lush, dense vegetation and it really does feel like being in a rainforest. It would be nice to see Melbourne Zoo grow it’s gorilla troop and make the feature species of this trail a more dynamic exhibit.

TBC...

 

Great review so far - looking forward to Part 2!

That’s a great point you raise about the primate food prep area: It pretty much never gets mentioned on Zoochat, and we Melbournians probably take it for granted and forget that’s it’s there when we think or talk about the zoo.

 

AKASHA your reviews are excellent. part 2 will be great, you take great photos keep up the great work

Is it just me or are the cotton top tamarins have been in back of house more often, I haven't seen them on both my visits

 

Great review @akasha! I look forward to Part 2.

To answer your question, yes the Mandrill used to live in what is now a Southern cassowary exhibit. They are in my mind one of many regrettable and illogical phase outs by Melbourne Zoo.

I’ve been astounded by the quality of many of Melbourne’s exhibits - especially the award winning Gorilla Rainforest, which was built in 1990 and remains a high quality exhibit.

 

Trail of the Elephants:

One of the main reasons I wanted to visit Melbourne Zoo was for the opportunity to see not one, not two, but three elephant calves! Melbourne have done a brilliant job timing these births, giving these babies the opportunity to have playmates their own age. I especially look forward to Aiyara and Kati’s future together as females in a dynamic, multi-generational herd. With this in mind, I headed straight to the elephants on arriving at the zoo, skipping all the exhibits on the way. I returned later in the day to complete the loop, but will discuss them in order for this review.

Located in the same patch of forest as the gorilla trail, the Trail of the Elephants creates an air of excitement as the path winds through the trees. Melbourne is a beautiful zoo, and this is some of the best of it. I especially love the stands of giant bamboo, taking time on my second loop to enjoy the towering grass and listening to it chime as the breeze blew.

The first exhibit on the trail was for Asian Small-clawed Otter. I think it’s point of difference is it’s forest setting. Otter exhibits can often look artificial and bland but this one fits right into it’s forest surrounds. The otters were entertaining as they moved around their exhibit in a single unit.




Asian Small-clawed Otter

The next exhibit was for Sumatran Tiger. It’s where the male Hutan lives. It’s big and densely vegetated, and I didn’t see him.


Sumatran Tiger exhibit

Next is a little rainforest aviary for Noisy Pitta. I didn’t see any, but there were two little White-browed Scrubwren picking through the leaf-litter. Presumably they are wild ones that have made their way into the aviary, but I have to say they are more engaging than a lot of zoo animals. I saw some wild scrubwrens too, but I’m willing to bet most people missed them. If it were me, I’d pop an info sign on there and feature them. Why not? After all, the pitta were no shows, and scrubwren deserve some attention too.


Noisy Pitta Aviary

Beyond the bamboo grove is the first Asian Elephant yard. There was one bull in here. It has a pool and elevated seating where a show could take place.



Next is the Butterfly House. Having remembered it from my previous visits, it was good to see it is still just as magical with the brightly coloured butterflies flitting all about and some blooming Cat Whiskers Plants. I was pressed for time at this point and didn’t get to explore it as thoroughly as I would have liked, but I did identify a few species such as Cairns Birdwing, Australian Lurcher and Orchard Swallowtail. There was also pupa on display, and part of this section was undergoing an upgrade.











Exiting the butterfly house there was a play area for the kids and several small exhibits for Lord Howe Island Stick Insect but they were all blacked out and the insects weren’t there which was disappointing.

Beyond here was a hub with a cafe etc. which I passed through to get to the elephant barn. Because I arrived early, the elephants were still in the barn and it was a great opportunity to see them up close and watch some of the husbandry that goes on with them. There was a volunteer here, giving a talk about the elephants and answering any questions people had.
I watched as the keepers tossed the elephants treats to lure them away from the gate so it could be opened to release them for the day.
Num-Oi and Kati were being held separately, while the rest of the cows and calves were housed together. Aiyara was keen to play with Roi-Yim but Mali is a very protective mother and wouldn’t let Aiyara near him. She even shoved Aiyara away with her foot quite forcefully at one point. Aiyara looked contrite for a minute but soon perked up again. She is undoubtedly the star of the Melbourne elephants at the moment. She’s a clown and was a real crowd-pleaser. On the other hand, poor little Roi-Yim looked rather miserable due to his overbearing mother.


Elephant Barn- Num-Oi and Kati


Elephant Barn- Aiyara and Mali

Once the elephants were released I moved to the outdoor viewing area overlooking the exhibit. Kati is still very young and stuck close to Num-Oi but I don’t think it will be long before she is getting up to some mischief with Aiyara. As for Dokkoon, she was totally content to let her daughter run wild while she munched on some breakfast. The volunteer said that once the Werribee exhibit is done, the main thing that will dictate the move is when the calves are ready.


Num-Oi and Kati


Aiyara, Kati and Num-Oi


Num-Oi and Kati


Mali, Roi-Yim and Aiyara


Aiyara

Having reacquainted myself with the elephant complex at Melbourne, I think it would be perfect for multiple Indian Rhino, especially the bull yard with the pool. Melbourne have a chance to feature an Australian rarity. Hopefully Hari will head south when he’s ready to leave Amala, and may even get himself a girlfriend.

There was a third elephant yard. The yards are connected via a race which crosses the path, and the possibility of getting held up at an elephant crossing adds a fun touch to this area of the zoo.

 

Next is an exhibit for Bolivian Squirrel Monkey. The floor was covered in mulch and I watched one monkey foraging for a while.


Bolivian Squirrel Monkey

The Forest Harvest Learning Space was located near the monkeys. It had a viewing window to an elephant exhibit as well as a few small vivariums. One was for Fijian Crested Iguana and Chinese Three-striped Box Turtle. There were also enclosures for Green Tree Frog and Boyd’s Forest Dragon, as well as some stick insects.


Fijian Crested Iguana


Chinese Three-striped Box Turtle


Green Tree Frog


Boyd's Forest Dragon


Stick Insect

From here the path led past a wetland populated by wild Australian White Ibis. I think maybe it used to be an actual waterfowl exhibit, but only has wild birds now.


Wetland for wild birds

The path lead up to exhibits for Siamang and Orangutan. There was a large viewing shelter between the two, giving close views of both species and of the orangutan indoor quarters. I saw three of each species which should be all the individuals that Melbourne holds.


Siamang exhibit


Indoor quarters for Orangutan


Orangutan exhibit


Malu


Gabby

On the way out of this trail there was a hut that was offering face-painting for the kids.

This concludes the Trail of the Elephants. It’s one of my favourite parts of the zoo simply because of it’s forest setting. The elephant exhibits aren’t bad, but it is understandable why they want to move them out of the city where they’ll have more space. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the complex, and fingers crossed it becomes the Trail of the Rhinos in the future.

TBC…

 

Great review and some great photos!

Good point about the forest for the otters - I hadn’t thought of that.

 

Wonderful review and photos, Nice to see pics of the elephant calfs.
I agree Indian Rhinos would be an ideal replacement for the elephants, No building costs, an interesting and charismatic species plus a young male at Dubbo should be looking for a new home about the time the elephants are due to leave. Also if they bring in a unrelated female it would form a badly needed second pair within the region, a win win for everybody!

 

Australian Bush:

I debated whether or not I should include this section in my visit as I was pressed for time but ultimately decided I absolutely could not miss the Great Flight Aviary. Birds aside, it is a spectacular structure and worth a walk through for that alone.

The Australian Bush began with an aviary for Blue-winged Kookaburra, followed by an exhibit for Koala. I moved through this area pretty quickly having my sights set on the aviary.


Blue-winged Kookaburra aviary


Koala exhibit

The Great Flight Aviary is an incredible exhibit. It’s a beautiful arched structure dating from the 1930’s and is full of lush vegetation along with a wetland. Visitors move through it on an elevated boardwalk. I’m not sure what species it’s supposed to hold at the moment, but I decided to do a bird list like I would for wild birds while I was in there. The aviary is big enough that it takes a bit of time to spot everything. I counted sixteen species but didn’t get to spend as much time as I would have liked to in the aviary.

Great Flight Aviary Bird List

Radjah Shelduck
Blue-billed Duck
Wonga Pigeon
Pied Imperial-Pigeon
Little Pied Cormorant
Black-faced Cormorant
Black-necked Stork
Cattle Egret
Pied Heron
Glossy Ibis
Royal Spoonbill
Buff-banded Rail
Bush Stone-curlew
Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo
Satin Bowerbird
White-browed Scrubwren

Are there, or have there been, mammals in the Great Flight Aviary? I thought some pademelons might be a nice addition, and in fantasy land some mouse deer would be amazing.


Great Flight Aviary


Black-necked Stork


Bush Stone-curlew

I raced through the rest of the Aussie section, passing exhibits for Tasmanian Devil, Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat and an aviary for arid birds which I did take a minute to check and only saw White-browed Woodswallow. The kangaroo walk-through at the end was empty as it was being renovated.


Tasmanian Devil exhibit


Arid aviary

I didn’t give this area of the zoo enough attention to make a fully informed comment. All I can say is that I love the Great Flight Aviary and it is a must-see at Melbourne Zoo.

TBC...

 

Great reviews so far!

As much as I’d love to see Indian rhinoceros, the orangutan exhibit is looking very dated compared to other exhibits and I feel like a refurbishment (including expansion into the area vacated by the elephants) would take priority.

This wouldn’t require the whole space - and with an aerial pathway being the obvious addition, there’s countless opportunities to introduce other species on the ground (likely within the South East Asia theme).

I see no reason Werribee couldn’t consider Indian rhinoceros in the future. They have North American species and are acquiring Asian elephants, so clearly are restricted to African species only.

 

I reckon they could expand the Orangutan into the third elephant yard, and use the other two for rhino. Very little would need to be done to the exhibits to accomodate rhino. There’s plenty of room to do both.

 

That’s potentially an option. They could then either hold a breeding pair or have a larger mixed species exhibit with Indian antelope etc.

If they do acquire a breeding pair though, I hope it’s an unrelated pair rather than being comprised of the young bull from Dubbo. If they’re going to the effort of importing, they might as well ensure some degree of succession (first generation calves could be paired).

 

I'm not sure how often you get to Melbourne Zoo, if ever, but the very last thing it needs to do at this point is consolidate yet more exhibit spaces into single exhibits.

The orangutan exhibit is odd-looking, but that's only a function of the rather idiosyncratic design notions in vogue at Zoos Victoria in the early 2000s. The complex is fully functional for its inhabitants and will be for decades to come.

Once the elephants go to Werribee, Melbourne Zoo will be in desperate need of a signature ABC species or two with which to remain relevant. Werribee will have the elephants and rhinos, not Melbourne, as well as both having gorillas, zebras, giraffes and lions - for the most part, displayed in more impressive exhibits than at Melbourne. The only real answer, given Zoos Vic is unlikely to want to undercut Healesville's own viability, is to heavily promote Asian species. Indian rhinos are the obvious fit for the space, not more of the same with orangutans.

Of course, and this is something that I wouldn't have dared suggest a decade ago but might be worth thinking about now... will there still be a compelling reason for Melbourne Zoo to stay open at all? It wouldn't take *that* much more development at Werribee to duplicate the remaining things that Melbourne Zoo does, and a blank slate might be the best way to undo some of the baffling choices made over the past quarter-century. The Zoo site could potentially be very, very lucrative.

 

Like it or not, zoos are increasingly following the trend of decreasing the number of species to provide those left with larger exhibits.

Yes, the orangutan exhibit is functional but is it world class? Myself and many others on here are of the opinion it could be improved and an expansion to allow the zoo to better showcase and manage a high profile species over the next few decades remains a strong possibility.

That’s not to say the zoo can’t acquire Indian rhinoceros. @akasha has pointed out they could occupy two of the three elephant exhibits; and I agree with you Melbourne will be wise to consider a high profile replacement for the elephants. This is what we all want, but whether we will get it is another matter.

 

Y’all know the real solution here, don’t you? Plant them out and get a bunch of Okapi happening in there. People would flock to Melbourne Zoo for them

 

I'm aware. The issue is that Melbourne has been enthusiastically leading, not just following that trend for 50 years, and doesn't appear to know where to stop.

 

I was told the elephant complex will be used for multiple species, so take that as you will. Indian Rhinos have been mentioned, and an Orangutan expansion has too. I don't see why the zoo can't do both - give the Orangutans a third enclosure where the first elephant enclosure is and give the Indian Rhino the other two. That would seem the most logical explanation imo.

 

Imo a combination of two is the best option, that is utilizing two of the current elephant yards as his and her Indian rhino exhibits and the third (most likely the bull yard) as an expanded area for Melbourne's Orangutans. The yard the elephant cows currently use should be more than enough for just one rhino and a potential calf.

My only issue is that Indian rhinos don't really have the space at Melbourne to run/get up to speed. Rhinos are like large puppies and do love to get on the trot every now and then, it's great seeing the black rhinos charging about at Monarto. Another consideration is how quickly the exhibit will date. I.e. will the rhinos be unsuitable for that exhibit in 10-15 years, just like how the elephants were?

 

That seems like it would be the best plan.

Tbh I don’t think the exhibit space ageing will be an issue as they can transfer one of the pair out (to Werribee or elsewhere) and double the exhibit size if need be. Perth Zoo did something similar by decreasing their breeding herd of five rhinos to two bulls. Their exhibit was adequate for the initial 1.2, but dated very quickly.

In the meantime, Melbourne will have a decade or more to breed this species and all going to plan, will allow Victorians to enjoy Indian rhinoceros calves until they cease to be a novelty.

 

Indian Rhino and orangutan expansion is the best option, you could even include blackbuk from open range zoo into the exibit