I didn't know where else to post it....... New on ISIS as Jwer has mentioned on another thread is the new guinea rainforest habitat. I has a very large collection of birds of paradsie and also has a pair of bennett's cassowary. Has anyone been? Is it a good zoo?
i think he's reffering to the rainforest habitat in PNG... The Rainforest Habitat it was a member of ARAZPA - but i'm not sure if it still is??
We were talking about long-beaked echidnas not so long ago on the 'animals you won't see in zoos thread'. Interestingly this place has them listed on its species list.
I've found this info on the international zoo yearbook One of the newer members of the Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria, the Rainforest Habitat began operations in 1994. Situated on ten hectares of the University of Technology's Lae campus, the site was originally a mixture of rubbish dump, tall grasses and a few scrubby trees. With help from the adjacent Papua New Guinea Defence Force Engineer Battalion, the site was cleared of rubbish, fenced and work commenced on our first exhibit, a 3,000 m2 walk-through rainforest, in April 1994. This exhibit, now four years old, provides an opportunity for visitors to see many of the more interesting aspects of the rainforest in a comparatively small and captive situation. The 11-metre-high structure is home to over 50 species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. There are 250 m of walkways that meander through more than 10,000 rainforest plants, around a large lake and island, over a waterfall, past a swamp and out through the gift shop. Since the rainforest aviary was established, several other exhibits have been either fully or partially completed. They include a part on-exhibit and part off-exhibit bird of paradise breeding centre, a long bank of aviaries for larger parrots and cockatoos, a two-species cassowary complex and an orchid and butterfly house. The Rainforest Habitat is home to one of the largest collections of birds of paradise in the world, with over 100 specimens of 11 different species. These include Stephanie's astrapia (Astrapia stephaniae), brown sickle-billed bird of paradise (Epimachus meyeri), blue bird of paradise (P. rudolphi), raggiana bird of paradise (P. raggiana), Emperor of Germany's bird of paradise (P. guilielmi), superb bird of paradise (Lophorina superba), magnificent bird of paradise (Cicinnurus magnificus), Lawes's six-wired parotia (Parotia lawesii), Loria's bird of paradise (Loria loriae) and lesser bird of paradise (Paradisaea minor). Also in the collection are vulturine parrots, New Guinea harpy eagle (Harpyopsis novaeguineae), catbirds, red-cheeked parrot (Geoffroyus geoffroyi), purple-bellied lory (Lorius hypoinochrous), blue-eyed cockatoo, palm cockatoos, bower birds, Brehm's tiger-parrots and over ten species of pigeons and doves. Although the mammal collection is not large, three species of tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus goodfellowi, D. dorianus and D. matschiei) are kept, as are New Guinea long-beaked echidnas (Zaglossus bruijnii) and Papua forest wallaby (Dorcopsulus macleayi). There are also New Guinea crocodiles in the rainforest exhibit, along with many species of native fish, reptiles and amphibians.
Sounds like a great place, and right up your alley, Writhedhornbill. 11 species of Birds of Paradise is exceptional in this day and age, although they are native to the place. Way back in 1960 (when I was your age) Taronga here in Sydney had 14 different species of B. of Para. on display. We won't see that again.
I'm afraid it's very old information. Rainforest Habitat have not been members of ARAZPA for many years - I'd be guessing that the information is at least 6-7 years old.
