New Symbio koala sanctuary to help save Aussie icon - ABC Illawarra NSW - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
2 Common Marmoset babies born in April - these little guys are VERY productive - 3 sets of twins in 18 months! A female Meerkat was introduced to the 2 boys in April. 1 male Koala joey (James) emerged in July - currently 10 months old and very active Male Tassie Devils now off-exhibit and 2 females on-exhibit Red Pandas - 2 females only now Eastern Grey Kangaroos - joeys in pouches now, some due to emerge soon. There are 3 tigers at Symbio - Cinta and Jalur the Sumatrans, and Kato the Bengal. The new Reptile House looks to be on track to open by the time the September school holidays start - LOTS of new exhibits happening in there - very exciting! Work is progressing on the new farm animals exhibits, and the lion, cheetah, and lemur exhibits. Just thought this thread needed an update... I visit Symbio every week... *grin* T.
I'm glad to hear the update, keep them up. We're always glad to keep up to date with our smaller Zoos.
Back in 2012 the newspaper article above talks about Symbio getting lions, zebra and cheetah. Did that happen?
Work is underway building the enclosures/exhibits for lions, cheetahs, and lemurs. The cheetahs will be the first to come. All this wet and wild weather of late hasn't been helping the building process... grrr! T.
Article about the soon-to-be-opened reptile house: First look: Symbio's new reptile house 'second to none' | Illawarra Mercury
That teaser photo is only that... a teaser... ALL of the exhibits are amazingly finished. Symbio is definitely one of the best "little" zoos around IMHO... big enough to have a number of exotics, yet small enough to still feel like you aren't being rushed to see everything. T.
Well... got my first taste of the brand new Reptile House at Symbio today... and all I can say is WOW!! It's even more awesome than I imagined... Every exhibit is immaculate, and the attention to detail is beyond amazing. Many/most of the reptiles were active and checking us out as much as we were checking them out... I think Symbio has raised the bar to it's highest level with this new addition to the park. I went in TWICE for a good hour or so each time today... *grin*... got me some nice photos too! I highly recommend any reptile lovers go check it out... T.
Silly me forgot to write down the list zooboy28... will have to do so next weekend when I visit again, OK? T.
Here's a Facebook link to some of the photos I took in the new Reptile House last Saturday... https://www.facebook.com/tracey.die...31725509878.1073741832.100001291721824&type=1 Enjoy! T.
I spent the morning at symbio today. The place has changed alot since my last visit. The new reptile exhibit is very good. They should be very proud of what they have created. The new cassawory, lemur, lion and cheetah exhibits will really help to improve this already great little zoo.
List of exhibits at Symbio's new Reptile House... Frilled Neck Lizard Pygmy Python Central Netted Dragon Boyds Forest Dragon Eastern Long-Neck Turtle Green Tree Python Albino Darwin Carpet Python Inland Taipan (Fierce Snake) Common Death Adder Tiger Snake Pink Tongued Skink Land Mullet Jungle Carpet Python Red-Bellied Black Snake Black Headed Python Black Headed Monitor Veiled Chameleon Green and Golden Bell Frog Olive Python Woma Python Diamond Python Cunningham Skink Eastern Blue Tongue Shingleback Skink Gidgee Skink Centralian Python American Alligator Central Bearded Dragon Freshwater Crocodile Rough Scaled Python T.
Article on the construction of the cheetah exhibit, set to house two animals from New Zealand: Purrfect cheetah enclosure underway as Symbio prepares for more big cats - ABC Illawarra NSW - Australian Broadcasting Corporation The article also mentions plans for a ringtail lemur exhibut, an Australian farm experience and an Indigenous walking trail.
I went to Symbio last week with my 3 year old son. As we were down near the old eagle cages a large llama came walking towards us. It was a big animal and really freaked my little bloke out. I walked over to a keeper and asked if he knew about it as I assumed it wasn't meant to be out. He looked surprised when i told him about it being out. He was about to radio it in when another keeper said we know about it. They then went back to their work. I still don't know if it was meant to be out or not. A little while later I heard a keeper telling another keeper something along the lines of "If they would just leave the animals alone they could stay out."It sounded to me that the keeper was indicating that the animals are allowed to roam and they are only in the cages because the public don't leave them be when they are out. I don't think I will be going back in a hurry. Maybe the keeper will get his wish if he keeps up his attitude towards the paying public. A zoo with no visitors and animals with no cages.
Hi Boof, Matt here, I Manage Symbio (along with a great group of people) Sorry to hear about your young one getting a fright from the llama, after about 5 years, they have realised they can jump a section of fence! We have fixed the area and have bought new fence panels, which will be installed over the next few weeks hopefully, weather permitting, amongst the other projects. I have spoken with the team regarding this, and no one can recall mentioning that, I was actually down there on that day, and the visiting public, although thinking they were helping, did hinder the process (by either not moving from the area, or some people were waving their arms to stop the animals when they were going exactly where we wanted) I'm sure you can appreciate, that those sorts of incident are very dynamic, and it's not a simple case of everything working 100% to plan Again, perhaps something may have been said in haste, but I will certainly back our team every day of the week, and if something was said, there would have been no malice. Its a shame to hear that you would stop visiting due to this reason, we are doing some great work, and if I had known that you were there on the day, and a Zoochat member, I would have enjoyed the chance to have a chat to you about your thoughts on Symbio, other Zoos, and the industry! Its also slightly disappointing, that that is the only mention of your trip. If you do decide to pop in again, drop me a line and i'll shout you a coffee and we can chat Zoos! Matt
