the best I can figure is that they are saying that the animals at the zoo aren't just African ones (read, "exotic") but you can also experience native NZ wildlife there. It is more bizarre than the zoo's marmoset doll-house.
Meet the locals is finally opening.. Wellington Zoo's new precinct home to native animals | NZNews | 3 News
Wellington Zoo has a nocturnal house with kiwi quite close to this new development, but separated by some South American animal exhibits. Its a little frsutrating for someone like me who prefers everything perfectly geographically aligned, but there isn't an obvious solution to this at the moment, short of building a new kiwi house in Meet the Locals and putting exotic species in the existing nocturnal house.
here's an article and video about the opening of Meet The Locals, with the description "Wellington Zoo opens its doors to its new interactive petting farm". Wellingtonians Meet the Locals as zoo's new $6 million expansion opens | Stuff.co.nz
A Nyala calf has been born, this takes the zoo's (and therefore Australasia's) population to 8 (2.4.2) I think.
On Tuesday Vilson the White Cheeked Gibbon escaped his enclosure and tranquilises a spider monkey by accident. Wellington Zoo tranquilises a spider monkey by accident | Stuff.co.nz
that article is here: Safety breach at Wellington Zoo as schoolgirl reaches into cage to pat cheetah | Stuff.co.nz
Notes from a recent visit I visited Wellington Zoo on 25/11/2015. It was my first visit in three years, so I was looking forward to seeing all the changes. Obviously, the biggest changes are the addition of the ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Meet the Locals’ precincts, as well as the ‘Grassland Cats’ exhibit. As ‘Meet the Locals’ has not been reviewed on ZooChat yet, I will post that separately (see here: http://www.zoochat.com/17/meet-locals-review-432214/#post922585). This post will just be a series of updates and observations on the Zoo. -The entrance area of the zoo is looking rather unloved now, with two of the three exhibits empty, although the five new otters make a great display for an entry exhibit. There are signs stating that a ‘Welcome Precinct’ will be built here soon, I look forward to seeing what form this will take. I think it will be a large (two-storey) building, which will bring visitors up to the lower zoo level from street level via indoor stairs/ramps, removing the initial steep paths that visitors encounter. -The monkey islands and adjacent exhibits appear unchanged, and are looking pretty tidy. There are Agouti in with both the Cotton-top Tamarins and Squirrel Monkeys, the latter of which have even more offspring than previously. -The Twilight (a native species nocturnal house) is looking very tidy, and the Kiwi talk was very good. I had no idea that Kiwi technically have the shortest beak of any bird species, as beak length is technically measured from the nostrils to the end of the beak. -The centre of the zoo, including the Mini Monkeys, Hero HQ and other reptile exhibits, The Nest, and the Red Panda exhibits, are all largely unchanged from my previous visit. The Kea were still in their old aviary opposite the Ruffed Lemurs, whose exhibit has been renovated with much more vegetation. The Australian bird aviary currently holds Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Cockatiel, Rainbow Lorikeet and Banded Rail. A dragon sculpture has been installed near the Wild Theatre (http://www.zoochat.com/15/wellington-zoo-new-dragon-sculpture-432213/). -The African exhibits were looking very tidy, with all species active and visible. The Nyala herd is growing, but I only saw one adult male on display, I wonder if they have the other males elsewhere. I hope the Zoo is able to obtain some more African Wild Dogs soon, their empty enclosure looks rather sad. But the new Grassland Cats exhibit - two adjacent meshed enclosures for Serval and Caracal are fantastic. Definitely among the very best exhibits I have seen for these species anywhere, with the Caracal making use of a climbable fence. -Neighbours is the new Australian exhibit, at the very back of the zoo. It is largely a single walkthrough exhibit, holding Cape Barren Geese, Emu, Red-necked Wallaby and Eastern Grey Kangaroo. There are a couple of exhibits on the sides, these hold Eastern Water Dragons, Dingo and Tasmanian Devils. The Devil enclosures are excellent, I think these have been particularly well done. However, overall I am not a fan of Neighbours, the theming is yuck. Each species signage is based on an Aussie TV show, and the overall theming is very odd - I don’t know why they thought ‘suburban’ (down to astroturf and a trampoline) would be a good theme. -The Asian precinct is now quite hard to get to, as it is not on an accessible loop, but rather at the end of an otherwise empty pathway (the Falcon aviary has been demolished and the old Sun Bear exhibit sits empty). But the relatively new precinct has matured very nicely, and looks better than ever. The Sun Bear exhibit has had the dividing fence removed, meaning both bears occupy a larger area. A Sumatran Tiger was sitting against the glass viewing windows watching one of the bears which was reclining in the climbing frame, which was great to see. So overall, Wellington Zoo is looking very tidy, with most exhibits looking very good. The gardens and other vegetation are definitely a highlight. The entrance is not a great first impression, but it does get better. The Zoo is very up and down with its developments, some are fantastic, others make me cringe. Hopefully future changes give the Zoo a more cohesive feel and make it easier to explore, with more obvious links and routes between exhibits.
there are actually three different ways of measuring bill length, and all are equally valid (i.e. none are the "wrong" way to do it, they are simply used in different forms). 1) total culmen (i.e. from the tip of the bill to the skull) 2) exposed culmen (i.e. from the tip of the bill to the feathers [or skin] of the face) 3) tip of bill to the anterior edge of the nostrils.
there is actually little difference in reality between the options because almost all birds have the nostrils at the base of the bill. The difference in measurements between the tip and the nostrils, and the tip and the skull, are fairly minimal. Usually bill lengths are used in discussion of feeding methods or species differences. Where things get complicated if you are using the tip to nostrils option is in the exceptions to the rule: in kiwi (nostrils near the tip), jacanas (nostrils half-way along the bill), tubenoses (complicated nasal structure), cormorants and anhingas (external nostrils only as chicks), and gannets and boobies (no external nostrils at all [the nostrils open inside the mouth because they are plunge-divers, and hence they breathe by gaping]). So if one wants to get really technical (in line with the kiwi example Wellington Zoo uses) - boobies trump the kiwi because they have no external nostrils and therefore no bill... which is just plain silly!
I was there for a couple of hours on 22 November. There wasn't time for an in-depth look around and it was my first and only visit. I got the impression of a very attractive zoo but with not many species, some represented by just one individual. Maybe I didn't look hard enough? I'll upload some photos eventually.
