yeah i saw the two large moreton bay fig trees. there is a company in america that has become so good at transplanting trees they can now successfully relocate monsterous 100 year old oak trees with no damage to the tree whatsoever. but its a mammoth task, takes months and is a very costly operation...
Thanks Pat for looking out for the Sable antelope for me shame it was not seen, damm, lets hope its not to long before they start a herd, there they are stunning. In regards to the fencing of white rhinos at WPZ they have (at the front of the exhibit) electric fencing as well but then a step slope up to the walkway/road. It is good you gave Werribie zoo some input with some ideas i think more people should do this at least they can give them something to think about.
lets hope the do get some sable herd going - but who knows, its so hard to speculate all the time on what species the zoos choose to keep and species they choose not to keep anymore!
from the woodland park zoo thread.... they are very lucky and in a unique situation. in the future i would like to see them play up each zoos strong points, demonstrating clearly defined examples of what is to become a modern urban, open-range and native-fauna zoo. what's up next for werribee, i'm not sure. a masterplan doc that zooboy had a few years back seemed to imply that more facilities for the ever increasing number of bachelor white rhino was on the cards, as well as what may be a drive-through african wild dog paddock. a boardwalk down to the river (and hopefully with views accross to the main savannah) was the other project. a wise move as far as i am concerned would be to build a singaporesque baboon exhibit, getting that troop outta the melbourne cages and giving werribee a truly big attraction at the same time. utilising the views across to the pre-existing "arid africa" paddock with camels, oryx, addax etc, it could also incorporate some smaller exhibits for north african animals that need more spaces in the region. fennec foxes spring to mind, maybe some chameleons or tortoises - and the zoo could also copy singapore's ibex-in-the-background type idea using the regionally available barbary sheep as an equally authentic alternative.
The addax aren't with the Oryx and camels anymore because they learned to tip-toe through the wire cattle grates on the ground and follow the bus's through the open gate. So now they are in a exhibit of the road and you needa look through a chain-link fence to see them from the bus.
@Patrick: thanks for posting the Werribee information on this thread, as we were stealing space away from the Seattle Zoo on the other one. I just read your review of Werribee from May 2006 for the first time, and overall it was fairly negative. Your biggest concern was the lack of time spent at the establishment, and I wholeheartedly agree with you as I only spent about 2 hours at Monarto open-range zoo when I visited last June. All of those type of zoos are the same, with an hour bus tour and then an hour of walking around the smaller exhibits, gift shop and cafe. Then it's time to go home! By the way, have you been back to Werribee in the past two years...and how often do you visit Healesville? There are a small percentage of people here at ZooBeat that insist that visitors can spend all day at an open-range zoo, but that would really be dragging it out. It's totally frustrating to have to whiz by animals in an hour time frame and not have the opportunity to stroll around at ones own pace. The San Diego Wild Animal Park is immensely frustrating, as they have an enormous number of animals (around 3,500 on last count) but the monorail tour is again only the one hour. At least at that park visitors have the opportunity to spend many more hours walking around due to the larger number of pathways. They still set the standard as far as open-range zoos go. Shifting the hamadryas baboons from their old-style cage at the Melbourne Zoo to Werribee is by far the most logical thing I've heard for years, and anything would be better than their current accommodations. Any type of primate exhibit is fantastic for the public, as it can maintain interest for much longer than a herd of browsing ungulates. As long as the public can walk over to the new chimpanzee exhibit at Monarto then it will be a resounding success, as that can eat up at least half an hour of time. But if the chimps can only be seen from the bus tour then that would truly be a shame.
What are the attendance figures at Melbourne's 3 zoos? It was posted on here last week that Taronga has about 1.2 million visitors a year, and Taronga Western Plains Zoo has only about 200,000. Based on those numbers I'm guessing that Melbourne Zoo pulls in about a million visitors per year, Werribee about 400,000 and Healesville maybe 250,000. Those are just estimates as I haven't read any information on the actual numbers.
yeah i don't know the figures, i know melbourne zoo cracks a million a year. snowleopard - i have been back to werribee, relatively recently and was really impressed with the hippo exhibit. without doubt the best exhibit at the zoo and one of the best exhibits i've seen. also, it certainly chews up over half an hour if you know the zoo (and thus that there is little more to see) and take your time. no doubt this single exhibit alone has radially improved the zoo. a naturally filtering hippo river like this costs big bucks, so they are ahead of many other open range zoos in this respect and have sealed themselves a unique attraction (especially since a breeding hippo group are so bloody hard to come by in australasia!) apparently another baby hippo is one the way there and i think another was due for transfer from dubbo. with the old hippo dams still in a non-public area of the zoo, werribee has the opportunity to manage a pretty large population of hippos. i have high hopes for werribee. its got a great location nestled between victoria's two largest cities and only 40mins from melbourne. werribee park, in which the zoo is situated, also has numerous other attractions luring visitors there such as the mansion and its gardens. i think it will only continue to increase in its attendance figures. in addition its a new zoo, and definitely has that feel about it. there is no real replacing old exhibits at werribee, just building new ones. the zoo has also recently begun to invest heavily in immersion landscaping witch has given it a great "africanised" feel about it. i think its got a good chance at eventually becoming a world-famous open range zoo. a cheap addition that would keep visitors occupied that i am surprised they haven't yet got there is a walk thru savannah aviary. we have HEAPS of african finches, doves and parrots in australian aviculture. they could do something really colourful there.
Patrick you come up with some excellent ideas. This would be great and as you said it wouldn't be too expensive. Now if only we could get you on the board so this goes ahead. The hippo exhibit is great and certainly the BEST exhibit at Werribee (didn't like the lions that much). That they are breeding again is excellent news.
lions on the edge thankyou very much jay. i put it down to my creativeness i also wasn't that impressed by the lions. i'm all for cultural elements like the village and animal kraal (it would be all the better if it was designed in a way that was both authentic but also more hands-on for kids), but cram in too much stuff and a lot of the features get lost. you hardly get the vibe of leaving the village and entering the lions turf when there is an african style hut built as shelter inside the lion exhibit. its just feels all so cluttered to me. the most frustrating element by far is however, that the male lions can only be viewed from afar. originally the concept was of a kopje or rocky outcrop (something lions often bask on), hence the way the exhibit overlooks the antelope and zebra paddock below. each exhibit was to house a separate pride, thus it wouldn't have mattered so much if the second exhibit was far away from visitors - you would see males and females up-close nonetheless. i can only imagine the kopje idea was dropped to save money on mock rockwork, but provided its not overdone, and it would really improve the feel of the enclosure. i'm not a mock rockwork fan as you all know, but this exhibit is, unlike most, set up for it. at the very least it would provide a creative alternative to a african hut as a heated shelter for the lions....
Werribee sounds as if it is progressing rather nicely, but it appears that they definitely require a few more at-your-own-pace exhibits to extend the amount of time that visitors spend there. Being only about 40 minutes from Melbourne is fantastic, and having 3 zoos to choose from that are all quite different from each other is mouthwatering for someone like me up here in western Canada. There is the excellent Vancouver Aquarium, but it is at least an hour drive from my home. The Greater Vancouver Zoo is only half an hour away but is a poorly managed establishment that actually had its accreditation revoked for a number of years due to controversial husbandry and poor exhibits. They recently (as of last week) became accredited again and can now "officially" be recognized as a proper zoo. I try to stay away from the place as it depresses me to see the poor enclosures, and they only have about 700 animals. So the impressive Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle is my "home zoo", but to drive there and back is a total of about 5 hours round-trip. I visit every 6 months like clockwork, but needless to say I am truly envious of folks in Melbourne with the nearby zoos at their disposal. Not to mention the fact that the rain and occasional snow here make visiting attractions tough for half of the year. My wife and I have been talking about moving to Australia for over a year now (we spent 6 weeks on our honeymoon travelling all over Oz - 5 States and the Northern Territory) and so perhaps we will choose a location with a close proximity to captive wildlife.
ara - melbourne is practically tropical when you come from canada! and besides, the cold weather just gives us an excuse to wear nice clothes. thats why we are all way trendier than you northerner's!!
ha ha ha!! - what i love most was that you all admitted it! no wonder the water tastes so bad outta the tap. its all backwater! maybe stick to your "farmer's union iced coffee".....
IU can usually fill in half a day at Weribee, then I wander on down to the mansion( for old time buffs like me it is wonderful) and after that a stroll through one of the BEST rose gardens I have ever seen. So iit becomes a full days outing.
I'm just stirring you Melburnians; I've said it before and I'll say it again - Melbourne has the best animal representation of any zoo in Australia. (Notice I say "representation" rather than "collection" - so much more politically correct!)
