False Gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii) will be part of the new development: Sumatran jungle coming to Auckland Zoo Sumatran jungle coming to Auckland Zoo The sights, sounds and smells of a tropical Sumatran rainforest will thrill visitors at a new precinct being built at Auckland Zoo. The new Southeast Asia development will help people understand the impact of a major conservation issue, deforestation, which is affecting the habitats of species all over the world. In Southeast Asia this includes Sumatran tigers, orangutans, siamang gibbons, and small-clawed otters – species that will feature in the development. Zoo director Jonathan Wilken says, “This unique habitat will be a first for Auckland Zoo visitors. They will be able to experience all the sights, sounds and smells of a tropical Sumatran rainforest with the rich flora and fauna of one of the most biodiverse places on earth.” Most of the buildings in the precinct are designed to blend in with the landscape to allow visitors to feel as much a part of the animals’ environments as possible. An exciting part of the development is an $8.4 million climate-controlled building. This will offer not only sheltered visitor space, but also a stunning habitat for the zoo to introduce some amazing new species including Tomistoma (a large Southeast Asian crocodilian species), river turtles and fish that require a temperature-controlled environment. The new Sumatran rainforest will be the single largest development to date at the zoo and a $50 million renewal of approximately a fifth of its public spaces. Work is due to start in November and will take two years to complete.
that will be really great, if they do get Tomistoma. I wonder which "river turtles" they have in mind, or if that's just a throw-away description.
The new building sounds very impressive, essentially like a tropical hall, which is unheard of in Australasia (because they are generally unnecessary). This is a very exciting announcement, and not one I was expecting at all. Will be very exciting to see what comes of this, and how much they are able to fit in there. It certainly expands the scope for smaller species dramatically. If they have only just announced tomistomas then there may also be more they are holding back for now, especially among the smaller species. Presumably "river turtles" will be restricted to species already in the country, but I'm not sure what options there are really... Box and Reeve's turtles are an option but not really what one would call river turtles. Are there Pig-nosed turtles in the country?
I interpreted it more as basically an enclosed crocodile enclosure - I guess maybe like Butterfly Creek's saltwater croc enclosure - rather than a proper tropical house. It will be interesting to see what it is, if plans come out at any point. There isn't anything in NZ which fits an Asian "river turtle" label (and no pig-nosed turtles). The Cuora, spiny, leaf, and Reeves' turtles are all reasonably common in NZ trade but none of them are even remotely "river turtles".
I've heard/found that all of those but the Reeves' turtles are now pretty uncommon/rare in NZ. Though I've only looked in-depth for ~5 months. EDIT: By this I mean that all the Asian turtles are uncommon/rare apart from the Reeves'. Tomistoma will be great, though a new Import Health Standard will need to be developed. Pretty surprised they haven't announced Komodo dragons yet though, as they are on the Aus lizard IHS and were added pretty recently (2014) as I said earlier in the thread.
Reeves' turtles aren't uncommon. I've seen plenty, and kept them myself. EDIT: sorry, I misread your post. Leaf turtles are uncommon, but Reeves', spiny, and C. amboinensis are not uncommon.
Its costing $8.4 million though, surely its going to be a pretty huge building and it does say the whole building will be climate controlled and feature a range of species, not just the tomistomas... But yes, this is just speculation and hopefully we can find some plans at some point. Would pig-nosed turtles be importable? Or any other species of "river turtle"? Singapore should have plenty.
yeah, but Auckland likes spending huge amounts! But I don't know of course. A tropical hall type exhibit would be cool. technically any reptile except snakes would be importable (and even snakes have recently been pushed for again by Auckland Zoo, although any result from that would be extremely unlikely). They "just" need to be added to the relevant legislation, which is a lot of paperwork and money of course, but it would certainly be technically possible to accomplish for most species.
Auckland have been intending to get Komodo dragons for many years now - but that they haven't announced them for the Indonesia development almost certainly means that is because they will not be part of this stage of their planning. Instead they are supposed to be part of a later development called "Island Giants" which will basically pair their exhibit with that of the Galapagos tortoises.
TV One had a news segment tonight about the development and the orangutans moving to Orana (they will be leaving this week). Here is a link to the video, where a 3D model of the Wild Indonesia development is shown - looks very impressive and is worth checking out. You can see some of the exhibits, the basic layout and the design of the “tropical hall” building for false gharial. Construction will start before the end of this year, and the exhibit is planned to open early 2020.
Good news update, although did anyone notice the use of old footage of the orangutans? Looked like a young Madju. The final shot of the orangutans is the current trio going to Orana (Charlie, Wanita and Melur). The tropical hall looks very different to what I imagined. The word 'hall' conjured up a more rectangular building in my mind so it looks a bit smaller. Will be interesting to see what happens to the current tiger exhibits and how many orangutans they will accomodate, I can't see the Borneans and hybrid female returning to Auckland however, if they are planning to begin a Bornean orangutan breeding programme. Seems likely that Auckland (having held oranugtans for decades) would get preference over Orana for holding a breeding colony.
funnily enough, an article has just appeared today on that subject with Richard Gibson from Auckland Zoo: Should snakes be allowed in zoos?
Work on this exciting development has finally begun! I visited Auckland Zoo last week and there are construction fences blocking off most of the project scope (orangutan enclosures, old meerkat exhibits, central lake, ring-tailed lemur enclosure and some of the central lawn). The tiger exhibits are still viewable though. I made an update video of the development on my YouTube channel which you can check out below. It shows some of the work which is going on, though there isn't much so it's more of an informational video. Please have a look (the quality will be better if you watch on YouTube)
Are there any known plans for the lemurs? I suspect they may get a new exhibit (perhaps near the entrance) to open next summer as a new attraction to keep visitors coming in, and compensate somewhat for the construction of Wild Indonesia.
The 10 year plan on the zoo's website says that a new walk-through lemur enclosure is part of phase 3 unfortunately (2021 - 2022) along with a new entrance and function centre. I think we can agree that having a new lemur exhibit open next year to compensate for having a huge portion of the zoo blocked off would be much better!
I'm predicting a number of negative reviews on Facebook, with parts of the zoo closed off and no discount on the entry price. This was a common complaint from Taronga Zoo visitors recently with the tigers out of action and the snow leopards phased out. On the positive side, Auckland Zoo will in the future have an increadible new development with five orangutan exhibits! Interesting how they plan to house them with the siamang too in one of the exhibits. This has been trailled at other zoos with mixed results. Either way, this will surely allow them to establish a decent sized colony of Sumatran orangutans, as well as providing new enclosures for their Sumatran tigers, otters etc. Does anyone know how man macaques they currently have, and of what species? I see they feature in the new developent. When the siamangs move out of their current exhibit, this will provide an oppotunity to turn the rainforest area into a geographically accurate South American area which is also exciting. If only they can treat us all to some jaguars. *many
None. The last ones they had were the remnant group of elderly Bonnet Macaques which were off-display for years. They seem to have all died now.
Oh yep, I found an article from 2015 which said they had seven Bonnet Macaques, which at the time were housed in an enclosure backing on to the zoo's boundary wall. Didn't there used to be macaques in the rainforest many years ago (late 90s/early 00s)? Auckland Zoo used to have two species of macaque, one being Bonnet; the other being a species that was not Bonnet (Pig-tailed?) but either way, I see Crab Eating Macaques will be the species in Wild Indonesia so that will be exciting to see all the same. Do any other zoos in the region have Crab Eating Macaques?
There are still Crab-eating Macaques in Australia in quite low numbers (but some zoos are still breeding them). There are none left in New Zealand now.
I presume there are still macaques - crab-eaters, rhesus and pig-tails, in research facilities in Australia. Also New Zealand? These may be another source without having to go beyond the region.
