went to taronga today...updates -saw Monifa, the baby pygmy hippo. she gets a bath in the main exhibit, ill upload pics next -new baby binturong on display, bringing the family group to 5 now -old sun bear enclosure below wild asia has been divided into two and landscaped with oriental plane, gingers, bamboo and conifer to create the new red panda exhibit -dhole seperated into single sex groupings. not sure if further breeding will continue until further holders can be secured. males in breeding exhibit next to hippo, the females relocated -female dhole rotated with sun bear as part of an enrichment program in the old lion caves, with dhole getting the day shift and bears let out at 3pm -Mary the gibbon is back!!! and going strong, and loudly -GSO looking good, but its going to take a few more visits before i get over its emptyness. penguins are breeding atm, wiping out one of the main exhibits as theyre pretty much all off display in their burrows. good news is Mr Munro the Fiordland penguin seems to be taking his job seriously -New Zealand giraffes arrived today in Port Botany -Thong Dee is clearly pregnant, developing quite a belly on her -second Malayan tapir exhibit is empty -Black Cockatoos in the old macaw aviary. Macaws in the old black cockatoo aviary, as well as Red Lored Amazons, patagonian, nanday and sun conures and red-fronted macaw. sign reads 'confiscated by customs'. -Tiquie, the Brazilian Tapir from Adelaide Zoo is still at Taronga. -CONSTRUCTION UPDATES -Talk of adding marine exhibits to GSO, alive or touchtable style -BULL ELEPHANT BARN-WOW. very big, very ugly, im hoping the plantings soften the effect. fences are up, moats are in. translocated trees, alive. the centre of the zoo looks as if it has been nuced. -as reported earlier, the old penguin exhibit and seal theatre has gone, if you stand at the top of the old seal pools a whole new vista out over the bull elephant exhibit has opened up. -cassowary exhibit??? fence posts in, and a concrete pad has been poured, maybe the footings for a holding area. no idea, but the upper walkway past the seal pools is closed for construction of something... -the old koala photo enclosure is gone... -carpark's upper level is on
Glyn, Taronga's breeding pair of Dhole are not full sibling. Might be wise to get the correct information before posting
Nice recap of Taronga, and I enjoyed the pygmy hippo and binturong photos. Why not take a couple of hundred photos one day and upload them all onto ZooChat? The new bull elephant barn looks ghastly from photos, and what is the final destination for the sun bears? Have they been moved around quite a bit over the years?
if the dhole arent related than i am keen to retract the post, but i was informed reliably so was only posting the information on that basis. so if they arent full-sibling, are they related? if you have other information you could always contribute further.
sun bear....they have only been moved from their old exhibit down below wild asia up to the lion caves, around 2003 i think from memory. and since then thats where they have stayed. eventually,they are supposed to end up in the bear canyon exhibit next to the food market. the last kodiak bear is looking very old these days.
I'm glad that Mary is still alive. Last timI visited Taronga there was no sign of her. She is such a character.
is this the first time the Fiordland cresteds have bred at Taronga? If so it would probably be a world first I should imagine
A good informative post glyn! I'm glad that Mary the gibbon is still (literally) hanging around. And you're right about poor old Bethel - she looks very tired. I think that this is probably her last summer.
She's in her mid-to-late 20's, so she's had a damn good run. The destruction of the old koala encounters includes the quokka ehidna enclosure next door and the construction of something new is not only taking up that area, but part of the Kangaroo Walkthrough aswell. And they are renovating the platypus tank - when I was there last week the tank was empty and the glass had been removed. Hix
i think someone has already posted that the koala encounter area is going to be turned into a temporary enterance while the zoo is revamping the current enterance.
A couple of things, Suricata is correct - the Dhole are not full siblings so it's up to you Glynn if you feel a retraction is required Sometimes reliable sources are not necessarily accurate and on this list serve there seems to be an above average amount of half fact versus half interesting rhetoric. Also Bethyl is actually looking pretty good with the summer coat and the warmer weather having a combined positive affect. She will be celebrating her 32nd birthday early next year so watch the news for that story. Glad people are noticing animals that don't tend to get much public attention such as the Binturong, the cub is now 12 weeks old and is a real show stopper.
haha sorry for the bum steer. i got the dhole thing wrong, but that was out of the mouth of zoo employee. as for "half fact versus interesting rhetoric", well, i find that interesting. i think that zoos are, a lot of the time, the best spin doctors going when it comes to facts and rhetoric.
Rule of Thumb: Talk to the keepers who look after the animal. Ignore the propaganda from management and PR. Hix
because until more holders for this species can be found taronga is not breeding. adelaide zoo is supposed to be coming on board with the program and long-range plans call for WPZ; there would surely be more zoos than that putting their hands up one would think, or hope. btw werribee has opened a new exhibit for hunting dogs; an all female group from monarto.
And you're right about poor old Bethel - she looks very tired. I think that this is probably her last summer.[/QUOTE] To everyone concerned about Bethyl( Kodiak Bear). Bethyl is very healthy and actually very active at the moment. She has just lost her winter coat and is regularly going for dips in her pond. This old girl will most likely be around for a few more innings!
