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Zoo Zoo Zoo
Went to the zoo today to renew my membership. Got lots of photos.
Black swan was nesting in the wetlands exhibit and the dusky moorhens were making quite a racket. Also snapped some photos of pretty pied herons. Not sure if the male tiger there was Calang or the male cub. Looked slightly smaller and less gaunt than Calang, and the sign said he was related to the two females. But I also heard that the male cub was going elsewhere soon if not already. So, either it's the cub, who IS related to the mother and the other female cub, and Calang is elsewhere. Or it's Calang, who technically isn't related to the female. *shrug* Meerkats are still in Mungo's old exhibit too so I guess he did go to the big savannah in the sky. They are extending the savannah exhibit so maybe they'll get another serval someday. Kitoko!!! She was pacing around the perimeter of her enclosure and something had her attention down the front so she was near the glass a lot. LOTS of photos snapped of her. One of her jumping over a log!! Yay for movement photos. And the nocturnal house! I think I was the only person in there. No screaming kids, no idiots taking flash photos, just most of the animals sitting in plain view because they weren't scared to death and cowering in their nesting boxes. Pity I can't take photos in there. But it was very cool. Chuditch, TWO northern quolls. Lots of greater stick nest rats (they look like chinchillas), lots of woylies, carrying stuff with their tails *bounces*, ringtail possums, native rats... *grinz like an idiot*. Oh yeah, female orangutan in with the male, I guess they are trying to breed them again, all good.
I can't speak a bad word about Perth Zoo. They do such a brilliant job. One woman looking at the cheetah was commenting on how small the enclosure was and how "terrible" it was. All I could do was roll my eyes. Gee luv, you try housing and breeding so many animals successfully in such a small area. Perth Zoo do a GREAT job, I can only think good thoughts about them. Hence my being perfectly willing to pay a mere $55 a year to be a member.
Hoorah for the zoo!
Black swan was nesting in the wetlands exhibit and the dusky moorhens were making quite a racket. Also snapped some photos of pretty pied herons. Not sure if the male tiger there was Calang or the male cub. Looked slightly smaller and less gaunt than Calang, and the sign said he was related to the two females. But I also heard that the male cub was going elsewhere soon if not already. So, either it's the cub, who IS related to the mother and the other female cub, and Calang is elsewhere. Or it's Calang, who technically isn't related to the female. *shrug* Meerkats are still in Mungo's old exhibit too so I guess he did go to the big savannah in the sky. They are extending the savannah exhibit so maybe they'll get another serval someday. Kitoko!!! She was pacing around the perimeter of her enclosure and something had her attention down the front so she was near the glass a lot. LOTS of photos snapped of her. One of her jumping over a log!! Yay for movement photos. And the nocturnal house! I think I was the only person in there. No screaming kids, no idiots taking flash photos, just most of the animals sitting in plain view because they weren't scared to death and cowering in their nesting boxes. Pity I can't take photos in there. But it was very cool. Chuditch, TWO northern quolls. Lots of greater stick nest rats (they look like chinchillas), lots of woylies, carrying stuff with their tails *bounces*, ringtail possums, native rats... *grinz like an idiot*. Oh yeah, female orangutan in with the male, I guess they are trying to breed them again, all good.
I can't speak a bad word about Perth Zoo. They do such a brilliant job. One woman looking at the cheetah was commenting on how small the enclosure was and how "terrible" it was. All I could do was roll my eyes. Gee luv, you try housing and breeding so many animals successfully in such a small area. Perth Zoo do a GREAT job, I can only think good thoughts about them. Hence my being perfectly willing to pay a mere $55 a year to be a member.
Hoorah for the zoo!
Hm, zoos...
But then they started getting in a bunch of common animals, just to put in cages, and I left. It gave me a funny feeling in my stomach.
Re: Hm, zoos...
Except the orang-utans. If you give them true to life habitat they just shred it because in reality they are nomadic, they wreck a part of forest, move on and let that bit recover. At Perth they've had brick enclosures for the Orangs since the 70's. These enclosures have large jungle gym setups and although they look ugly, have been very good enclosures for so long. Males and females are housed seperately because they are solitary in the wild, but the jungle gyms are so high that they can see the others over the walls, as if they are in another part of the jungle. They are given various activites and playthings every day so they don't get bored. Now they're building a new exhbit with even higher, more tree like climbing apparatus, it looks very nifty. Still metal, because real plants would just be destroyed, but a lot more aesthetically pleasing.
As for re-population. I don't know about exotic animals. Perth zoo has the most successful Orang-utan breeding population in the world. They also have a very successful giraffe breeding program and also breed sumatran tigers and rhinos. The cheetah is also part of a breeding program, apparently she's the most genetically valuable cheetah in Australia. Unfortunately her first cub died due to kidney problems, but they will try again and hopefully be successful.
Perth also breeds lots of native animals (I know ALL about this, a lot of the unit I just did at uni covered it and I got to go behind the scenes and see the breeding areas). Numbats, dibblers, greater stick-nest rats, woylies, chuditch. These guys are bred for re-introduction and they have many successful programs.
Perth used to have a petting zoo many years ago but now they have no really common animals. They also have great walk in bird exhibits. It's a personal project of mine to visit the wetlands exhibit once a month and take notes on the birds. I can't wait till spring when there'll be nests everywhere and loads of baby birds.