Date opened | 6 October 1862[1] |
---|---|
Location | Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
Coordinates | 37°47′05″S 144°57′08″E / 37.784762°S 144.952095°ECoordinates: 37°47′05″S 144°57′08″E / 37.784762°S 144.952095°E |
Land area | 55 acres (22 ha) |
No. of animals | 5,120 |
No. of species | 320[2] |
Memberships | ZAA,[3] WAZA[4] |
Major exhibits | Elephants, lions, tigers, orang-utans, gorillas |
Website | www |
Melbourne Zoo is a zoo in Melbourne, Australia. It is located within Royal Park in Parkville, approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of the centre of Melbourne. It is the primary zoo serving Melbourne. The zoo contains more than 320 animal species from Australia and around the world, and is accessible via Royal Park station on the Upfield railway line, and is also accessible via tram routes 58 and 19, as well as by bicycle on the Capital City Trail. Bicycles are not allowed inside the zoo itself.
The Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).
The zoo is set among flower gardens and picnic areas. Many of the animals are now organised in bioclimatic zones: African rainforest featuring gorillas, mandrills, pigmy hippos and parrots; Asian Rainforest with tigers and otters; and the Australian bush with koala, kangaroos, emu, echidnas and endangered hairy nose wombats. Popular exhibits also include the Butterfly House, the great flight aviary and the Trail of the Elephants.
The zoo includes a large schools section and caters to many school visitors annually, its immensely popular education program encourages young minds to conserve animals.
Visitors can see historical cages including the heritage listed Elephant House, which has been renovated and adapted for use for customers paying to sleep overnight in tents at the zoo in popular Roar and Snore evenings. These evenings allow the public to see some of the nocturnal animals at the zoo in evening guided tours by experienced camp hosts.
History
In October 1857 the Zoological Society of Victoria was formed with the aim of introducing animals and plants from overseas.[5] Its first collections of animals were housed in Richmond Paddock.[5] In 1861 the organisation changed its name to the "Acclimatisation Society of Victoria".[5]
On 6 October 1862, the organisation opened a new Melbourne Zoo in Royal Park on 55-acre (22 ha) of land donated by the City of Melbourne. Melbourne Zoo was modelled on London Zoo.
Initially the zoo was important for the acclimatisation of domestic animals recovering from their long trip to Australia. It was only with the appointment of Albert Alexander Cochrane Le Souef in 1870 that more exotic animals were procured for public display, and the gardens and picnic areas were developed.[6] 1870 also saw the Society change its name to the "Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria", and was granted the prefix "Royal" in 1910.[5]
One of the most famous exhibits from the early 1900s to the 1940s was Queenie the elephant.
In the mid-1930s, the Society had financial troubles. In response the Zoological Gardens Act 1936 was passed, handing the Zoo to a newly appointed Zoological Board of Victoria on behalf of the state government in 1937.[5]
In 1989, a 35-year-old man died when he was partially eaten by a lion after he entered its pen.[7]
On 15 January 2010 Melbourne Zoo welcomed its first elephant calf, Mali. This is the second elephant calf born in Australia, the first being in Sydney in July 2009. Mali is the first female calf born in Australia and the first calf born via artificial insemination.
Melbourne Zoo commemorated 150 years of operation in 2012 and this was celebrated in an Australian Zoos collector's edition of stamps released by Australia Post in September 2012.
The Zoo completed construction and opened a new carnivores trail in early 2018.
Zoos Victoria
Zoos Victoria administers the Melbourne Zoo, as well as the Werribee Open Range Zoo, which features herbivorous creatures in an open-range setting; and Healesville Sanctuary (formerly the Sir Colin MacKenzie Sanctuary), which exhibits Australian fauna on 175 hectares (430 acres) of bushland.[8]
The three zoos have been collectively trading as Zoos Victoria since 1973, governed by the Zoological Parks and Gardens Board, which operates under the Zoological Parks and Gardens Act 1995.[9]
Exhibits
- Trails of the Elephants: six Asian elephants — females Mek Kapah (the matriarch), Dokkoon, Kulab, Num-oi, Mali (daughter of Dokkoon) and Man Jai (son of Dokkoon), the herd rotates through one of the three paddocks throughout the day. The zoo used to have Ongard (son of Kulab), who is currently in Zoo Miami and an adult bull elephant named Bong Su who is patriarch of the herd and father of all the calves; he died in 2017 due to long battle with arthritis since 2005. Bong Su arrived at the zoo as a gift from the Sultan of Pahang (on the Malay Peninsula) as an orphan in 1997.
- Butterfly House: a greenhouse-style walk-through exhibit for tropical butterflies.
- Orangutan Sanctuary: Home for the Zoo's two families of orangutans (one consisting of pure Sumatran orangutans and the other of Sumatran-Bornean hybrids).
- Asian rainforest: the original portion of the Asian rainforest adjoins Trail of the Elephants and Orangutan sanctuary. Includes enclosures for Sumatran tigers, Asian small-clawed otter and two small aviaries for Asian birds.
- Australian Outback: features Eastern grey kangaroo, Kangaroo Island grey kangaroos, Emus, Southern hairy-nosed wombats, Koalas, Dingoes and a variety of small bird aviaries.
- Great Flight Aviary: a large free-flight aviary within the Australian outback exhibit dating from the 1930s. Visitors walk along a boardwalk through three different bioregions representing an Australian rainforest, wetlands and bushland. Significant species include Southern cassowaries, Brolga, Royal spoonbills, Eclectus parrots, and Red-tailed black cockatoos. Barn owls are also resident birds at the zoo.
- Lion Gorge: Home to male Lions born at Werribee zoo, African wild dogs, Snow leopards, South American coatis, Sumatran tigers and Tasmanian devils.
- Wild Sea: This $20 million development houses Long-nosed fur seals, Brown fur seal, Little penguins, Fiordland penguins and Australian pelicans. With underwater sounds and a projector screen coupled with the beautiful lighting effects it has a calming touch of realism. Little penguins and seals can be viewed from above water level and below.
- Reptile house: contains a variety of Australian and exotic reptiles including Philippine crocodile, Freshwater crocodile, Rhinoceros iguana, Fijian crested iguana, Gila monster, Frilled lizard, Crested sailfin lizard, Boyd's forest dragon, Tokay gecko, Madagascan giant day gecko, Centralian rough knob-tail gecko, Sheltopusik, Striped legless lizard, Centralian blue-tongue, Shingleback lizard, Hosmer's spiny-tailed skink, Pygmy mulga monitor, Lace monitor, Reticulated python, Blood python, Kenyan sand boa, Black-headed python, Arafura file snake, Common death adder, Coastal taipan, Broad-headed snake, Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, Mexican cantil, Eyelash viper, Pueblan milk snake, Honduran milk snake, Corn snake, Taiwanese beauty rat snake, Brown tree snake, Star tortoise, Elongated tortoise, Golden coin turtle, Twist-necked turtle, Giant burrowing frog.
- African rainforest: This walk opens with the walk through 'lemur island' exhibit, home to a troop of male Ring-tailed lemurs. The major exhibit at the centre of this area is for Western lowland gorillas. Also features exhibits for Pygmy hippopotamus and Black-and-white ruffed lemurs.
- Treetop apes and monkeys: A series of netted enclosures viewed through glass windows from an elevated boardwalk. Species currently include Northern white-cheeked gibbons, Black-handed spider monkeys, Eastern black-and-white colobus monkeys, Cotton-top tamarins and Emperor tamarins. This walk follows on from the African rainforest.
- Baboon Lookout: Houses the zoo's troop of Hamadryas baboons.
- Growing wild: Houses Meerkats and Aldabra giant tortoises.
- Main trail: The zoos main trail is home to Red pandas, Siamangs, Plains zebra, Giraffes, Malayan tapirs, Collared peccaries, Bolivian squirrel monkeys and Platypuses
Gallery
Notes
- ^ "History of the Zoo". zoo.org.au. Zoos Victoria. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
- ^ "About Melbourne Zoo". zoo.org.au. Zoos Victoria. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
- ^ "Member Location Map". zooaquarium.org.au. ZAA. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ "Zoos and Aquariums of the World". waza.org. WAZA. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ a b c d e "Royal Zoological and Acclimatisation Society". Research Data Australia. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
- ^ "The Zoological Gardens". Weekly Times. No. 594. Victoria, Australia. 22 January 1881. p. 11. Retrieved 3 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Dead man found in lion's pen at zoo". UPI. 26 March 1989.
- ^ "About us". Zoos Victoria. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
- ^ Zoos Victoria (2019). Annual Report 2019-2020 (PDF) (Report). Retrieved 31 March 2021.
External links
- Media related to Melbourne Zoo at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- List of species at Melbourne Zoo, globalspecies.org