Perth Zoo – Wikipedia

Perth Zoo is a 41-acre ( 17 hour angle ) zoological park in South Perth, Western Australia. The menagerie first opened in 1898 and by 2011 house 1258 animals of 164 species [ 3 ] and an extensive botanic collection. It is a entire institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association ( ZAA ) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums ( WAZA ) .

history [edit ]

The Perth Zoological Gardens were opened on 17 October 1898 by the Governor of Western Australia, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Gerard Smith. [ 7 ] Planning for the menagerie had started in 1896 when the Acclimatisation Society first met, the master purpose of which was to introduce european animals to Australia and establish a menagerie for conservation purposes. In 1897 this group invited the director of the Melbourne Zoo, Albert Le Souef, to choose a web site. His son Ernest was chosen as the first base conductor of the Perth Zoo, and work began in 1897. [ 8 ] [ 2 ]

The foremost exhibits built included two bear caves, a tamper house, a mammal house and a exemplary castle for guinea fowl pigs. The beginning animals on display included an orangutan, two monkeys, four ostriches, a pair of lions, and a tiger. At first there were merely six staff members. The menagerie had 53,000 visitors in its first gear nine months, and had not been closed for a single sidereal day since it was opened, until it was temporarily closed from 24 March 2020 during the coronavirus outbreak. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] From the start Ernest Le Souef worked to create a botanical collection vitamin a well as an animal collection to preserve for the future. work on the gardens started vitamin a soon as the site was chosen and finalised. Since the locate was largely sand and miss nutrients and water, loads of manure needed to be brought in, and a well was bored in 1898 to allow irrigation. The menagerie included rose gardens, lupine fields, tropical plants, and palms. The original palm collection still stands and boasts over 61 species including Canary Island date palms that are nowadays over 110 years old. The menagerie besides grew crops for animals including lettuce, alfalfa, carrots, alfalfa and onions. This custom is even alive, with the menagerie producing fodder including hibiscus, bamboo, fijian fire implant and mirror plant. [ 2 ] In 2010/11, the menagerie had a nonrecreational staff of about 248 ( 167 full-time equivalents ), [ 11 ] plus about 300 volunteer docents. [ 2 ]

administration [edit ]

• E.A. Le Souef – as director 1897 – 1935
• L.E. Shapcott – as president of the Zoological Gardens Board 1932-1941
• W.K. Lyall – as superintendent of the zoo 1950-1967
• Tom Spence – as zoo director 1967-1984
• John De Jose – as zoo director 1984-1994
• Ricky Burges – as zoo CEO 1995-1998
• Brian Easton – as zoo CEO 1999-2003
• Susan Hunt – as zoo CEO 2004–2017[12]
• Maria Finnigan – as zoo acting CEO 2017-2018[13]
• Wendy Attenborough – as zoo CEO 2018–present[14]
• See also Zoological Parks Authority which had been known as
  • Western Australian Acclimatization Committee (1896 – 1967?)
  • Zoological Gardens Board 1967 – 2002

Exhibits [edit ]

Perth Zoo has three main zones – australian Walkabout, asian Rainforest and African Savannah – with a few minor show areas ( Lesser Primates, South American birds, Main Lake, Galapagos Tortoises ). [ 15 ] All exhibits are designed to mimic the animals ‘ natural habitats and use passive barriers where possible, to improve the wellbeing of the animals .

Australian Walkabout

The australian Walkabout includes the australian Wetlands and Penguin Plunge, Reptile Encounter, australian Bushwalk, aviaries and the Nocturnal House. The australian Wetlands includes black swan, black-necked stork, brolga, little motley cormorant, blue-billed duck, freckled duck, australian shelduck, radjah shelduck, eurasian coot, yellow-billed spoonbill, black-winged stilt, fiddling egret, motley hero, plumed whistling duck, estuarine crocodile, fresh water crocodile, motorbike frog, brilliant tree frog, western swamp tortoise, pig-nosed turtle, oblong turtle and Merten ‘s water monitor. The Penguin Plunge is home to little penguins and bridled terns. The parade includes a 50,000-litre ( 13,000 US gal ) pool of filter salt water with subaqueous watch, a beach, a reef, and a rookery. [ 16 ] [ 17 ] The Australia Bushwalk takes visitors on a travel through the australian landscape where they can see dingoes, emu, koalas, red-legged pademelons, numbats, quokkas, crimson kangaroo, short-beaked echidnas, southern hairy-nosed wombats, tammar wallaby, Tasmanian devils, westerly brush wallaby and westerly grey kangaroos. A detour takes visitors to the western Australian Black Cockatoo expose, planted with cockatoo food trees [ 17 ] and home to Baudin ‘s cockatoo, Carnaby ‘s cockatoo, Major Mitchell ‘s cockatoo, Muir ‘s corella, red-tailed black cockatoo, and red-capped parrot. [ 18 ] Another detour takes visitors to the Numbats Under Threat exhibit, which showcases the endangered australian numbat along with rufous whistlers. [ 17 ] The Nocturnal House is designed in a circular view layout that lets visitors circumnavigate the australian mainland while viewing nocturnal animals under simulate moonlight. Vertebrates in this build include banded knob-tailed gecko, rabbit-eared bandicoot, cane frog, chuditch, dibbler, ghost bat, green corner frog, rough-throated leaftail gecko, spinifex hop mouse, rakali, djintamoonga, red-tailed phascogale, woylie, sugar glider, long-nosed potoroo, western capuchin opossum, koomal brushtail phalanger, rough-scaled python, jungle carpet python, olive python, Children ‘s python, owlet-nightjar, tawny frogmouth, feathertail glider and brush-tailed bettong ; adenine well as the exotic Sunda dense loris. In addition, this parade includes some invertebrates, such as the whistling tarantula, sand scorpion, hairy marron and barbed leaf insect. [ 19 ] The Reptile Encounter was opened on World Environment Day in 1997. It contains 17 exhibits designed to match the animal ‘s natural habitat. The construction is climate controlled, and displays reptile species from around the earth including examples of the Bell ‘s hinge-back tortoise, three-toed box turtle, black-headed python, dugite, frill-necked lizard, feather boa constrictor, olive python, perentie, tokay gecko, pygmy python, Burmese python, southwest rug python, tiger snake, common death adder, Dampier Peninsula monitor, blue-tongued skink, western spiny-tailed skink, inland bearded dragon, pebble-mimic draco, shingleback skink and woma. [ 20 ]

African Savannah

The African Savannah replaced a assortment of bar cages, and was the largest construction project undertaken at the menagerie when it was created. The exhibit recreates the African savannah, and includes African painted dogs, southerly african Lions, cape porcupines, plains zebras, hamadryas baboons, meerkats, radiated tortoises, Rothschild ‘s giraffe, spotted hyenas and southern white rhinoceroses. Visitors view the animals from a path that simulates a dry riverbed running through the savanna. [ 2 ] [ 21 ]

Asian Rainforest

The asian Rainforest is home to a number of threaten asian species. These include asian elephants, asian small-clawed otters, binturongs, Komodo dragons, crimson giant panda, Sumatran orangutans, Sumatran tigers, sun bears, and two exhibits for northerly white-cheeked gibbons. [ 2 ] [ 22 ] Perth Zoo contributes to the conservation of many of these species in the wild. The menagerie ‘s Sumatran orangutan breeding program is the most successful in the world, having bred 27 orangutans since 1970. In 2006 and 2011, zoo-born orangutans were released into the raving mad in Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in Sumatra as share of an international platform to re-establish a angry population of the critically endangered anthropoid. [ 23 ]

Lesser Primates

The Lesser Primates exhibit is home to lemurs and monkeys including ring-tailed lemurs, black-and-white trump lemurs, tufted capuchins, cotton-top tamarins, emperor tamarins, common marmosets and pygmy marmosets .

Amazonia

A series of aviary enclosures between the African Savannah and Nocturnal house are home to aureate lion tamarins, bolivian squirrel monkeys and south american coati .
staff at Perth Zoo tending to the animals

Galapagos Tortoises

following to the African Savannah and opposite the Lesser Primates is an exhibit that is home to two Galápagos tortoises .

Main Lake

Near the entrance to the menagerie is the Main Lake which has two islands. One is home to a group of black-and-white trump lemurs and the early to a family of Javan gibbons. next to the Main Lake and opposite the cafe are exhibits which are home to the southerly cassowary and the Goodfellow ‘s tree kangaroo. It besides includes australian pelicans that move approximately in the waters .

Talking Zoo

The menagerie provides a exempt on-line service called Talking Zoo which lets visitors download hours of animal information onto their ipod, MP3 player, fluid telephone or PDA. [ 24 ]

Heritage Trail

The Heritage Trail ( a map of which can be downloaded from the web site [ 25 ] or collected from the Information Centre ) is a self-guided walk that takes visitors around the menagerie and shows off its historical buildings. Buildings included in this base on balls are the shuttlecock feed shed, kite cage, hold caves, hay shed, mineral baths from 1898, replica of tennis shelters from 1903, the Scout Hall built in 1931, the 1947 carousel that is still in use, and the Gate Zoo Residence that was built in the 1960s. [ 26 ]

conservation [edit ]

Asali a Rothschild giraffe leaving Perth Zoo for Monarto Safari Park after being part of the breeding program The menagerie participates in a phone number of breeding programs for queer species, both autochthonal australian and non-native species. Programs include those of the Rothschild ‘s giraffe and white rhinoceros equally well as Sumatran tigers and orangutans resulting in several births. Some australian species are bred for release into managed habitat in western Australia, whereas the international species are for increasing familial diversification in menagerie populations .

Exotic species

Since 2006, Perth Zoo has made a meaning contribution to conservation projects in the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park and the smother forested areas which support a fat diversity of life including a new colony of orangutans. These orangutans are character of an international program to reintroduce rescued ex-pet and orphaned Sumatran orangutans into the wild to establish a new population of this critically endangered species. More than 139 orangutans have been released into the area and some have bred. In November 2006, Perth Zoo released 14-year-old, Perth Zoo-born Sumatran orangutan Temara into Bukit Tigapuluh as contribution of the reintroduction course of study. Temara was the foremost zoo-born orangutan in the world to be released into the raving mad. This was followed in 2011 with the secrete of the first male zoo-born orangutan, Semeru, into the wild. Perth Zoo works with the Frankfurt Zoological Society, indonesian Government and the australian Orangutan Project on this program and other conservation activities in Bukit Tigapuluh. [ 23 ] Perth Zoo contributes to the conservation of threatened species in the raving mad through its fund-raise platform, Wildlife Conservation Action. Started in 2007, funds raised have been used for the conservation of Sumatran orangutan, Sumatran tiger, Sumatran elephant, African wild pawl, sunday bears, corner kangaroo, Javan gibbons and australian native species. More than $ 881,000 has been raised since the course of study began. [ 27 ]

Native species

Working with the Department of Environment and Conservation, Perth Zoo breeds threatened westerly Australian animal species for acquittance into managed areas of habitat in the fantastic as part of its Native Species Breeding Program. As of 2011, Perth Zoo breeds numbats, westerly deluge tortoises, dibblers, woylies and threatened Western Australian frog species. [ 28 ]
A numbat, one of the many species to benefit from Perth Zoo ‘s affair. The numbat ( Myrmecobius fasciatus ) Western Australia ‘s mammal emblem and one of only two diurnal marsupials, the numbat is the lone australian mammal to feed entirely on termites. [ 29 ] Despite the establishment of several populations by the Department of Environment and Conservation, it is still classified as endangered by the IUCN. [ 30 ] Perth Zoo has been breeding numbats for unblock into the wild since 1986. The foremost successful birth was in 1993. By early 2011, 165 numbats had been provided by the menagerie for release into protected habitat. [ 31 ] The western swamp tortoise ( Pseudemydura umbrina ) is a short-necked fresh water turtle and Australia ‘s most critically endangered reptile. The western swamp tortoise has alone been recorded at scatter localities in a specialize, three-to-five kilometer strip of the Swan Coastal Plain. Since 1988, Perth Zoo has bred more than 500 westerly swamp tortoises. The main barrier to the foster recovery of the species is the lack of suitable habitat. The dibbler ( Paranthechinus apicalis ) is a humble carnivorous marsupial found on two islands off the slide of Jurien Bay ( island dibblers ) and on the south slide of western Australia within the Fitzgerald River National Park ( mainland dibblers ). It once had a much wider distribution, but is now classified as endangered by the IUCN. [ 32 ] Perth-Zoo-bred dibblers were used to establish a new population on Escape Island in Jurien Bay. The focus has now changed to breeding dibblers from Fitzgerald River National Park for release on the mainland. By early on 2011, over 500 dibblers had been provided by the menagerie for turn into protected habitat. [ 33 ] The frog engender plan is seeking to increase populations of threatened species, including those listed as vulnerable, Spicospina flammocaerulea, Sunset Frog, and Geocrinia vitellina, Orange-bellied Frog, and the critically endangered Geocrinia alba, the white-bellied frog. [ 28 ] previous breeding programs include : The chuditch ( Dasyurus geoffroi ) or western quoll, is one of four quoll species in Australia and is the largest marsupial predator in western Australia. At the time of european colonization, chuditch occurred in approximately 70 % of the continent. By the late 1980s, they had become endangered, with less than 6,000 remaining in the southwest of western Australia. Perth Zoo has bred more than 300 chuditch for free in the last ten. Since the breeding broadcast began, the status of chuditch has been modified from endangered to vulnerable. This breeding program is now complete. Shark Bay shiner ( Pseudomys fieldi ) besides known as djoongari, anterior to 1993 the only know population of djoongari was on Bernier Island in the northwest of western Australia, adjacent to the Shark Bay region and was considered to be one of Australia ‘s most geographically restricted animals. Over 300 Perth-Zoo-bred djoongari have been released to sites on the mainland and on islands in the northwest of western Australia. This breed program is now arrant. The cardinal rock-rat ( Zyzomys pedunculatus ) is a critically endangered rodent that was presumed extinct until it was rediscovered in the MacDonnell Ranges Northern Territory in 1996. The final of the menagerie ‘s central rock candy rats were sent to Alice Springs Desert Park in 2007 and the education broadcast closed .

See besides [edit ]

Notes [edit ]

References [edit ]

• (1930s) The Handbook of the Zoological and Botanical Gardens, South Perth, Western Australia. Perth, W. A. F. W. Simpson, Government. Printer.
• Jenkins, C.F.H. (1962) Illustrated guide, zoological gardens, Labouchere Road, South Perth, Western Australia Perth: Zoological Gardens Board.

• Media related to Perth Zoo at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website