Animal Diaries
Trivia for Cheetah!
Cheetahs are one of the endangered species we have here at Australia Zoo; we do as much as we can to help raise awareness of their plight out in the wild. We also help to raise funds for conservation projects. We run cheetah experiences on a daily basis allowing visitors to meet one of our gorgeous cheetahs, have your photo taken and hang out with them for half an hour. The best part of it is that...read more
Trivia Night for Cheetah- a great success!
Having Fun!
One of the most common questions we get asked in the bird show department from the public is “Why don’t the birds just fly away?” Some people think we use a remote control and sometimes we wish we could, because it would make our job a lot easier.The remote control idea came from people seeing a tracking device or telemetry on the bird’s tail. We attach these to most of our...read more
Tracking our free-flight birds
A Flightless Bird
The cassowary is a large flightless bird from Australia and New Guinea. They are the largest bird in Australia and the second largest in the world, the largest being the ostrich. The cassowary comes from a family known as Ratite, along with Emus, Rheas and the Kiwi. So why can’t these birds fly? The name Ratite comes from a Latin word meaning raft. The reason this name was given to thi...read more
Bedara shows-off her unusual looking quill
Micro-chipping Alligators
The past few weeks have been a busy time for the croc team. Along with all the day to day maintenance and demonstrations, the boys (and Lauren) also had to find time to microchip our six year old American Alligators. This was a great opportunity for the newest members of the team, Jack and Lauren, to gain some valuable hands on experience as not only were the alligator’s micro-chipped, but ...read more
The Croc Team had a busy day micro-chipping 13 Alligators!
Jumbo Hay
Hello again from all of us here at Elephantasia. Feeding the elephants is one of our biggest jobs. Everyday, we collect and prepare a wide variety of fresh plants, fruit and vegetables, hay and grains. Of all the different food types, oaten hay is one of their favourite and makes up the vast majority of their diet. There are two important reasons why our girls receive this. Firstly, it is high in ...read more
Renae feeds the girls some gourmet hay
Friends in the Making
As keepers we face many challenges every day. One of the most important and eventually rewarding is gaining the trust and respect from animals in our care. Although formal education and training is important, there is no substitute for experience. This is spending time and building up a bond with the animals. Once you learn characteristics and behaviours, you are able to recognise any changes and ...read more
Gayle feeds our gorgeous foxes
Check out our newies!
With school holidays just around the corner we’ve got lots of new babies for everyone to see!We have six little piglets, just a few weeks old, very sociable and lovable with an amazing array of colours and patterns. They’ve settled into Kids Zoo in record time and love meeting and greeting visitors in their traditional piglet style by rubbing and pushing their snout firmly and persiste...read more
Our new arrivals have a blast running through the Kids Zoo play area
Big Boy Antics
If you ever visited us here at Australia Zoo you were sure to have passed by our Big Boys enclosure, which houses five of our beautiful male koalas. But what is extra special about these boys is that they still live together in harmony. You see, out in the wild male koalas are very solitary animals. One male can occupy up to one square kilometer of territory. To mark his territory he would urinate...read more
Our boys relax together in peace
Are there any joeys?
"Are there any joeys?" That is the question I have been asked every day for the last twelve months. Unfortunately, I have had to answer no. Until recently, that is!Over the past number of weeks we have been observing some of our girls as we have noticed their pouches swelling and some signs of new lives beginning to make themselves known.I have only been at the Zoo for a litt...read more
Elissa relaxes in the sun while we catch a glimpse of the first joey for the season
Love is in the air!
You may remember reading about our Leapin Lemur encounters in a previous article. The Primate Team is to be able to finally show off our gorgeous Ring Tailed Lemurs. The encounter is a very special experience which gives guests the opportunity to come up to our off display lemur facility to meet our cute and quirky little Ring Tailed Lemurs. We are pleased to announce the encounters have been very...read more
Congratulation's Darren and Jess!
Perentie Renovations
If you travel to the Zoo in the future you may like to check out our famous Perenties; Pete, Penny and Two Spots. They are feeling great this winter with some new furnishings in their home. Our talented ‘Mock Rockers’ have just finished building them some great heated basking rocks. There is one on the western side of the enclosure that helps shield them from the weather as it is a fla...read more
Soaking up the sun!
Possums in the Roof!
What is the cause of more sleepless nights for Australians than anything else? Now if you said crying babies, barking dogs or loud music from the neighbor next door, then you would be wrong. At least in my story. But if you said the possum, then you would be right. Ahhh... I hear you say. You'd forgotten about the possum hadn't you – that is until next time you hear him or her ...read more
Our cheeky possums love their tasty ice-blocks!
