I'm an avid animal lover, so a trip to Melbourne Zoo was definitely on the cards during my time down here, particularly as it's only about 7min away. The zoo is accessible by tram, train, bike & car with plenty of parking at $2 for 5 hours. Cheap as!
The zoo covers 22 hectares of land which was originally donated by the city of Melbourne. It opened in 1862 at this site, making it the oldest zoo in Australia. The zoo boasts 320 species of animals from Australia & across the world.
The animals are organised in bioclimatic zones, amongst foliage that is natural to the habitat from which they come. As an example, the African rainforest section contained winding paths with screens of bamboo, palms & lush undergrowth & housed the gorillas, mandrills, pygmy hippos, tigers & otters. In this section, an elevated boardwalk climbed up into the tree tops to allow viewing of the tree dwelling ape & monkey species, such as the capuchin & white-cheeked gibbon. The elephant walk also adjoined this area.
Photo: animals found in the rainforest section
Glenn & I booked to do a meerkat encounter, which allowed us to go into one of the meerkat enclosures. Meerkats in captivity have a life span of 12-14 years. During the encounter, we had live meal worms thrown onto our aproned laps, which encouraged the meerkats to forage on our laps. As they have no excess body fat stores, meerkats need to forage for food daily. Meerkat families, called mobs, gangs or clans are dominated by a matriarch & as with most animal species, there is a pecking order with regards to feeding. In this meerkat family of 5, 2 of the meerkats were allowed by Chardonnay, the matriarch, to climb on us & feast on the meal worms alongside herself. The remaining 2, being of low standing within the clan, were only allowed to forage on the ground & get the rejects. Of course, the keeper sent meal worms their way. It's a tough grind if you're at the bottom of the pecking order!
Photo: meerkat babies. So cute!
The butterfly enclosure was a walk through exhibit , where you strolled through a myriad of different species of butterflies flying around. This enclosure was heated to around 32 degrees, as tropical butterflies have distinctive seasonal forms where the temperature determines colour & size of pattern. The colouration of butterfly wings is created by minute scales. Butterflies would land on you, & you had to strongly resist the urge to touch them, as this can damage their wings & lessen their life span. Butterflies feed primarily on flower nectar. They also get nourishment from rotting fruit, pollen, dung & decaying flesh. Their sense of taste is 200 times that of humans.
Photo: butterflies feeding off nectar feeders
Other exhibits included the savannah landscape with giraffes, zebras & lions, the marine environ represented by seals & penguins & reptile species with crocodiles, lizards & snakes.
Comparison between Melbourne & Taronga Zoo in Sydney would come out in favour of Taronga in terms of size & layout. I also believe Taronga is more discreet in terms of housing it's animals so it doesn't appear as if they are in enclosures & restricted behind bars. Here at Melbourne Zoo, however, cages were obvious. Maybe the smaller size restricts the ability to do away with cages & bars through the use of wide moats to create islands & such. Also, there didn't appear to be as big a focus on conservation at Melbourne & there were no animal shows, only keeper talks.
Overall though, I do love the zoo & always manage to spend the whole day engrossed in the beautiful & varied wildlife this planet has to offer.
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