Zoo News

ZOO NEWS

ZOOS VICTORIA MEMBER MAGAZINE

Welcome to the family WE INTRODUCE YOU TO SIKARI, ASHA AND MANJU – THE CUTEST NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ZOO

ANIMAL

The zoo of us

Meet the giraffes and their Keeper at Werribee Open Range Zoo

SUSTAINABILITY

With a little help Learn about the partnerships that are helping fight extinction

VOLUME 41 / SUMMER 2020

CONSERVATION

Rock stars

The Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby is making a comeback

COMMUNITY

Behind the scenes Find out what the animals get up to while you’re not watching

SHOP

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RAN

CONTENTS SUMMER 2020

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Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby

04 Feature story

The Snow Leopards

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Meet the cute new members of the Snow Leopard family

Creature feature

Dear Members, We would like to thank you for standing by us during these challenging times.

While our zoos were temporarily closed, we were deeply touched by your many messages of support and kindness.

We are so pleased to welcome you back through our gates.

Thank you.

Dr. Jenny Gray CEO, Zoos Victoria.

04 The Snow Leopards

Melbourne Zoo welcomes three Snow Leopard cubs

08 Victoria’s Rock Stars

The Brush-tailed Rockwallaby is a species worth fighting for

10 Wonderful world of primates

The cheekiest and noisiest members of the zoo family

12 The zoo of us

Meet Deb Jones, a giraffe Keeper at Werribee Open Range Zoo

14 Creature feature

Find out what’s been happening behind the scenes at the zoos

16 Feeding frenzy

Keeping all the animals fed and watered takes a big effort. Take a peek at our shopping list

18 Project Willy Wonka

The imaginative ideas helping the animals stay active and happy

20 Collaboration partners Zoos Victoria gets a little help from our friends to fight extinction

22 Over to you

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Feeding Frenzy

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live and work, and pay our respects to Elders both past and present.

Socials and member photos

Zoo News is published for Zoos Victoria by Hardie Grant Media

Zoos Victoria PO Box 74, Parkville Vic 3052 P 03 9340 2780 / F 03 9285 9390 E members@zoo.org.au W zoo.org.au

MANAGING DIRECTOR Nick Hardie-Grant ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Scott Elmslie ACCOUNT MANAGER Hannah Louey EDITOR Georgia Lejeune DESIGN Dallas Budde, Natalie Lachina, Kate Slattery ADVERTISING Lauren Casalini PRINTER Immij ZOOS VICTORIA Eamonn Verberne, Olivia Shiels, Tracey Borch

Connect with us: Have you visited lately? Share your visit with us and be sure to use the hashtag #zoomember

Cover: Snow Leopard cub at Melbourne Zoo. (Photograph Jo Howell)

Printed on 100% recycled paper with vegetable-based inks. Zoos Victoria is a carbon neutral organisation.

ZOONEWS MEMBER MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2020 •

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ANIMAL ANIMAL

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THE SNOW LEOPARDS For the first time in more than a decade, three Snow Leopard cubs have been born at Melbourne Zoo. We find out how the cubs are getting on.

A

WORDS Anna Webster

new baby is something to be celebrated, but it’s especially exciting when the new additions are as precious as the three Snow Leopard cubs that arrived in the early hours of 26 January at Melbourne Zoo. Now approaching their first birthday, the cubs have settled into their home and are growing bigger and braver with each passing month.

Miska and Kang-Ju’s story

Miska, the cubs’ mother, was brought to Melbourne Zoo in October 2017 from South Lakes Safari Zoo in Cumbria, England, as part of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP). The move was specifically arranged so she could breed with the cubs’ father Kang-Ju, who came to Melbourne at around the same time from Nürnberg Zoo in Germany.

Both Miska and Kang-Ju were quite young when they first arrived in Melbourne and had never been paired with other Snow Leopards for breeding, so the team moved quite slowly through the process, says Keeper Meryl McGlone. Meryl and the rest of the Carnivores team at Melbourne Zoo began with what they call ‘soft intros’, where the cats were placed in neighbouring exhibits separated by mesh. They couldn’t make physical contact, but they could see, smell and respond to each other. Snow Leopards mate in spring, and in September last year Miska started showing signs of

All grown up The first time the Keepers were able to properly meet and handle the cubs was at their first health check when they were eight weeks old. At this eight-week check-up, the Keepers gave the cubs their first vaccinations; inserted microchips; checked to make sure their eyes, ears and the rest of their parts had developed properly; and confirmed which cubs were male and which were female.

Now weighing approximately 20 kilos each, the cubs are about three quarters of the size of a fully-grown adult Snow Leopard. Keepers have begun recall training with the cubs using a bell and delicious food treats.

By teaching the ability to recall, keepers can easily move the Snow Leopards to different areas within their home (such as where they sleep at night) without interfering with the animals – Miska will respond at any time of day to these requests but the cubs currently require a little food to tempt them.

ZOONEWS MEMBER MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2020 • 5

ANIMAL

coming into oestrous — her fertile cycle — for the first time. The Keepers could tell this was happening largely because of Kang-Ju’s response to her; between the two exhibits there was increased scent marking, cheek rubbing and vocalising, and Kang-Ju was regularly performing the flehmen response, curling back his upper lip, closing his nostrils and inhaling through his mouth for several seconds.

After a while, the Carnivores team put Miska and Kang-Ju together and were thrilled to see the cats get along so well and so quickly! When Miska failed to come back into oestrous, the team assumed she must be pregnant and installed what’s known as a cubbing box in her enclosure (the same one that could be seen on the live cam). The cubbing box was a safe and cosy place for Miska to give birth in and was installed with enough time for her to get used to and feel comfortable with her new space.

Around three months later, Miska gave birth to three beautiful cubs: one boy and two girls.

Meet the cubs

Home away from home Snow Leopard cubs stay with their mums the longest of all the big cats, so Asha, Manju and Sikari are likely to remain at Melbourne Zoo for 18 months to two years before they’re sent to their new homes.

“They’re all three very different Snow Leopards,” says Meryl. The Keepers have watched the cubs grow from three balls of fur in the cubbing box to boisterous young adolescents.

“When they were in the cubbing box and we had the camera looking down on them, it was the markings on their backs that helped us tell them apart.” Now, says Meryl, the Keepers can tell the three apart by their face markings and individual personality traits. “Sikari (the male), is a little bit boisterous and he’s a guts. He eats all the food all the time and so there’s no surprise The gestation period for Snow that he’s the heaviest of all three of Leopards is between 92 and 110 them,” says Meryl. His sister Asha days, or approximately three is the boldest and will be the first months. Mothers can bear one to come over to the keepers.

Whereas Manju is a little quieter to five cubs per litter, though two – taking after her dad Kang-Ju – or three is the most common and will happily follow along with number. Cubs stay with their her siblings. Although the troop mother for 18 months to two are active in the mornings, they will usually sleep in one big Snow years after they’re born.

Leopard pile during the day. ZN

Did you know?

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Proud mumma!

“Now weighing approximately 20 kilos each, the cubs are about three quarters of the size of a fully-grown adult Snow Leopard.”

fyi COME AND VISIT See the cubs for yourself!

Visit zoo.org.au to book your free member tickets.

WANT MORE? See the Snow Leopard cubs on the outdoor live cam.

Watch it here The Snow Leopards are growing! See how far they’ve come since January.

Watch it here

The essential go-to guide covering everything you need to know about caring for your dog from puppyhood until end of life.

OUT NOW

ZOONEWS MEMBER MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2020 •

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CONSERVATION CONSERVATION

Victoria s

ROCK STARS

Shy and elusive yet incredibly agile, the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby is a unique species worth fighting for.

WORDS Jo

Stewart

Safe keeping •

As shy creatures, rock wallabies need a spacious, quiet environment to roam and breed.

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Twenty-four rock wallabies now call Tidbinbilla home; as the population grows, these rock wallabies will be reintroduced into the wild throughout the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria.

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Zoos Victoria is currently working with the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve team to create a second predatorfree fenced-site breeding habitat that can hold up to 100 of these magnificent macropods. The new 125-hectare space has 5.2 kilometres of predatorexclusion fencing in place.

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ith striking features, long eyelashes and a multicoloured coat, the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby is one of Australia’s cutest native species. While this marsupial registers highly on the adorable scale, there’s another less enviable list it’s found itself on.

“They’re the most critically endangered species of any mammal in Victoria,” explains Dr Marissa Parrott, reproductive biologist with the Wildlife Conservation and Science team at Zoos Victoria. “Early last century, Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies were thought to be extinct in Victoria. They were rediscovered in the 1930s when small populations were found in East Gippsland and the Grampians.”

Like many native species, these small creatures (which generally weigh less than eight kilograms) are threatened due to habitat loss and predation by cats and foxes. They were also hunted for their fur in the 1800s. As a result, fewer than 50 Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies can be found in the wild in Victoria, with small populations in Snowy River National Park and Grampians Gariwerd National Park.

Crepuscular by nature (meaning they are most active at dusk and dawn), these herbivorous marsupials live in gorges and rocky habitats and have an impressive ability to climb and jump.

“They’re almost acrobatic. They have a long tail that helps them to balance and granulated feet, which give them a good grip to get around rocky crevices,” says Marissa.

Marissa started her career at Zoos Victoria more than 10 years ago, working as a Zoo Keeper, including with these wallabies, at Healesville Sanctuary. She says that the work being done by Zoos Victoria and its partners is essential to the long-term survival of the species. The revenue made from memberships directly helps to fund programs that allow Zoos Victoria to protect threatened species, like the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby.

Zoos Victoria aims to boost the species’ numbers by supporting captive breeding and the release of captive-bred wallabies into the wild. “A captive breeding program is often the only insurance we have against animals going extinct,” says Marissa. “By creating new populations in fox- and cat-free

COURAGE UNDER FIRE When bushfires approached Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve in the Australian Capital Territory earlier this year, urgent action was taken to capture and move the Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies to safety. Two were moved to Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, while 17 were flown on military aircraft to Avalon Airport and transported by road to Mt Rothwell. Another group of four was relocated to Healesville Sanctuary.

Meet the shy and elusive Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby.

Watch it here

fenced areas and out in the wild, we’re helping to ensure we don’t lose this amazing species.”

Found in south-east Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, it’s the southern subpopulation in the latter region that is the most fragile, with a lack of genetic diversity posing another threat.

“We are working to give the southern population a boost to ensure they’ve got the healthiest population for the future.” ZN

Dr Marissa Parrot vividly remembers the night she awaited the arrival of the precious cargo – following their full day trip away from the fires.

When the team finally arrived in the dark at 9pm, Marissa says, “everyone looked exhausted but very happy to have reached Healesville Sanctuary – we were so pleased the wallabies had arrived looking well and spritely.”

The evacuation required a collaborative effort between Healesville Sanctuary and Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, with vets, Keepers, horticulture staff and works teams helping to

prepare enclosures and putting quarantine measures in place.

“Seeing those wallabies arrive with the team from Tidbinbilla after a long road trip across state lines was a beautiful moment,” says Marissa. “They were fleeing a hot, smoky environment, so seeing them enjoy the green grass and cooler temperatures at Healesville was special.

“It was a big team effort by the Tidbinbilla and Healesville teams to ensure the welfare and care of the wallabies,” Marissa reflects.

“It was an intense time, but it went really well.”

After five weeks at Healesville Sanctuary, the Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies returned home to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.

“Seeing them enjoy the green grass and cooler temperatures at Healesville was special.”

fyi THANK YOU With the donations from our bushfire appeal we have been able to help many critically injured animals.

WE’RE OPEN Come and see the Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies at Healesville Sanctuary. Visit zoo.org.au to book your free member tickets.

ZOONEWS MEMBER MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2020 •

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ANIMAL CONSERVATION

The wonderful world of primates As one of Zoos Victoria’s crowd favourites, primates are a complex order of creatures that are closely related to humans.

WORDS Jo

Stewart

W

hat do humans, lemurs, gorillas, orangutans and baboons have in common? We’re all primates that evolved from a common ancestor many millions of years ago.

Despite all being classified as primates, humans, apes and monkeys are vastly different species – with humans sharing the most characteristics with apes. We both have long life spans, large brains relative to our body size, are able to form close social bonds and use vision more than our sense of smell.

So how can you tell apes apart from other primates like lemurs and monkeys? Apes don’t have a tail, tend to sit upright and are usually bigger than other primates.

There are hundreds of different primate species and some can be found at Melbourne Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo.

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So, who’s who in the zoo?

Melbourne Zoo’s Gorilla Rainforest is home to the Western Lowland Gorilla, White-cheeked Gibbon, Black-handed Spider Monkey, Black-and-white Colobus, Cotton-top Tamarin and Ring-tailed Lemur. Elsewhere in the Zoo there’s siamangs, orang-utans and Hamadryas Baboons.

Werribee Open Range Zoo is home to Western Lowland Gorillas and troops of Vervet Monkeys. While they all belong to the same order, each species of primate has unique physical characteristics and behavioural tendencies.

“The siamangs and gibbons are the noisiest. We love to hear their duets ring out across the Zoo,” says Fleur Butcher, Primate Keeper at Melbourne Zoo. While the siamangs and gibbons might be the loudest, another species takes the title for being the cheekiest.

“The baboons are constantly playing, jumping on each other and pulling each other’s tails. Juju holds a special place in

See for yourself what’s happening in the wonderful world of primates.

Watch it here

Primate Particulars

Did you know?

Lemurs are part of a group called prosimian primates – because they have characteristics that are more primitive than simians (which includes monkeys, apes and humans). There are many species of lemur.

my heart and can be very cheeky, stealing other baboons’ treats from Keepers.”

Orang-utans tend to be more chilled out; although, it’s Madagascar’s native primates that take calm to the next level.

“Our lemur boys are very relaxed and comfortable with visitors moving through their space. They have safe zones if they need some time out,” says Fleur.

Game on!

As intelligent, curious creatures, a busy and entertained primate is a happy primate. That’s why Keepers provide a variety of enriching activities and games to challenge their inquisitive minds.

Hiding food in ice blocks encourages primates to solve problems. The zoo has even used technology to help some of the primates stay connected during coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions.

“I set up Zoom sessions with our orang-utans and orang-utans in another zoo. I’ve also started weekly art sessions with the orang-utans and artist

Pamela Conder,” explains Fleur.

Despite needing interaction, like humans, primates also have ‘doona days’.

“Our primates love sunny, warm weather. Most of them will choose to remain in their warm dens when it rains.

Our great apes will even cover up with a blanket,” says Fleur. ZN

fyi

Unlike most other primates, Whitecheeked Gibbons are monogamous and tend to mate for life.

While most primates have opposable thumbs, the Blackand-white Colobus doesn’t because they have adapted to live in trees instead of the forest floor.

THEY’RE CALLING ON YOU Help protect Eastern Lowland Gorillas by donating your old mobile phones.

Every phone recycled raises funds for gorilla rehabilitation. Visit zoo.org.au/ theyre-calling-on-you-phones/

THE PRIMATES MISS YOU! Visit zoo.org.au to book your free member tickets.

Western Lowland Gorillas are the smallest of the four gorilla sub-species, but adult males can still stand up to six feet tall.

ZOONEWS MEMBER MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2020 •

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ANIMAL

THE ZOO OF US Say hello to the

giraffes&their Keeper As a Savannah Keeper at Werribee Open Range Zoo, Deb Jones has a special place in her heart for the giraffes.

WORDS

Emily Tatti PHOTOGRAPHY Jo Howell

See what it’s like to have your very own giraffe encounter.

Watch it here

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Save some for me!

From the Keeper: Q How long have you worked at

Werribee Open Range Zoo?

A I’ve been at Werribee for 18 years now.

I’m currently a Keeper in the Lower Savannah, which is the mixed-species exhibit where we look after the giraffes, rhinos, eland, zebra, oryx, waterbuck and ostrich.

Q Can you tell us about the giraffes?

A We have five male giraffes – Harold, Amani, Kona, Jelani and Ajali (or AJ) – who range from eight to 12 years of age. They have a bit of a hierarchy, but it changes depending on the situation they’re in.

Harold is uncertain about trying new things, whereas Kona is more outgoing and will lead the group most of the time.

Q How do they respond to the other

animals in their exhibit?

A They still show natural instincts. For example, they’ll often sit on a rhino poo pile to disguise their smell from predators, just as they would in the wild.

Q Why do you love working with

the giraffes?

A They’re so charismatic. You see their different personalities shine through every day. They’re also pretty hesitant animals, so they do get attached to the people looking after them. If a new Keeper were to jump out of a ute in their exhibit one day, they would withdraw and run away. It’s why we tend to spend a lot of time with the giraffes when we’re doing the rounds.

Q What does your role as a giraffe

Keeper involve?

A They live in a massive giraffe house, kind of like a barn, that is heated in the winter. In the mornings we feed them pellets for breakfast before training them with special treats like carrots, lettuce and sweet potato, which helps prepare them for X-rays and health check-ups. Then we release them into their 40-hectare paddock where they can roam and explore. A lot of our day involves cleaning their barn and hanging food for their dinner.

Q What do the giraffes do during

the day?

A They’re very relaxed animals. They like to sit and rest in the sun. Because they’re browsers, they also spend a lot of their time scoping out new branches. They like to stick to a routine, so at 4pm they know to wait at the gate to their barn. If you’re five minutes early they’ll even run from the other side of the paddock to meet you.

Did you know?

While you might browse the shelves at your library, the word ‘browse’ for giraffes means to nibble at or eat something. Giraffes are similar to cows because they graze on food rather than eat it in one gulp.

Q How did they react to the lack of

visitors during the Zoo closure?

A It’s amazing how much they’re stimulated by buses travelling through the Savannah, so when we don’t have visitors, we give them extra enrichment activities to keep them busy during the day, like puzzle feeders. We also hang browse (acacia leaves) in different spots, which encourages them to explore new areas of their enclosure. But they’re really lucky that they live in a mixed-species exhibit, because they encounter other animals every day and it helps keep them stimulated. ZN

fyi VISIT US Visit the giraffes at Werribee Open Range Zoo. Go to zoo.org.au to book your free member tickets.

ZOONEWS MEMBER MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2020 •

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COMMUNITY ANIMAL

Creature feature

BEHIND THE SCENES

We let you in on a few little-known facts about the animals living at Healesville Sanctuary, Melbourne Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo. WORDS Georgia

Inside the butterfly house

Melbourne Zoo’s Butterfly House is a hive of activity on any given day. In fact, 40–80 butterflies are released into their humid new home each day – with constant breeding taking place on and off display. To ensure the butterflies are comfortable the tropical temperature of the habitat allows these ectotherms (which rely on the sun or the heat in their environment) to stay warm and breed throughout the year. Butterflies use their proboscis to feed on flower nectar or juice from fermenting fruit.

“We have a few different flower species growing in the Butterfly House that the butterflies love,” says Kate Pearce, Ectotherms Precinct Coordinator, Melbourne Zoo. “We could never grow enough for all of our butterflies, so we cut flowers daily from around the zoo.”

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Lejeune

Hanging with the primates

Similar to humans, primates love warm, sunny days. “When it rains our great apes will cover up with a blanket,” says Fleur Butcher, Keeper – Primates. “Most of our primates will choose to remain in their warm dens when it rains.” And who can blame them? You may have had the pleasure of meeting Malu, Kiani and Gabby – Melbourne Zoo’s resident Sumatran Orang-utans. What you may not know is that each has an individual personality. “Malu is our gentle, intelligent project-driven man, Gabby is our gorgeous goofball and Kiani is our artistic serious lady.” If you’ve ever wondered why gorillas sometimes beat their chests, Fleur says it could mean a couple of things. “It can be used in play, but it’s also a warning signal for other gorillas to change their behaviour.”

Penguin pool party

You might have caught these lively little birds splashing around on the ‘Animals At Home’ live cams recently.

If you checked in to find an empty pool, the gang might have been sleeping in one of the 15 nest boxes scattered throughout the sand dunes. Although not all penguin species mate for life, James Uren, Precinct Coordinator, Wild Sea at Melbourne Zoo, says there’s a high percentage in certain species of penguins that are monogamous and will re-pair each season. “One couple that comes to mind is Dusty and Juan.

They’ve produced one offspring so far and with Juan’s wild genes he is very valuable for the region’s breeding program,” James says. Juan was rescued by the zoo’s Marine Response Unit and has only one flipper. ZN

Welcome back!

The animals are now enjoying seeing the smiling faces of their visitors as they return to the zoo.

Ganyeka the gorilla

Watch butterflies floating around the Butterfly House at Melbourne Zoo on the live stream.

Watch it here

fyi VISIT THE ZOO Ganyeka can’t wait to see you!

Visit zoo.org.au to book your free member tickets.

Ganyeka, one of the gorillas at Werribee Open Range Zoo, would often sit at the viewing window eating all the food and branches he had gathered, making faces and rolling around in the grass – all for the appreciation of his admiring visitors. “We think he definitely missed visitors the most out of all the animals on the African River Trail,” says Kieralie Braasch, Keeper – African River Trail. “Keepers observed him looking out over the visitor paths from Gorilla Island and intently watching the odd person who walked by and soaking up any attention he could get at the window from Keepers and staff.”

Did you know?

The oldest resident at Melbourne Zoo is Wilbur, a Giant Tortoise who is thought to be 90–110 years old– although Keepers aren’t sure exactly when he was hatched.

ZOONEWS MEMBER MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2020 •

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ANIMAL

OTANA WEIGHT

180 KG WEEKLY DIET 90kg vegetables and greens, 7kg pellets and 14 pieces of browse.

Feeding

FRENZY

From vegetarian gorillas to otters with a taste for rainbow trout, the animals at Melbourne Zoo are kept well-fed and happy. Here’s how.

WORDS

Jo Davy

MEK KAPAH WEIGHT

3,360 KG WEEKLY DIET 31kg vegetables, 23kg starchy vegetables, 70kg greens, 17kg lucerne hay, 35kg oaten hay, 42kg teff, 21 branches, 25kg training treats, 8.5 lucerne hay cubes and 10kg bran mixture.

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f you think your grocery shopping list is getting out of hand, spare a thought for Melbourne Zoo’s Food Store Manager Colin Van Dyk. Each week, Melbourne Zoo’s 3,197 animals munch their way through about three tonnes of fruit and vegetables, 172 kilograms of meat, 40 hay bales, 6,000 mealworms and 150 yabbies — and it’s Colin’s responsibility to keep the five kitchens stocked.

Every animal has a specific diet developed by the Zoo’s vet team to make sure their individual nutritional needs are met.

Otana, the silverback Western Lowland Gorilla, chows down on about 90 kilograms of vegetables and greens per week, as well as pellets and leafy

NDIDI WEIGHT

180 KG

NAKURU

WEEKLY DIET 30kg meat (five days of 5.5kg and two days of 1.5kg lean meat cut into small chunks for training).

browse. Meanwhile, Sam the Platypus enjoys a more modest diet of 2.5 kilograms of yabbies, plus a selection of worms and fly pupae.

“My role is to make sure the different departments have all the ingredients they need to make up the animals’ diets,” Colin says.

Zoos Victoria tries to source food locally as much as possible, which means Colin is up early four mornings a week to collect fruit and vegetable donations from suppliers at Melbourne Market in Epping. The Zoo also receives regular deliveries of fresh produce throughout the week.

Meat is another staple of many animals’ diets — Ndidi the African Lion gets through 30 kilograms a week — and Colin and his team are careful to source all animal products from operations that adhere to RSPCA guidelines around welfare and humane slaughter.

Hay, fish, insects and seeds make up the bulk of the shopping list, but there are also some specialty items to source: rainbow trout for the otters and goat for the Zoo’s reticulated python. Some food, such as bamboo for the Red Pandas and plants for the butterflies, are even grown on site.

“We look at food miles and try to source locally where we can, but with some of the special diets it just isn’t possible,” Colin says.

WEIGHT

1,000 KG WEEKLY DIET Leaves and bark from 42 pieces of browse, 50kg Lucerne hay, 14kg giraffe pellets, 3.5kg oats, 7kg greens and a few carrots for training.

What does it take to feed a hungry group of gorillas? Watch our Keepers prepping a gorilla feast.

SAM

Watch it here

WEIGHT

2 KG The Keepers are responsible for food preparation, which for some of the bigger appetites can be a full-time job in itself.

“Our elephant herd would eat the most of any animal at Melbourne Zoo,” Colin says. “The Keepers use their food as enrichment and provide it in different ways to keep them busy for a big part of the day.”

Feeding time while the zoo was closed due to public health restrictions presented new challenges for Melbourne Zoo, both in sourcing and in delivering food for the animals.

Keepers have been maintaining rigorous hygiene practices so that they can continue to distribute food to the animals. ZN

WEEKLY DIET 2.5kg yabbies, 1.4kg blackworms, 700g compost/tiger worms, 350g mealworms and 140g fly pupae.

fyi VISIT THE ANIMALS Visit the animals at Melbourne Zoo to see them munching away on their delicious meals. Visit zoo.org.au to book your free member tickets.

ZOONEWS MEMBER MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2020 •

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COMMUNITY CONSERVATION

Ooh bubbles!

Project Willy Wonka

From exercise pools to custom-made gyms, a range of innovations are keeping Zoos Victoria’s animals healthy and happy.

WORDS Jo

Stewart

H

ave you ever wondered why the orang-utans at Melbourne Zoo have a climbing frame, or why the dingoes at Healesville Sanctuary forage through paper and treat-filled boxes? Perhaps you’ve noticed snakes swimming in pools or African Wild Dogs retrieving food from a zip-line at Werribee Open Range Zoo and asked yourself: why?

Whether specially designed activities or habitat features, these are some of the projects that Zoos Victoria uses to ensure the physical and mental wellbeing of the animals in our care.

As Zoos Victoria Animal Behaviour Specialist Sue Jaensch explains, these projects are all about providing beneficial experiences for animals.

“More often than not, it means creating problem-solving opportunities or an increase in physical activity that matches wild behaviours,” she says.

Since 2013, Zoos Victoria has allocated $50,000 of its annual budget to Project

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Willy Wonka: a program that supports innovative projects to provide positive experiences for the animals in their care.

These funds are bolstered by a generous private donor, who has supported the project for the past three years.

As part of the annual initiative, Zoos Victoria staff put forward their suggestions for new design features or equipment, and a short-listed selection are allocated funding. Unsurprisingly, Keepers are the main source of inspiration, Sue explains.

“When you’re doing an activity day in day out and observing your animals and how they react to it, and then adding in what you know about that individual animal and their species in the wild, that inevitably leads the majority of Keepers to dream up those ‘I’d really love it if we could…’ ideas.”

Melbourne Zoo’s seals are recent recipients of a Willy Wonka creation: a bubble curtain that was installed in the main pool of the Wild Sea exhibit last year. Blowing bubbles from a tube at the bottom of the pool, the device creates a multi-sensory experience. “There’s a tactile element for the seals as they

“There’s a tactile element for the seals as they move through the curtain and feel the bubbles on their bodies.” move through the curtain and feel the bubbles on their bodies,” says Sue. “There’s also the sound that the bubbles create, as well as the visual change in their environment.”

Eagle-eyed visitors to Melbourne Zoo may also notice the heated exercise pool in the Reptile House or, in summer, the sensor-controlled shower delivering cool-downs (and shell massages) to the Aldabra Giant Tortoises.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes at Healesville Sanctuary, the Leadbeater’s Possums from the Fighting Extinction breeding program have access to their very own gym. Taking inspiration from the possum’s forest home, Keepers designed a series of equipment that provides opportunities for the possums to solve problems and develop their physical ability.

Since the inception of Project Willy Wonka, 20 ideas have been transformed into reality – and it’s not just the animals that have profited.

“Whether it’s a simple item, like a puzzle ball, or something on a larger scale, for the Keepers to observe the animals benefiting from the idea is such a fun and rewarding experience,” says Sue. “We learn by testing and trialling the ideas, and visitors get to see the animals active and doing wild-type behaviours – it’s a win-win situation for everyone.” ZN

fyi WATCH THEM AT PLAY Visit one of the three zoo locations to see the animals enjoying enrichment activities. Visit zoo.org.au to book your free member tickets.

Beneficial experiences

Next time you visit Werribee Open Range Zoo, be sure to keep an eye out for these three features:

1

Reptile Exploratorium

2

Meerkat wheel feeder

3

Lion enrichment tree

Like us, snakes can benefit from a change of scenery and trying new things. This specifically designed space – complete with maze-style ramp and a heated pool, allows them to do just that – Keepers can line the area with different material like soil, bark or grass, so there is always something new for the snakes to explore.

This windmill feeder scatters mealworms, crickets and other insects throughout the meerkats’ home, encouraging them to hunt and forage. It can be programmed to distribute food randomly throughout the day so feeding times are unpredictable, just like it would be in the wild.

Keepers regularly attach items to a large tree inside the lions’ exhibit – anything from papier-mâché puzzles to meaty morsels. Each object is designed to stimulate natural behaviours, ensuring the lions have a range of opportunities to activate their minds and bodies.

ZOONEWS MEMBER MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2020 •

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SUSTAINABILITY CONSERVATION

Get by with a

LITTLE HELP

Zoos Victoria’s mission to protect vulnerable species from extinction would not be possible without the help of our members and partners.

WORDS Krysia

A

Bonkowski

side from the most dedicated twitchers, it’s likely few people would know an Eastern Bristlebird if they saw one. As is the case with some of the world’s most iconic animals, the survival of this shy, grounddwelling brown bird found in pockets of south-eastern Australia depends on us. Every day, more species move closer to extinction.

Too many of them face the prospect of slipping over the brink unnoticed.

As a world leading zoo-based conservation organisation, Zoos Victoria (ZV) is involved in conservation programs across six countries, eight community campaigns and more than 50 research projects, and leads recovery efforts for 27 threatened native species under its long-term Fighting Extinction strategy. The support of partner organisations is integral to this vital work.

Collaboration is essential for finding long-term solutions with community support. Along with institutions such as Deakin University and citizen scientists, ZV is working to restore the Bogong Moth

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Corroboree frog eggs!

By teaming up with like-minded organisations, Zoos Victoria hopes to be able to continue to stem the tide of extinction long into the future. migration that the Mountain Pygmy-possum relies on for survival. With partners including Taronga Conservation Society Australia and former NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (now NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment), thousands of Southern Corroboree Frog eggs and adults have been released into the wild. Cooperation means the team can react to urgent threats, such as evacuating a population of Eastern Bristlebirds as the bushfires bore down in February, alongside partners including Parks Victoria and Monash University. By teaming up with likeminded organisations, Zoos Victoria hopes to be able to continue to stem the tide of extinction long into the future. ZN

THE EASTERN BRISTLEBIRD OPERATION // When this year’s

devastating bushfires threatened one of the only remaining Victorian populations of Eastern Bristlebirds near Mallacoota in Gippsland, a veritable army mobilised to save them. Zoos Victoria teamed up with experts from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Parks Victoria, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, Monash University and University of Wollongong to save an ‘insurance population’ of the nearflightless bird. With support from the Orbost Incident Management Team, the group was whisked into Croajingolong National Park by the Australian Defence Force on a Chinook helicopter, aiming to collect 20 birds over five days. They nearly filled their quota despite being evacuated after two days, with Victorian Fisheries Authority providing a boat out and Emergency Management Victoria providing aircraft back to Melbourne. “I don’t know how we pulled it all together in such a short amount of time with all those people,” says Zoos Victoria’s Senior Threatened Species Biologist Dr Katherine Selwood. “The operation itself was really amazing.” The birds were returned to their home in the bush from Melbourne Zoo in April, blissfully unaware of the operation mounted to save them.

CARING FOR THE CORROBOREE FROG

// For nearly two decades, Zoos Victoria has endeavoured to save the Southern and Northern Corroboree Frogs, brought to the brink of extinction by drought and the fatal chytrid fungus disease. The effort has hinged on breeding programs established by Zoos Victoria, Taronga Conservation Society Australia and the Amphibian Research Centre, made possible by the field research of Dr David Hunter from the former NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. Once a breeding population was established, focus turned to returning frogs to the wild.

“One of our key goals with the recovery programs is not to have animals in zoos forever,” says Zoos Victoria Threatened Species Biologist, Deon Gilbert. “We really want them to be back in the wild and be a natural self-sustaining population.”

With further research from University of Wollongong and on-ground support from NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, the program now releases 2,000-plus Southern Corroboree Frog eggs annually into wild populations and has established disease-free ‘exclosures’ of captive-bred adults in Kosciuszko National Park. “Even globally, it’s one of the best examples of collaboration across state boundaries and between multiple institutions,” says Deon.

Top left: Melbourne Zoo’s amphibian specialist Damian Goodall releases captive-bred Southern Corroboree Frog eggs into both natural sphagnum bogs and chytrid-free protected pools on Mount Kosciuszko.

Top right: Southern Corroboree Frog.

Bottom: Eastern Bristlebird.

fyi HOP ALONG Come and see the Southern Corroboree Frog at Healesville Sanctuary and Melbourne Zoo to see how your membership is saving these species. Visit zoo.org.au to book your free member tickets.

WANT MORE? See how the team rescued a threatened species from the line of fire in January 2020.

Watch it here

ZOONEWS MEMBER MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2020 •

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COMMUNITY

OVER TO YOU

VIEWS from the ZOOS

Here are some of our favourite Member snaps from the zoos.

We love seeing your views of the zoos.

Send us your pics Email your pictures to members@zoo.org.au with your name and Member number or post them on Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #zoomember

Photographer: Maddy Jamieson – winner of Zoos Victoria Staff Photo Competition. Karry and joey

At home zoo: Ruby, Oscar and Violet Chiu

Moth tracker: Beryl (age 10)

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We can't wait to see you!

HOME ZOOING These cuddly creatures were spotted hanging about at home!

A very big thank you for all your loyalty and support over the past few months – it means the world.

Healesville Sanctuary, Melbourne Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo are back open with a number of measures in place to ensure safe physical distancing and improved hygiene.

All visitors, including Zoo Members, will need to book tickets online so that volumes can be managed.

The total number of visitors allowed per zoo will be increased gradually to allow animals to become used to visitors and to ensure that directions on open space per visitor of four square metres and gatherings are respected.

HANNAH 6-month-old Hannah at home with Dad

#ZOOMEMBER

The dinos are here! @funintentionalchaos

You can still see the dinos at Healesville Sanctuary, Melbourne Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo.

Little joey

Our heroes!

ELLE Royal Melbourne Hospital Emergency Department

ROAR!!!

EXCITING NEWS

The announcement of $84million from the Victorian Government means Zoos Victoria can realise our plan to develop a haven for members, visitors, and animals alike, creating a world-class attraction that will include a 20-hectare elephant sanctuary, expanded rhino retreat, a treetop canopy walk, a gondola, a prairie landscape for a herd of bison, an expanded lion exhibit, and a new hyena clan. The expansion is scheduled to occur over the next three years.

HARVEY 2-year-old Harvey in his dinosaur onesie ZOONEWS MEMBER MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2020 •

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