Zooper Kids Spring 2026

SPRING ISSUE 2026

Snow

CUBS

LEOPEAORUTD COM to PLAY! page 2

Make a detection dog

PANCAKE page 10

INSIDE » INSIDE »

• Take the dino quiz & win

4

• Craft a Swift Parrot mask 14

• Make a nature journal

18

WHO’S WHO at the ZOO? GET TO KNOW SOME OF OUR NEWEST ARRIVALS

MEET OUR SNOW LEOPARD CUBS

Earlier this year, Melbourne Zoo welcomed four adorable snow leopard cubs – the only snow leopard cubs in the whole of Australia!

Born to mum Miska and dad Kang-Ju, the four playful cubs can be tricky to tell apart.

Even their keepers get confused about who’s who.

MAYA

SABU

KIRA

LUMI

Gender:

Gender:

Gender:

Gender:

Female

Personality:

Curious & brave

Look out for:

A bold stripe on her back. Keepers used to call her Stripe.

Male

Personality:

Playful & nervous

Look out for:

He usually sticks close to his mum, Miska.

Female

Male

Personality:

Subdued & snoozy

Look out for:

She likes time alone, but is starting to become more social.

Personality:

Quiet & watchful

Look out for:

His left whisker spots – four on top, four on the bottom.

Zoos Victoria PO Box 74, Parkville VIC 3052 P 03 9340 2780 E members@zoo.org.au W zoo.org.au Zooper Kids is published for Zoos Victoria

by Heads & Tales, a Hardie Grant Media agency.

MANAGING DIRECTOR Rod Mooseek ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Scott Elmslie EDITOR Jo Stewart ART DIRECTOR Dallas Budde DESIGN Dallas Budde & Natalie Lachina PRINTER Finsbury Green

2

Printed on FSC® certified paper with vegetable-based inks. Zoos Victoria is a carbon-neutral organisation and powered by 100% renewable energy.

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE ILLUSTRATION BY GREGORY ROBERTS

Can you spot the 10 differences between these two Snow Leopard images?

JUMPING JOEYS Healesville Sanctuary is now home to two bouncing baby joeys!

Can you match each joey to its grown up?

? ?

Red kangaroo

Swamp wallaby See PAGE 17 for answers

3

COMPE TITION

TIME!

DINOSAUR

DISCOVERY QU IZ!

How to enter: 1 Visit one or more of your zoos with your copy of Zooper Kids.

One entry per member, per zoo.

That means you can enter up to

3 THREE TIMES.

2 Scan the QR code and enter your member details and quiz answers for your entry.

Explore the dinosaur exhibit to help you answer the questions.

GOOD LUCK T&Cs: winners will be randomly drawn from entries that correctly answer the pictorial quiz questions.

We are giving away

5 Prehistoric

44

Prize Packs

WORTH $100ea

DINOSAUR PRIZE PACKS

(worth $100ea)

ALL EXPLORERS & DINO DETECTIVES

Calling

W1 ofIN5

Visit the dino experiences across Zoos Victoria sites and answer the questions for your chance to win!

QUIZ QUESTIONS ~ FOR ~

MELBOURNE ZOO

~ FOR ~

~ FOR ~

HEALESVILLE SANCTUARY

WERRIBEE

OPEN RANGE ZOO 1

1 Which dinosaur has spikes on its back?

2

Which dinosaur in the exhibit has the longest name?

1 Which dinosaur has an armoured shell?

2 WHICH DINOSAUR IN THE EXHIBIT HAS FOUR HORNS ON ITS HEAD?

2

HOW MANY DINOSAURS CAN YOU COUNT ON THE DINO TRAIL?

3

S

WHICH DINOSAUR IN THE EXHIBIT HAS THE LONGEST TAIL?

Which dinosaur appears in a pair at Melbourne Zoo?

Which dinosaur do these claws belong to?

4

4

HOW MANY DINOS ON THE TRAIL START WITH THE LETTER ‘S’?

WHICH DINOSAUR HAS THE LONGEST NECK IN THE EXHIBIT?

5 Which dinosaur stands at the main entrance to the zoo?

3

3

5 Which dino has a big bony dome on its head?

Which dinosaur has feathers?

4 WHAT COLOUR IS THE FIRST DINOSAUR ON THE TRAIL?

GREY

BLUE

5

Which species has both an adult and baby on display?

GREEN

ORAN

5

GE

COLOUR-ME-IN PERIENCE EARLY MORNING SAVANNAH EX ILLUSTRATION BY PRIYANKA KASHIB

6

DID YOU KNOW? The Eland’s spiralled horns come in handy at feeding time. They use their horns to reach high tree branches and bring them closer so they can munch on the tastiest leaves.

ELAND

ZEBRA

RHINOCEROS

GIRAFFE Giraffes can grow up to five metres tall.

When they walk, they move both legs on one side of their body at the same time, which helps to stop them from tripping over.

See all these animals at Werribee Open Range Zoo,

SCIMITAR-HORNED ORYX

7

MAKE YOUR OWN

Penguin

BOOKMARK You’ll never lose what page you’re up to with this cute penguin bookmark.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED A5-sized black craft paper Scraps of plain white paper Scraps of orange paper Black pen or marker Scissors Glue stick

STEPS

1

2

Fold over one corner of the black paper to make a triangle.

Trim the excess paper, then rotate the triangle so the long edge is at the bottom and the point faces up.

3

4

Fold the lower right corner up to meet the top right corner.

Repeat step three for the left side.

MEET JUAN! Have you met Juan the very special penguin at Melbourne Zoo? He was rescued from the wild when an accident

damaged his flipper. After vets helped him, he moved into Wild Sea at Melbourne Zoo as

8

it’s hard for penguins to survive in the wild without a flipper.

Look out for him on your next visit.

Remember always ask to adult to he an lp w using scissors hen .

5

6

7

Fold these two back open, then flip down one of the top sheets and crease.

Fold the flaps you created back up and tuck into your bookmark.

Use your scissors to cut out two circles for the penguin’s eyes, then use your black marker to draw the pupils.

8

9

10

Now cut a thin orange triangle to make a beak.

Make the penguin’s tummy by cutting a small triangle out of the white paper. Then cut two scoops out of the corners of the triangle into the shape of the tummy.

Cut two very small love-hearts or crowns out of the orange paper to make the feet.

PRETTY YOUR PAGE Place your penguin bookmark on the page you want to come back to later.

11 Use your glue stick to stick on the eyes, beak, tummy and feet to complete your penguin.

9

ZOOPER KITCHEN

PUPPY PANCAKES Celebrate Zoos Victoria’s new detection dog recruits with a puppy pancake breakfast.

Give your puppy pancake a name!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED 1 x store-bought pancake or pikelet mix 2 x slices of banana 3 x blueberries 1 x strawberry, halved A few tablespoons of nut butter or jam

1010

adult Make sure an with u o helps y that any cooking or involves heats. sharp tool

MEET THE DOG SQUAD

STEPS

NEW RECRUITS

1

2

Follow the packet instructions to make the pancake mix.

Cook one large circle, two ovals and two small circles.

Place the large pancake in the centre of a plate to create the puppy’s face.

Beatrix (Bea for short) is a five-year-old black Labrador and a new member of Zoos Victoria’s detection dog family. She loves squeaky tennis balls and swimming.

The squad’s youngest recruit is three-year-old Kelpie, Yabby. Yabby will be sniffing out Victorian Grassland Earless Dragons.

3

4

Lightly coat the oval pancakes with nut butter or jam, then attach them to the top left and right of the large pancake to make the ears.

Add a little nut butter or jam to the banana slices and place them on the face for the eyes. Press a blueberry onto each banana slice.

RETIREES

Kip is retiring after being the first Platypus detection dog

at Zoos Victoria. In his time as a detection dog, he learned to paddleboard to access hard-to-reach burrows.

5

6

Use a little nut butter or jam to secure the two small pancakes to the face, creating the snout.

Add a blueberry in the centre for the nose.

Tuck the strawberry half underneath the snout to make the puppy’s tongue.

Serve and enjoy your puppy pancake.

Moss is also calling it quits but had plenty of magic moments as a detection dog, including the discovery of a new Broad-toothed Rat population right under our noses next to Healesville Sanctuary.

11

DRONE MAZE

game

DRONE OPERATING AREA

Zoos Victoria’s conservation team fly drones in the sky to find and check on threatened native animals.

Drones are really good at helping scientists to find animals in places that are hard to get to, such as steep mountains and bushland after a fire.

12

FIND THE RIGHT ROUTE

Use a pen, pencil or crayon to find which path the drone needs to follow to reach the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby.

DID YOU KNOW?

1 2 3

4

5

Drones do more than just spotting animals in the wild.

The team at Zoos Victoria use drones in Victoria’s Alpine Region to drop food for animals such as the Mountain Pygmy-possum to help the species thrive.

Food for the Mountain Pygmy–possum

BRUSH-TAILED ROCK-WALLABY

13

Go Wild & DRESS UP!

Looking for a fun way to help protect local wildlife?

This September, dress up as your favourite animal, wear some stripes or spots, or put on a mask to help people learn about the local threatened species that need our help.

Wild Week is 7–13 September.

MAKE YOUR OWN

SwiftMASK Parrot

Coloured craft paper (red, green, yellow, white, black & orange) Glue/clag An elastic band A hole punch Scissors

14

STEPS

Zooper Kids Mag

azine • Swift

Parrot Mask Temp

late

Cu

✃

EED WHAT YOU’LL N

Always ask an adult to help with using scissors!

ta

g lo n

da

she

d li n

Page 1 of 2

es

GREEN

RED WHITE RED WHITE

1

2

Snap the QR code to download your mask template from the Member Zone.

Use the mask template to cut out the various shapes from each of your coloured papers.

WANT MORE? Check out the Member Zone for more animal masks you can make at home.

Ensure that all eye holes are cut out (before the next step).

DID YOU KNOW The Swift Parrot is Critically Endangered. There are just 750 birds estimated to be remaining in the wild.

See the Swift Parrot at

Healesville Sancutary and help fight its extinction.

3 Glue one mask base on top of the other.

4

5

Then glue each of the outer eyes (red) then the centre eyes (white) and finally, the middle eyes (black).

Finally, glue the bottom beak, followed by the top beak.

GO WILD WITH YOUR SCHOOL OR CLASS! DRESS UP. RAISE FUNDS. FIGHT EXTINCTION. k.

Scan the QR code to access our schools pac

Punch holes in either side of your mask and tie elestic at either end.

15

CONGRATULATIONS to our winners!

WOW! THANKS FOR YOUR ENTRIES To enter our next competition, send your picture to: zooperkids@zoo.org.au

MILTON AGED 4

BAT PRIZE PACK

OR Zooper Kids Magazine PO Box 74, Parkville VIC 3052

See back page for all the competition details.

16

We love getting your pictures and letters.

FROG PRIZE PACK

ABBY

AGED 11

Puzzle

17

Swamp wallaby

DINO PRIZE PACK

ANSWERS Red kangaroo

AGED 7

BRIANNA

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE (pg 3) ANSWERS: 10 differences are circled

Swamp wallaby

WHO’S WHO? (pg 3)

Red kangaroo

Swamp wallaby

DRONE MAZE game

FOOD TO POO PRIZE PACK

(pgs 12-13) Red kangaroo ANSWER: Path 2

AGED 9

BENJI

2

SCAN Or visit Keeper Kids at Melbourne Zoo to see the gallery wall.

KEEPERS’ PICKS Scan the QR code below to see if you’re one of our

ZOOPER KIDS

GARDENING CLUB

Make your own

NATURE JOURNAL Record what you see in your garden or local park in your very own nature journal.

STEPS

18

1

2

3

Line up all of your pages.

Fold them in half and, using your hole punch, create two holes along the folded side of your book.

Ask an adult to cut your stick so that it runs the full length of your journal. Then, lay your string along the back of the book and thread it through the two holes until it’s at the front.

Wrap the string around one end of the stick, aligning with the first hole in your journal. Poke the string through the hole into the back of the journal.

CH-CH-CH-CH

CHANGES!

Hint: You can recycle old scrap paper and turn it over to use the blank side for your journal

Take notice of the changes in your garden or at your local park during spring and record them.

Look out for new things you observe during spring and record them in your nature journal with words or drawings. What birds can you see or hear? Is there new leaf growth? What flowers have popped up? What scents can you smell in the air?

Here’s some things to look out for:

EED WHAT YOU’LL N A small stick Some string A hole punch Paper

Ask an adult to assist with cutting your stick

4

5

Run the other end of the string around the stick and back out of the second hole.

Find a special pen or pencil and start making your notes and sketches.

Finally, tie the ends of your string around the back of your journal.

Blossom

Wattle and other native trees in flower

Birds, such as waddling

Bees and other pollinators

on fruit trees and other deciduous trees

ducklings

and swooping

magpies

coming out to hunt for pollen

19

COMPETITION TIME! GIVE AWAY!

WE HAVE FOUR FANTASTIC PRIZE PACKS TO GIVE CONSERVATION AWAY THIS ISSUE… PACK

VET PACK

$77 VALUE

BIRD

$80 VALUE

SAVANNAH PACK

PACK

$76 VALUE

$74 VALUE

To enter: 1 Complete a drawing

2

3

Send your drawing to:

Remember to include your name & address with your entry so that we can contact you!

zooperkids@zoo.org.au

OR

OR Post in the entry box at the Membership Booth at Melbourne Zoo.

Entries close Day, Xth Month 2026, so get cracking!

This competition is open to Zoos Victoria Members under the age of 18 with consent of a parent/guardian.

Entries will be judged on individual merit and winners notified by phone or email. All entries become the property of Zoos Victoria and will not be returned to the entrants. Prizes are subject to change and cannot be transferred or redeemed for cash. Winners will be announced in the next edition of Zooper Kids.

GOOD LUCK

Zooper Kids Magazine PO Box 74, Parkville VIC 3052