Who's who in the zoo?

I was in Melbourne for most of last week, and thought I'd take some time out to visit the Melbourne Zoo. The zoo is one of Australia's oldest, opening back in 1862 on the same Royal Park site.

I hadn't been there for many years, in fact these first 2 images are from slides back in the 60s when the extended family spent the day there.

Things have certainly changed - I couldn't find the elephant ride (above), and the wire cages are long gone, (these brick & bar cages were built back in the 1890s) though they have kept one similar old exhibit cage from 1928 to show visitors how much zoos have evolved and changed their policies on keeping, caring and showing animals.

The other major change I noticed was the fun park rides - the miniature train, the pony rides, and merry-go-rounds are no more. The only reminder of the Fun Fair is the magnificent 19th century English-made merry-go-round, a much-loved feature of the zoo .

The merry-go-round (below) or as they're calling it -the carousel, is now wrapped in plastic, due to its heritage state. It is on the Heritage Register as a significant part of Victoria’s history, it recently underwent a major restoration to restore it to its original glory.




Touring the grounds early in the morning, I came across the western lowland gorillas just after they'd been fed. It was interesting to see them gather a variety of fruit and veg in their hands to eat later and to stop the others from getting it first. They were keen on the rhubarb.

'Trail of the Elephants', is the new complex for the Asian Elephant exhibits which opened in 2003, and is still being added to. I liked this modern/ancient-looking wall.

It was a pleasant morning, but with The Butterfly House set at 28 degrees the humidity moved you on quickly.

The Zoo's philosophy is to divide it into ‘bioclimatic zones’, where animals that share a common native habitats are grouped with or near each other. So the giraffes, zebras and ostriches are in an African savanah habitat.