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NEWS FROM THE ZOO
Here's the latest goings on at Franklin Zoo  Tommy, our cute otter, is soon to be joined by another friendly otter named Paddles. Read about it in our August Zoo Diary. |
Zoo Diary March 2008
I spent part of February at Rockhampton Zoo in central Queensland. Much of Queensland had been affected by heavy rainfall over the summer months and flying into Rockhampton, I could see the full extent of flooding in the rural areas.Rockhampton Zoo is set in the middle of the citys amazing botanical gardens where tropical plant species abound and the park is like a rainforest.
First stop was to meet Occy and Cassey, the zoos resident male chimpanzees both in their mid-thirties. They were brought to Rockhampton 22 years ago after the closure of Coolangatta Zoo on the Gold Coast. After meeting the chimps (speaking in chimpanzee) we became good friends.
I met with council officials the next morning and the job of designing a new chimp enclosure began. The site for the new facility is perfect an existing tropical rainforest occupied by cassowary. Most zoo enclosures are started from scratch on a bare site; we only had to enclose a replica of the West African rainforest!
While working in the zoo office, drawing up the plans for the new enclosure, I had Wiggles for company. Wiggles is a southern hairy nosed wombat who was hand raised from a tiny joey after her mother was killed on the road. Her role is to be an ambassador for the northern hairy nosed wombat of which only around 100 survive. Wiggles was supposed to sleep during the day but she spent her time exploring the office and tapping me on the leg wanting to be picked up. She is a most charming animal.
After a rainy week in Rockhampton it was down to Sydney with zoo manager Tina, to attend the regional chimpanzee management workshop at Taronga Zoo. Firstly it was a chance to catch up with many friends and colleagues in the chimpanzee world and of course the very fine group of around 20 chimpanzees that live at Taronga.
I was delighted that many of the chimp management techniques that we had been working on for years had now become the standard for the region i.e. multi-male/multi-female natural groups with minimum intervention from keepers.
A minimum group size of twelve chimpanzees in any institution was agreed upon. So Cassy and Occy, the Rockhampton chimp bachelor boys, will not only get a new rainforest home but around five new companions as well over the next few years including girls.
Its great to be back at Franklin Zoo catching up with all the wonderful animals that live here! Come and enjoy autumn at Franklin Zoo. We are open every day 9am 5 pm with Wild Encounters every day at 2pm.
Graeme Strachan
Manager Life Sciences
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| Spider monkeys |
| We have two spider monkeys who are great friends. With their strong prehensile tails, Barda and Spiddle can hang from the branches and have their entire weight supported so they can feed easily with their hands free. Check out their hands no thumbs! Thats because thumbs would get in the way of their swinging. |
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