Taronga Taronga Taronga » Taronga Zoo

23-04-2008

The pelicans arent a bad feature at all. All 4 birds are very tame and were right up next to the boardwalk when I visited-you can see this in the pics. Also, the recent drought in SA and its effect on the pelican breeding colony's underscores the fact that even the most 'common' of birds are, in places, struggling.
I think cormorants would have made a great addition. And in the picture Ive taken of GSO you can see that just up from the pelicans the boardwalk neatly carves out a 'dead zone' which would have made a great exhibit for heathland birds.
I dont really thing this exhibit will mature in any way other than the vegetation. If you take Wild Asia as an example to compare against, this exhibit works well because its focus is on the animals. They are the stars of the show and everywhere you turn there are animals, animals, animals.
Great Southern Oceans is unlikely to receive any significant add-ons in the near future...........guess Ill just have to be happy with what Ive got and lament the dead zones/design flaws.

23-04-2008

No i don't mean just plants, as time goes on more animals will be added. We are going through introductions with many of our seals at the moment. The 3 leopard seals living together will add a lot more life. The seal show seals are starting to be kept in larger groups in the seal habitat pool, and more animals are due to join our old boys in the bottom pool, a breeding group of australian sea lions is on the table so we shall see, as the trees to grow however it will fill out as well. In reply to the comments about Wild Asia not made by patrick but by glyn, it may be animals everywhere you go however it was easier to do that with that exhibit as the species kept are heavily represented in zoo's apart from the Silvery Gibbons and the Francois Leaf monkeys. Unfortunatly when dealing with marine mammals we can't just bring more Australian sea lions from other zoo's as there aren't many in captivity, same goes for australian fur seals and new zealand fur seals.

23-04-2008

zooworker, whats the deal?

why do you always contradict yourself? you said this....

which i was about to point out completely contradicted your arguments made in earlier posts about the importance of retaining californian sea lions in australia.... but as i read on, you even manage to do contradict yourself a paragraph later with this...

so like i asked, whats the deal?

either you don't really work at the zoo. or you don't really know much about what your talking about, which unfortunately for you is your profession...

23-04-2008

Just because it's on the table does not mean it will be easy, Wild asia has been around for a few years now and is still not exhibiting it's full range of species.

We can't just pull marine mammals from no where easily, but if we set a plan for the future it can happen, just not over night. This plan thats in the process of going through requires many institutions across Australia to get breeding programs into full swing. This program will then need the offspring to be introduced and then that form the breeding group.

And before you jump in claiming another contradiction, as i said the leopard seals are not planned to breed at this point due to lack of space for this species in Australiasian zoo's, i remind you of this fact, a large true seal such as a leopard seal requires very different facilities to australiasian eared seal species. Number 1 haul outs cannot be as step and cliff like as alot of the current marine mammal facilities are. Number 2 holding facilities must be increased in size but a large amount, current holding facilities in marine mammal facilities are not big enough. However the facilities currently in place would enable a large scale Australian sea lion breeding program across the country, we previously did not have the numbers needed, however with many males becoming sexual mature in facilities across australia the program is now possible, when californian sea lions were brought to taronga we only had one male sea lion capable of breeding and he was extremly non social and so was living by himself so this was not an option, however with our current teenaged male we have the ability to breed, and with other facilities such as PPPool in Coffs Harbour and AQWA with large, potentially breeding, groups (infact PPP has already started breeding with 2 pups born recently) we have the means now to set this program up.

23-04-2008

wow!

so after arguing erratically that i was wrong to suggest that an australian sea lion breeding program should be a priority, and that since there was little space we should not be importing any more californian sea lions, you then give a lengthy response to exactly why it is possible.

ka-bang! just contradicted yourself again.

what's even more interesting to me is this. you said you've been a marine mammal keeper at taronga for something like 15 years. and twice now, twice, i have questioned your credibility and called you suspect. said i don't believe you work at the zoo...

and both times you have refrained from taking me up on it.

i would have thought that anyone who has spent over a decade working in a given profession and is then questioned over it, by someone on an internet forum at that - who admittedly doesn't even work in that profession - would be positively livid.

i would expect and instant absolute venomous defense.

but instead nothing.....

and you don't even know how to spell kodiak.

zooworker - i'm calling you a liar and i swear i'll leave this forum for good if you can prove otherwise!

23-04-2008

wow pat big promises!

I think you have both got your selves sound wound up in beating the otehr, neither is starting to make sense.

23-04-2008

Never once did i say that californian sea lions should take over or be imported when australian sea lions can fill the space. Never once did i say that australian sea lion's should not be a priority for breeding. I said it was not possible at the time that the cali's were brought it, we are currently at a point where it is possible to start increasing the breeding program for Australian sea lions as we now have animals in facilities able to reproduce.
Believe me there are many things i have been wanting to say to you but due to the fact i am carrying the name of the institution i work for i can't. You are free to say whatever you feel in this forum, i am limited by the fact that i represent a very large institution. I am livid. My experience being questioned by a person who doesn't work in the industry does really piss me off, even more so when you claim to challenge me when you still compare the space needed for eared seals and then Leopard seals, thats like saying stick a lion in a snow leopard enclosure, they are both cats it's the same thing(how wrong is that idea, even you would pick me up on that) In terms of spelling, like you have to be kidding me, your using a spelling mistake as a reason to back your argument. My history of employment is as follows, i worked at the John.C Shedd Aquarium in Chicago for 5 years with Beluga Whales and Pacific white sided Dolphins and was an advisor on the design for the new facilities there. I then made the move to Taronga 15 years ago when a position came up back in Australia as i had to leave due to lack of work. I have done two exchanges since that time, one to exotics (ex. Asian mammals) in the year 1996 and once again in 2006. Now i would appreciate it if you get of my back with stupid evidence which includes the comparison of two very different family of pinn's and a spelling mistake. Now stop being an arrogant prick and realise that there may be some things that you do not know and for once you may be wrong.

23-04-2008

I like people who stick up for what they believe in and dont stoop to other peoples levels, Congrats. On another note im a TTI student and will be doing my pract days in the GSO later this year, and I cant wait. At the moment im up in OZ mammals loving my time up there, they are really a great group. I had Paul M(From Marine Mammals) as for a couple of classes last month, He was AWESOME. I really enjoyed learning from him i cant wait to see what hes like to work with.

23-04-2008

Oh and Zooworker hows that seal coming along? That you were looking after the other night.

23-04-2008

zooworker don't start suddenly defending taronga's right to import califorian sea lions in the past as if it was that i had a problem with.

i said that californian sea lions should be phased-out.
i never questioned the decision to import them past. go back and re-read as much as you like. i am confident i never said a thing about past imports, only that they should cease in favour of endangered, native, species.

also, you keep mentioning the needs of leopard seals over and over again, despite the fact that my argument has been far more structured around australian sea lions.

simply i was saying australian zoos need to stop further investment in an exotic seals and focus their attention on natives. you argued that we should continue to keep exotic seals. it was that simple.

so for the record i think you not only have poor comprehension skills - you show an amazing lack on insight and articulation into something you apparently should be an expert in...

so say what you like, thats not proving nuthin'...

i stand by my words. be honest about who you are. and i'll get off this forum for good. thats a promise.

23-04-2008

had to be put down, really really sick, Paul's a great guy, very experienced. Some great people up at Oz as well, you would have met Paul who heads the noci house, and Waza is a champ haha.

23-04-2008

Oh thats sad Yeah Paul in the NOC house is a nut almost a Gnome. I told him he reminded me of David Bellamy, he loved that. Havent done any prac days up there yet just food prep. Hopefully will be give NOC house this time. Ive been doing the MAC's, but I love it

23-04-2008

i stand by what i said, i believe that we should be able to bring exotics in in the future, i believe that we should continue working with Aus sea lions, i think that becoming zoo's only showing australian wildlife is a very dangerous trap to fall into and phasing out species such as californian sea lions is just one part of a very bad trend in Australian zoo's. The reason that i keep bringing up the leopard seals is because that was one of your points used to justify your previous questioning of my experience. I was never rude to you orginally but you are just unbearable, you complain about not being allowed to bring exotics such as hippos and bongos into zoo's but then you want to stop exotics in the marine mammal facilities. You are as bad as you claim i am. I am a zookeeper, everything i have said is the truth, and i will not let some jerk who doesn't even work in the industry treat me like some dipshit. You do nothing but condesend and lower people to make yourself feel important. What is important in this industry is the animals and thier health and well being so trying to shoot down people so you can be the best "zoo person" is just stupid. Your points are lacking in judgement and justification. So please stop being so stupid.

23-04-2008

That would be a nightmare up there at the moment after all this rain, the ground would be all churned up.

23-04-2008

I have been lucky so far it hasnt rained any of the days ive been there. But ive gotta come this weekend to talk to some of the keepers about a assignment i have.