Striped Honeyeater, Taronga Park Zoo, Sydney
Striped Honeyeater, Taronga Park Zoo, Sydney
Australia has many dozens of different honeyeaters. In my home town of Murray Bridge we have at least 12 different species, most of them resident year round.
The Striped Honeyeater is one of them, but it is a breeding migrant in this area, arriving in the spring and leaving late summer. Only on one occasion over the last 26 years has it actually nested in our garden.
The bird shown in the photo above was in an aviary at Taronga Park Zoo where we visited on a holiday earlier this year.
Chapman’s Zebra at Monarto Zoo, South Australia
Chapman's Zebra, Monarto Zoo, South Australia
Our local Monarto Zoo has a small herd of Chapman’s Zebra on display. On my recent visit I had trouble getting good photos of these lovely animals due to the reflections of the sunlight on the windows of the shuttle bus. These buses take visitors on guided tours throughout the open range zoo, and the public is allowed to alight from these buses at many points and take the walking trails through the mallee scrubland between enclosures.
Further reading:
- Archived articles – there are many links to previous articles about my visits to zoos.
- ZooChat Forums – my son’s web site about nearly 1000 zoos from around the world, including over 100,000 photos of animals and zoos.
- Monarto Zoo – more information from their web page.
Chapman's Zebra, Monarto Zoo, South Australia
Rhino at Monarto Zoo, South Australia
Rhino at Monarto Zoo
The Rhino is the largest animal on display at Monarto Zoo near Murray Bridge in South Australia. This is an open range zoo, the largest of its type in the world and only a ten minute drive from my home.
Monarto Zoo is a part of our state’s major zoo, the Adelaide Zoo. Many improvements have been made since it came into being in the early 1990s. There are many walking trails through the mallee scrub land surrounding the enclosures, and shuttle buses ferry visitors from one exhibit to the next, or take them on guided bus tours through the park.
Further reading:
- Monarto Zoo its web page with details of location, entrance fees and details of the animals.
- Adelaide Zoo – its web page with plenty of details.
- ZooChat Forums – my son’s web page featuring nearly 1000 zoos from around the world. It includes over 100,000 photos.
- Archived stories – more articles from my archives.
Post updated September 2015.
Rhino at Monarto zoo
Mongolian Horses, Monarto Zoo, South Australia
No Comments »30th June, 2010; Category: Adelaide, Animals, General, Holidays, Murray Bridge, South Australia, Zoos
Mongolian Horse, Monarto Zoo, South Australia
The Mongolian Wild Horse, or Przewalski’s Horse was once very common throughout much of central Asia. It is thought that they became extinct in the wild, but conservation efforts by zoos like Monarto Zoo in South Australia have been instrumental in reintroducing this species back into its natural habitat.
The breeding programme here at Monarto just a few minutes’ drive from my home has been very successful, and quite a few horses from the zoo herd have been returned to Mongolia. It is conservation efforts like this that make me pleased to be a supporting member of the zoo.
Further reading:
- You can read more about this horse by clicking here.
- To read more about zoos around the world, go to my son’s web site called ZooChat Forums. It features almost 1000 zoos and over 100,000 photos of zoos and animals.
- To read more about my visits to zoos, click here.
- To read about birds in zoos, click here.
Mongolian Horses, Monarto Zoo, South Australia
Mongolian Horses, Monarto Zoo, South Australia
Mongolian Horses, Monarto Zoo, South Australia
Education at Monarto Zoo
Children and the Education Officer at work at Monarto Zoo
Most zoos have education as an integral part of their reason for existing. Monarto Zoo in South Australia is no exception.
In fact, the zoo has long had an Education Officer, Ian, who is a trained teacher with many years of experience. I am delighted to not only call him a colleague but also a friend. I also had the privilege of teaching two of his own children some years ago. About that time I also helped Ian and several other teachers develop some of the learning materials used with classes visiting the zoo. That was many years ago and they have probably been changed many times since.
The photo above shows Ian in full swing with a class of children at the zoo.
Volunteers
The zoo also relies heavily on volunteer help. These volunteers give of their own time to acts as guides on bus trips and also on the many tasks behind the scenes, things like tree planting programmes. On one shuttle bus trip we took last year we had the delight of another friend, Brian (shown below) as our tour guide. Brian is also a former teaching colleague and now a good friend.
People living in South Australia are always needed as volunteers at the zoo. Contact the zoo for more information on how to become a volunteer.
Brian, one of the volunteer guides at Monarto Zoo