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Adelaide Zoo
The Adelaide Zoo is the second
oldest zoo in Australia, and the only one in the country to be run
on a non-profit basis, and owns the Monato open plains zoo that is
near Murray Bridge. This wonderful zoo contains over 300 exotic and
native specimens that include over 1800 animals that have been
acquired from all over the world. The newest enclosure to be
constructed in the second part of the South-East Asia display that
is called Immersion and actually is a jungle type environment that
allows visitors to walk through the magnificent forest that house
orangutans and Sumatran tigers that give the impression that they
are just within your reach. Just this past December, 2009, the giant
panda exhibit opened that houses two beautiful pandas, pictured to
the right, named Wang Wang and Funi. A great many parts of the zoo
are architectural wonders and considered heritage that has been
listed by the National Trust of South Australia, which also includes
the main entrance on Frome Road, and the old Elephant House. Within
the grounds there is a marvelous botanical gardens, with numerous
important native flora and exotics that include a Moreton Bay Fig
that was planted back in 1877. Exhibits include the South East
Asia, which houses radjah shelduck, Sumatran tiger, green peafowl,
Sumatran orangutan, glossy ibis, siamang, dusky leaf monkey, rufous
night heron, cattle egret, Malayan tapir, pheasant coucal,
white-cheeked gibbon, Mandarin duck, Malayan sun bear and the
Eurasian coot; the Australian region with blue-winged kookaburra,
Tasmanian devil, brush-tailed rock wallaby, red kangaroo,
black-footed wallaby, Tammar wallaby, southern hairy nosed wombat,
Major Mitchell's cockatoo, Baudin's cockatoo, Australian bustard,
long-nosed potoroo, yellow-footed rock wallaby, emu, Brolga, mallee
fowl, Kangaroo Island kangaroo and western rosella; Jewels of Asia
Aviary includes birds of numerous varieties; Children's zoo includes
brown rat, Australop chicken, western grey kangaroo, silkie bantam,
Kangaroo Island kangaroo, frizzle bantam, guinea pig, koala, Tammar
wallaby, yellow-footed rock wallaby, helmeted guineafowl,
long-billed corella, domestic rabbit, lowline cow, miniature goat,
fallow deer, domestic ferret, quokka and damara sheep; Ungulates
include plains zebra, chital deer, eastern bongo, blackbuck and
barbary sheep; South American region houses collared peccary,
Patagonian cavy and Brazilian tapir; the Macaw aviaries includes
numerous varieities of macaws, Tamarin House includes a golden lion
tamarin, cotton-top tamarin, pygmy marmoset and black lion tamarin;
the Australian habitat aviaries contains some of the most wonderful
varieities of animals that include the rainbow ant-eater, exotic
birds and even a freckled duck; Australian bush aviaries with their
special birds; and the Westpac envirodome houses many other
beautiful varieties. There have been a few incidents worth
mentioning, in 1985, two men broke in and killed 64 animals, and
they have never been caught so no one knows why; on Mother's Day
2009, a female orangutan, Karta, built her own escape route using
plant materials and tripped the hot wires by using a stick! and in
October of 2008, a 78 year old blind greater flamingo was beaten by
a crowd of teenagers, but still alive.
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