Auckland Zoo
The Auckland Zoo occupies a 40 acre zoological
garden next to Western Springs park after opening in 1922, although
there were some problems encountered, but by 1930, there were a good
number of animals housed there and a society created. During WWII,
it would consolidate, and after the war ended, it would again start
expanding and in the 1950s, chimpanzees would be acquired to offer
tea parties for the audience's enjoyment, although it would end in
1964. In 1973, it expanded into the park, and from the end of the
1980s until today, some of the older exhibits have been taken away
and replaced by modern holdings. The zoo houses more than 700
animals that represent 117 species and organized into exhibition
zones by region of origin, biome or taxonomy. ASB Elephant Clearing
holds the zoo's elephants, the Aussie Walkabout houses the emus,
kangaroos and wallabies, sharing a walkway to the bird aviary, BNZ
Kiwi and Tuatara house that contains the morepork, endemic owl,
kiwis and tuartaras. Hippo River has the hippos of course,
flamingos, serval, cheetahs, Chacma baboons and Hamadryas baboons.
Primate Trail houses the Bornean orangutans and ring-tailed lemurs,
the Newstalk ZB Rainforest which is home to the siamang gibbons,
agouti, bonnet macaques, golden lion tamarins, tarantulas, spider
monkeys and cottontop tamarins. This area also houses a pair of
Asian small-clawed otters that gave birth to two male pups in 2009.
The Paddle pop kidzone is where the children's zoo and play area is
located, and Pridelands contains ostriches, zebras, white rhino,
five lions, giraffes and springboks. Sealion and Penguin Shores
contains New Zealand fur seals that are subarctic fur seals,
California sea lions, numerous shore birds and small penguins. Their
Tiger Territory houses three rare Sumatran tigers and three cubs
have been born to them.
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