Around Perth with my Parents - The Zoo

Before coming to visit my Dad had read somewhere that Perth Zoo (in South Perth) was an unmissable visit.
I must confess in my 9 years in Perth, I had never visited Perth Zoo!
On one of my many visits to Adelaide I had visited their Zoo once, and that was because I wanted to see the Pandas (only ones in Australia)
Otherwise, I'm not a great fan of Zoos. I always thought the animals looked too confined and sad...

But I must say that after visiting Perth Zoo I was pleasantly surprised that zoos, or at least Perth Zoo is a modern and progressive zoo involved in the conservation of the various species.

We only had about 2 1/2 hours on that Saturday, as we were then meeting a friend for lunch, which just wasn't enough time to see everything. Also it happened to be a very, very hot and humid day (heat is normal in Perth, but not humidity) and it made for a very uncomfortable visit, as well as a lot of the animals, even the Australian ones seemed to be in hiding...probably cooling off inside their "houses". So sadly no Tasmanian Devil or Dingoes ...that were on their wish list! 

The Zoo is divided in various areas according to the animals habitat, so we just wandered around with the map in our hands, took a little train too to get us faster to a certain spot too.


Asian Rainforest Animals

The two solitary Sun Bears in the zoo were rescued from Cambodian poachers when they were cubs.

They spent a few years recovering at a Free the Bears centre before coming to Perth Zoo.

Due to their distressing start in life, the bears still have a pacing behaviour. The Zoo staff try to enrich their lives with food puzzles, daily training and interaction with the keepers.

The Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroos - I was quite surprised at this animal, having never seen or heard of it! Originally from Papua New Guinea, it's also a Marsupial,  with a tail similar to a kangaroo's long tail, but live on trees where they are quite agile.

One of the two Asian elephants in the Zoo - Tricia is the eldest having  just celebrated her 59th birthday in January. She's the the zoo's longest resident having come from Singapore in 1963. 

One of the Asian tigers relaxing under the shade of a tree.  Sadly tigers are also getting extinct due to illegal poaching and trading of body parts for traditional Chinese medicine.

Only about 300 to 400 Sumatran tigers exist in the wild, soon tigers may only be found in captivity...

African Jungle Animals

The big Lion in this photo was showing his age, but at over 150kgs he's still a mighty beast!

One of the two huge White Rhinoceros we saw

Perth Zoo has 4 giraffes, and since 1995 eight giraffes have been born at the zoo, the latest in 2012. Misha, the oldest at about 24 became famous because of a portrait of her kissing her calf , about 20 years ago.

Isn't that so sweet?

The Meerkats were being fed and were running around from the keeper to their various hiding places. They are so cute, one of my favourite animals!

There are plenty of bird friendly ponds and plants, and the Zoo also has many native plants as well as native plants from other areas of the globe distributed in the various animal zones, so apart from being a zoo they are also a sort of botanic garden.

Before leaving we visited the Reptile enclose (I won't bore you with photos of snakes and other horrible critters that I don't like either....). The photo above if of my parents and friend touching a replica of an ant mound that can be found in many parts of Australia.

I've come across some much taller and wider than that one...

And lastly we couldn't miss a visit to the Little Penguin's enclosure. A 50 thousand litre saltwater pool with limestone reefs and beach areas with coastal vegetation is available for the penguins to swim and enjoy a relaxing life. The area is covered by a net to protect them from bird predators. Visitors can see them being fed daily at 11am.

Lucky Penguins, with that heat the pool was probably the best place to be!!

And it looks like I might have to return for another visit when my next set of visitors come in December... 

Entry is not cheap though... adults $29 and seniors $22, so next time we might have to spend the whole day there to make the most of the entry fee.

I'll leave you with a YouTube video about Perth Zoo.  Hope you have enjoyed the visit.

                                                       Perth Zoo - Youtube video