A Birthday Trip to the Zoo

Hello Steemlings,

Happy Friday! We've had a crazy week playing catch up - which is what happens when we don't get down time on the weekend.

Last week was the birthday weekend... so it was the culmination of the Festival of Shelly (A new event that I've instigated that takes place over the entire month of June. It really should be a national holiday!)

It started with Friday night date night with @cryptoandzen at a fabulous little Jamaican restaurant we discovered hidden away in Terrigal. (Mumbo Jumbo's is worth a review post all of its own so keep any eye out for that soon!)

Suffice to say we kicked the weekend off in style - and bubbles with the essential champagne cocktail.

The weekend followed with Birthday boot-camp and all sorts of horrid boxing and running drills from our trainer. But it did end with coffee and cupcakes so he's forgiven.

The main event however was a trip to Taronga Zoo on Sunday with my bestest friends. It's been so long since I've been to the zoo - it was my childhood all over again.

(Photo of the gang - from Ange Conlon and yes @cryptoandzen has his eyes shut AGAIN!)

A lot of people might be in two minds about zoos, and I understand that. There are stories of animals kept in horrific conditions. I would like to believe we are a bit more evolved than that in Australia.

So let me tell you a bit about the zoo and the work it does and share some of my favourite animals :)

Taronga is a not for profit organisation that cares for 4000 animals from 350 species. Many of these are threatened. The animals are across two zoos - Taronga in Sydney and Western Plains out in Dubbo (in outback NSW)

The zoo has a number of conservation programs that include habitat protection, anti-poaching and trafficking, vegetation regeneration - both in Australia and internationally. Breeding programs and wildlife release are also part of their programs and they run extensive education programs

Taronga also give Green Grants, to support innovative ideas and designs that empower communities to create a more sustainable future.

Animal welfare is probably the area that always concerns most people around zoos. Taronga has a charter which talks about their commitment to animal welfare:

Taronga is committed to providing excellent husbandry, veterinary management and housing that promotes good welfare to all animals in our care.

Taronga believes that optimal welfare is achieved when each animal has a life experience that approximates the quality of a life experienced by an equivalent member of that species living in the wild.

This is achieved by ensuring that our animals experience species-appropriate stimuli, which may include some stimuli that will challenge. To enrich their lives, our animals will be given opportunities to react to those stimuli in species-appropriate ways.

Extract from Taronga Charter

So while it will never truly be like living in the wild - I do think that the foundation does much more good than harm and are striving to create the best and most natural environment they can for their animals, whilst allowing people to see,understand and appreciate part of our world we may not otherwise get the chance to. The hope is that this appreciation has a positive impact on our choices that impact the world around us.

So let's look at some of the animals!

Goodfellows Tree Kangaroo

The Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo is distinctive from terrestrial kangaroos, in that it is bold and agile in trees, and pretty clumsy on the ground. It isn't native to Australia but and is listed as endangered. There are two at Taronga, a male and female - Parum and Salsa.

Indian Peafowl

These beautiful birds run around just outside the entry to the Zoo - generally getting into squabbles with Ibis's and Brush Turkeys.

The Peacock is the male and has iridescent blue and green plumage. They are not endangered.

Sumatran Tiger

Taronga has opened a new experience called the Tiger Trek as part of it's centenary commitment to the long term support of the tiger.

Tiger Trek is home to 4 year old male Clarence, who came to Taronga Zoo Sydney from Australia Zoo in May 2017, as well as Jumilah, the mother to youngsters Kembali and Kartika. Jumilah and her cubs were moved to Taronga Western Plains Zoo during construction of the new Tiger Trek experience. They joined Taronga's young male tiger Sakti, who moved there in 2014.

The Sumatran Tiger is critically endangered so the breeding program at Taronga is important in it's conservation. There are thought to only be around 400 tigers left. This is due to destruction of their habitat, poaching and trophy hunting.

Komodo Dragon

We've spent a fair amount of time in Indonesia, but not yet managed to make it to Komodo Island - but the three day boat tour is high on our list for our next stop in Lombok.

The Komodo Dragon is the world's largest lizard, coming in at 3 metres long and over 80 kilos. They move at around 18 kms per hour and can track for days. Babies live in the trees til they are old enough to fend off attacks from adults. The swim between the islands where they live.

They are considered vulnerable with around 3000 remaining in the wild. The main threat comes from habitat loss and a decline in the main deer species they hunt (due to poaching of the deer). It has been proposed that they are moved to endangered status.

Veiled Chameleon

These green guys are pretty cute and can be hard to see if you don't look carefully. They are native to Yemen and Saudi Arabia and are the most common chameleon in the pet trade. Escaped pets have meant that they can now be found in Hawaii and Florida.

Mandarin Duck

I certainly never see these ducks at the local park! These stunningly coloured birds are native to East Asia but can now be found in Great Britain, California and around Berlin. They are not hunted for food but because of their beauty are still poached. Many are also shot by accident during duck hunting season.

Meerkats

I've left these little dudes til last. I could stand and watch them all day, scampering around, standing guard and taking themselves very seriously!

They are listed as of Least Concern and large populations can be found throughout Africa.

Don't let the cuteness fool you though.. they can easily take down a cobra if it is trying to attack their burrow!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of the amazing animals at Taronga, and have an understanding of some of the great conservation work they do.

While it might seem that it is always preferable to leave animals in the wild, it's good to remember that if that was the case many species would come under greater threat and perhaps even disappear.

Of course that is also a consequence of human impact. It's great that Taronga also have a program to educate people and create a more sustainable environment outside of the zoo so that maybe one day in the future we don't need zoos to save our animals.

Location	"Taronga Zoo - Sydney, NSW, Australia"
Camera	Samsung NX300
Lens	Samsung 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 ED OIS
Filters	Bower Pro dHD UV / PL
Editing	Adobe Photoshop CC

My beautiful UpCats were designed by the one and only beautiful @ryivhnn and are based on my beautiful Ava the Princess Cat

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