A visit to Melbourne Zoo is a great way to spend a day. The Zoo has a wide range of native and exotic animals, many of which are endangered in the wild. While it does not have the magnificent harbour outlook that Sydney’s Taronga Zoo does, we think that the selection of animals is better and it is much easier to get around.
The zoo is set in Royal Park and can be reached by a No. 55 tram from the city centre (William Street) and by train on the Upfield line from Flinders Street, stopping at Royal Park station. A No. 505 bus between Moonee Ponds and Melbourne University also stops outside the zoo.
You can get to Melbourne Zoo by tram
The Snow Leopards are housed not far from the main entrance and can be seen if you take the left pathway.
Snow Leopard basking in the sun.
Lions are kept in a large open enclosure near here and these batchelors like to make noise to assert their authority.
Lion shows who is boss
King surveys his realm
Up towards the other zoo entrance there is a large Meerkat “manor” and these little creatures can give hours of entertainment. It is possible to go below the enclosure and look at their tunnels through glass windows, but it is just as much fun watching their antics above ground. On our visit there were a few baby meerkats running around in the enclosure.
Meerkat stands guard
Inquisitive meerkat
Lemur Island is across the pathway and this houses the Ring-Tailed Lemurs. It was still being finished when we were at the zoo but now you can cross a walkway to the island and get much closer to these fascinating animals.
Lemurs watch the humans
Unhappy lemur
Gorillas and Sumatran Tigers are close by and can be easily viewed in grounds like their native habitat.
Sumatran tiger
Tiger in ambush
A bit further around you will find Mandrills and other monkeys, such as Capuchin Monkeys and Gibbons.
Mandrill
Gibbon
The path then goes past the Pelicans, on the way to the Butterfly House.
Melbourne Zoo has a very large Butterfly House, which visitors are able to enter through an “air-lock” arrangement, installed to prevent the butterflies from escaping. It is very humid in the house and flitting butterflies are likely to land on you.
After the Butterfly House the trail leads to the Elephants. When we were there the enclosure was quite full.
Male elephant resting on the bank
Baby elephant
Mother patiently watching her offspring
Heading back to the centre of the zoo you will find the Orang-utans. One daredevil recently escaped the enclosure, but no harm was done and she was recaptured quickly.
Orang-utan resting
Peacocks and peahens wander around freely and you can find them putting on a display anywhere.
Peacock showing off
We then found the Giraffes, who share their compound with Zebras.
Giraffes feeding, with zebra nearby
Giraffe stretching to nibble shoots
Zebra
We then came to the Baboons, who are not afraid to put on a show of aggressive behaviour.
Baboon
This is only a small selection of the animals that are on show at Melbourne Zoo and you will have noticed that almost all I have written about are from other parts of the world. That’s because we don’t see these very often, but certainly doesn’t mean that they are more valuable or any more endangered than many Australian animals.
Melbourne Zoo is dedicated to fighting wildlife extinction and is involved in many breeding and recovery projects for threatened species and is committed to educating people to ensure that threats are reduced or removed. It is a very worthwhile facility to visit when you are in Melbourne.