Recognising the old and embracing the new

Good zoos and aquariums are always progressing and moving forward to ensure they are continuously improving.

Whether celebrating milestones and looking at how far they’ve come or launching new initiatives and exhibits, 2019 has been a big year for progress at many ZAA-accredited zoos and aquariums.

Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park is looking ahead to the future with their recent acquisition of Mogo Zoo in Batemans Bay. This new chapter in their story is a real honour for the entire Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park team, and they are excited about the opportunities ahead with the new zoo, which features an extensive population of exotic animals including giraffes, rhinos, zebra, tigers, two prides of lions and the largest group of primates in Australia.

Monarto Safari Park celebrated two huge announcements. The first, in April, was that the Australian Government and the South Australian Government were providing $15.8m towards a new, state-of-the-art Visitor Centre.

In September, Zoos SA announced that a private investor was to build a $40 million luxury resort and glamping facilities as part of a multi-million dollar expansion. The site will transform into the world’s largest safari park outside of Africa and was rebranded from Monarto Zoo to Monarto Safari Park.

Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park acquisition of Mogo Zoo

Concept for development plans at Monarto Safari Park

SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium welcomes new gentoo penguin chicks

Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary celebrated 40 years

2019 has been an unforgettable year for SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium. They welcomed six gentoo penguins into the world as part of their 10th successful gentoo breeding season. They were also thrilled to present their rare colony of leafy sea dragons, being one of the few aquariums in the world with this species on display.

Throughout the year they have been busy creating an immersive new jellyfish exhibit. Ocean Invaders is an incredibly exciting project for the team and was unveiled on 12 December.

In December Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary celebrated 40 years. The Sanctuary was a founding member of ZAA back when it was called ARAZPA. The current owner, Androo Kelly took over in 1993 and they’ve had a total 1 million visitors.

19 generations of Tasmanian devils have been bred at the Sanctuary. This makes it the longest breeding program of any Australian native under studbook conditions and the Sanctuary has also made significant contribution to the devil insurance population and recovery efforts.

They also established industry endorsed training programs, helped establish sister city relationships with Ikeda Japan and Launceston and established their first expansion of sanctuary footprint capturing a further 5 acres in 2019.