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Melbourne Zoo

Melbourne Travel Blog › entry 18 of 28 › view all entries

Melbourne Over Coffee is a 'sticky' blog of mine - one that I will add to intermittently - that will delve into the world of inner Melbourne. Find out what a Melburnian gets up to, which festivals are worth seeing, why exactly Australian football (or 'footy' as it is known here) has a knack for making us go crazy, and most importantly, where to find (good) food. Welcome to a year packed with festivities, sports, and fashion. Welcome to the sporting capital of Australia: Melbourne.

Melbourne, Australia Travel Photos

Rainbow Lorikeets along Flemington…
Rainbow Lorikeets along Flemingt
Tree kangaroo
Tree kangaroo
Red panda
Red panda
Blue-winged Kookaburra
Blue-winged Kookaburra
Bush Stone-curlew, sweet looking b…
Bush Stone-curlew, sweet looking
Tree kangaroo
Tree kangaroo
Wandering Whistling-duck
Wandering Whistling-duck
Silver Gull
Silver Gull
Peacock
Peacock
Lion
Lion
Lion
Lion
Wild dogs
Wild dogs
Emu
Emu
Emu with a crazy hair-do
Emu with a crazy hair-do
Emu feet
Emu feet
Koala
Koala
Furry koala bum
Furry koala bum
Major Mitchells Cockatoo (Pink Co…
Major Mitchell's Cockatoo (Pink
Little Pied Cormorant... another o…
Little Pied Cormorant... another
Brolga, these guys have a cool mat…
Brolga, these guys have a cool m
Cockatiels
Cockatiels
Female Eclectus Parrot
Female Eclectus Parrot
Male Eclectus Parrot
Male Eclectus Parrot
Bell Miner
Bell Miner
A bear (in the background) watchin…
A bear (in the background) watch
Bears
Bears
Melbourne Zoo is easy to get to, since it sits at the fringe of the inner city. The only thing standing between my house and the zoo is Royal Park, so instead of taking a tram up to the zoo, we decided to walk through the park. We saw Crested Pigions, Spotted Turtle Doves, Blackbirds and Magpies on the way. The usual suspects!

The zoo doesn't have animal shows. During the school holidays, they might have one or two, but as soon as the holidays are over, they'll go back to having nothing. They're working on a bird show right now.

Instead of shows, they announce animal feeds on the PA system. We saw a fur seal training session, we saw the lions being fed, the Hamadryas baboons being fed, and a koala being fed.

As with most zoos, they've put the most money into their elephant enclosure. But because I've seen it so many times, I gave it a miss.

I visited the meerkats, tree kangaroos, red pandas, baboons, lions, African wild dogs, fur seals, small cats, mackaws, Emus, kangaroos, wallabies, finches, the bird aviary, koalas, reptiles, big cats, maned wolves... and probably more that I've forgotten. The zoo does have the usual African animals like giraffes, zebra, hippos and the like, but since we got there at 12 pm I didn't have time to see them.

In particular, I liked the tree kangaroos, which have funny feet; the bird aviary, where you can get very close to some typically Australian birds; the lion enclosure, which has a bridge where you can view the lions from above; and the Philippine crocodile enclosure. The zoo has two of these crocodiles on loan from the Philippine government, both of which are participating in a breeding program. They are one of the most threatened crocodilian species in the wild. And one of my favourites! Sadly, I could only get a very blurry photo of one since it was too dark. You can see its triangular snout in the photo though.

Walking back home from the zoo, I saw hundreds of Rainbow Lorikeets in the trees along Flemington Road! They were all going nuts. The zoo feeds the wild Lorikeets at 4 pm most days.

Melbourne Zoo is one of three main 'zoos' in Victoria. The other two are Healesville, which I've written a review on; and Werribee Open Range Zoo, which I have yet to visit.
Tree kangaroo
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