The Oxymoron Blog

A lot of things have changed at Taonga Zoo since I was there two years ago. Taornga Zoo has just had its 90th anniversary, it was amazing to see the pictures of  how it looked back in the early days. It opened  on October 7th, 1916.

Because of the enormous size of the zoo its best to see it over 2 days  to get full benefit of  all  the shows and to see all interesting animals without being too rushed. There are plenty of cafes and benches to relax while observing the animals.

Two shows I would like to recommend are the QBE Free Flight Bird Show and the Sydney Water Seal Show.  In the fist show you will see a variety of birds free-flying against the backdrop of magnificen Sydney Harbour. You can see the commonly Galah but also Australians largest birds of prey, Wedge-tailed Eagle. Angus, the Rufous Owl is the newest member of the bird show. We saw Herbie the Barking Owl who flies just centimeters over your head. In the second show, the Sydney Water Seal Show,  you can watch seals and sea-lions in action like catching fish, climbing, swiming and diving! You also learn some interesting facts about the animals and their marine environment. World’s most trained seals are the californian sea-lions. These male seals were born in 1999 in Stuttgart Zoo, Germany.When fully grown they will weigh around 300 kg.

Two other amazing events you shouldn’t miss are the feeding of the gorillas and the chimpanzee-keeper’s talk. Together with the gorillas, chimpanzees are our closest living relatives. Gorillas are the largest and most powerfull of all primates. The silverback male protects the group and his position by beating his chest and roaring.

Visit my webalbum for more pictures !