“ZOOTASTIC – 5” is a brand new wildlife encounter at Cairns Tropical Zoo.
This special experience will give you the opportunity to interact with our top five favourites.
Imagine you will be in with the wildlife, feeding, patting, holding – plus taking photos and hearing all about their quirky habits.
It is interactive, informative and a whole lot of fun plus you are in the safe hands of one of our experienced Wildlife team while you feed and handle like an expert.
Our favourite five activities may include – Koalas (feeding, cuddling & photo) Wombats, Cassowary feeding, Pole feeding the Crocodiles, holding an Alligator, Snake or Lizard, plus feeding our colourful native birds and some very special time with the Lemurs in their enclosure – you’ll have them eating out of your hand.
This experience runs for 1 hour and is great value @ $125.oo per person with a maximum of four (4) participants. It includes entrance to the Cairns Tropical Zoo, Zootastic 5 Experience & Souvenir Koala Cuddle photo.
Zootastic 5 is on daily at 9.30am and must be pre-booked by 5.00pm the day before.
To many of the staff at Wildlife Tropical North Queensland, zoo keeping is not just a job it is a passion. A passion that extends to the rescue and rehabilitation of sick or injured wildlife.
Kristy from our reptile department is no exception. Over the past few weeks she has been caring for a baby Lace Monitor that was left for dead in a suburban backyard.
Thanks to Kristy’s perseverance, our native friend has been brought back from the brink. There is still a long way to go yet but progress has been good and Kristy says that this little lizard has a very healthy appetite!
Way to go Kristy!
Moving house is always a hassle, especially when it involves a 4.3m saltwater crocodile! Recently one of our larger crocs, Zont had to be moved to a new enclosure whilst the old one is being renovated. It took 10 staff, a quad bike, lots of ropes, strength and perseverance! The animal’s welfare is always paramount during the capture and relocation process. Zont weighs approximately 400kgs so the whole process took great team effort. Well done and congratulations to all the staff involved.
It has been a busy year at the bird show area. We’ve had a few new stars arrive as well as some old stars learning some new routines. In the morning show our sooty owl Oscar has made a great start to his show career, starring in a routine with a twist.
Our afternoon shows have grown as well with the addition of Gladdy our barn owl, showing an amazing natural behaviour used by these birds to hunt. And with the training of Murray, one of our wedge-tailed eagles, reaching its conclusion it is sure to be a fun show.
We’ve also added two new experiences to our program. One is an up close experience with one of our owls – you actually get to put a glove on and come fly the owl with the trainers! Our newest encounter is an up close experience with our beautiful new addition Aurora, a female wedge-tailed eagle. Aurora was involved in a vehicle accident outside of Brisbane earlier this year. Due to the injury sustained she is not able to fly so cannot be released. However, after a lot of time, patience and training she has settled in and gives lucky visitors an encounter they’ll never forget!
So come and say hi at our twice daily show and encounters, there is always something new to see.
Mamu the cassowary chick was rescued on the Palmerston range by wildlife rangers and was passed on to DERM (Dept. of the Environment and Resource Management) staff for rehabilitation. Unfortunately, Mamu became a little too accustomed to humans which meant his survival after being released back in to the wild was in doubt.
As a result, Mamu has been adopted by Cairns Tropical Zoo at Palm Cove. He will live here with an adult cassowary and will one day participate in the zoo industry’s captive breeding program.
A Cassowary Husbandry Workshop was arranged recently by James Biggs (Bird Department Supervisor) of Cairns Tropical Zoo and hosted by Dreamworld on the Gold Coast. The purpose of the workshop was to address some of the current issues facing the captive breeding program for the endangered Southern Cassowary and to further develop the Cassowary Husbandry Manual (last published in 1997 – Liz Romer, Ed.). The primary aim of the manual was to update and improve captive cassowary husbandry and management across the board.
Some of the issues discussed at the workshop included general husbandry, housing, handling, health, reproduction, behaviour, nutrition, artificial incubation and rearing, the use of cassowaries as a conservation tool and the status of wild and captive population genetics. A number of speculations about captive cassowary physiology and behaviour were resolved at the workshop and a few trends identified from studbook data that may assist in reinvigorating the breeding program.
Staff from Cairns Tropical Zoo made a guest appearance at the Cerebral Palsy Picnic at the Cairns Esplanade on the 30th of July. Anna and Emma took along some animals for the kids to look at and touch. The animals were a star attraction and well received by all.
Even a couple of Cairns Taipans players, Alex Loughton and Dusty Rychart helped out on the day and had fun holding animals themselves!
Cairns Tropical Zoo has many dedicated and passionate staff who love their wildlife.
Emma is no exception and has been working at the zoo for 7 years. Not only is Emma a mammal keeper but she has also assisted in raising orphaned wildlife rescue animals. This goes to prove the dedication and committment shown by many zoo staff.
Sadly, we bid Emma farewell as she moves south to Melbourne to take up a new career in the Aussie Animals area of Melbourne Zoo.
From all of us here – Good Luck Emma and all the best in your new career!
Cairns Tropical Zoo plays and integral part in life-saving research conducted by James Cook University (JCU). Each month, dedicated reptile keepers “milk” a variety of venomous species including taipans, brown snakes, black snakes and death adders.
The venom is passed on to JCU so that they can use it for a broad range of research work including blood clotting, studying the venom’s effect on the human heart and muscle cells, developing potential medicines and even learning more about the physiology of snakes!
Alex Mitchell (Featured in the photos below) is a very dedicated and passionate reptile keeper at the zoo. He maintains that there are a lot of benefits from these animals that people aren’t aware of.
During the “milking” process, each snake is encouraged to bite down on the rubber lid of a small vial while its head is massaged to yield small quantities of venom.
It’s always a pleasure to welcome new babies at the zoo and our latest little arrival, Lanna is no exception! Lanna was born around the 17th of January 2011 to parents Pru & Nugget! She has made good progress and has finished her pap feeding.
This active little girl now makes regular excursions out of Mum’s pouch and will soon spend most of her time riding on Mum’s back or tummy.
Lanna was named as a tribute to one of the zoo’s former employees who sadly lost a battle with cancer earlier this year.
Want to see a real live Bilby? It’s the first time ever that one has been to Cairns!
Saturday the 30th of July
Special presentations in conjunction with the Save the Bilby fund will be held at 11:15am, 12:15pm and 1:15pm.
Frank Manthey has dedicated his life to saving the bilby. Cairns Tropical Zoo is proud to host Frank and offer our help to save this adorable little creature.
Come along to the zoo and listen to this very informative talk about these amazing animals, why we need to protect them and how you can help. All donations received from visitors will be matched dollar for dollar by the North Queensland Wildlife Trust and dotated to the Save the Bilby Fund!
