Sydney Wildlife
What’s the Wildlife like in Sydney?
Why you should visit?
Sydney Wildlife is great for:
- Convenience. Sea Life Aquarium, Imax and Maritime Museum all close by.
- Convenience. Why go anywhere else.
- Convenience. Undercover and air-conditioned. Very civilised.
- Convenience. Tick them all off. Koala, Kangaroo and that funny spiky hedgehog thing!’
- And there’s convenience– more time for wine, song and what ever else makes you merry.
Or don’t bother
- What’s the bush like?
- There is much more to Sydney than Darling Harbour
But don’t listen to me this is what the tourist board thinks:
“It’s great to see an investment in our tourism industry which provides a new Sydney experience for locals and visitors,” Mr O’Neill said.
“Seeing wildlife is one of the top five activities for international visitors to NSW, and a new attraction like Wild Life Sydney will complement Taronga Zoo and Featherdale Wildlife Park in providing visitors a wildlife experience.”
I’m sure both Taronga and Featherdale are both thrilled.
Most of Australia’s wildlife is nocturnal, or by nature very shy and retiring.
Step in the RSPCA:
NSW RSPCA chief executive officer Bernie Murphy said native animals could not live happy and healthy lives in the centre of a city like Sydney.
“Sydney Wildlife World is the wrong place to house animals with the constant night life, noise, human interaction and pollution that comes with inner-city living all posing hazards to their well being,” he said.
“I would strongly advise Sydney Wildlife World to reconsider housing animals in the facility, and consider the animals’ welfare carefully.”
I’m worrying about my well being now stuff the Koalas.
Obviously aware of the criticism:
Sea Life Aquarium
Aquarium chief executive officer James Fulford said Sydney Wildlife World would focus strongly on animal care and conservation while allowing the animals to be accessible to the public.
“Support for the protection of endangered Australian species requires that the Australian public is aware of this challenge. The most effective way of achieving this to make the flora and fauna more accessible to the people.”
To combat noise pressures on the animals Sydney Wildlife World has designed sound- and light-controlled enclosures to house the animals in times of increased noise such as fireworks and festivals.
The NSW animal welfare unit and the Exhibited Animals Protection Act advisory committee have had rigorous input into the park’s design and structure.
So what can you expect?
Wild Life has over 6,000 animals are crammed into it with 130 all Australian species.For PR purposes there is even some Top End (Northern Territory) ‘dirt’ save so you don’t miss out by never, never going. Must have got a few laughs at the local when the truck arrived from Sydney for some ‘dirt’.
Wild Life Sydney is 7,000 square metres which is not small so to say crammed is a little unfair. Wild Life features almost one kilometre of closed walkways across two levels. The average visit time is around 1.5 hours.
The inmates of Wild Life Sydney are organised into zones and feature different Australian wildlife aspects:
Zone 1 – Flutter Bys (Butterflies)
Here you will find a large butterfly house and a smaller butterfly laboratory. So if I come back as butterfly I’ll certainly be pushing for extra large.
Zone 1A – Spineless Wonders
Insects and spiders. Nice.
Zone 2 – Scales and Tails. Snakes.
Australia’s deadly poisonous snakes such as the fierce snake, the Taipan, Brown Snake and the Death Adder are all safely out of harming anybodies way. Lizards have to take their chances with the snakes.
Zone 3 – Walking on Air.
How much time went into thinking these names up? Walking on Air features an aviary that’s around 17 metres long and 13 metres wide! Its a very large bird cage. Who gets the job of cleaning it each morning?
Zone 4 – After Dark.
How about, Deadly of Night?
The nocturnal house housing Potaroos, Betongs Bandicoots, ring tailed and striped possums and sugar gliders.
Zone 5 – Red Heart – the Semi-Arid Grasslands.
Sun Burnt Country(?)
This is the largest of all the exhibit zones. It’s here that visitors will find Wallabies, swamp wallabies and Wallaroo’s. There is also a smaller echidna (Spiky HedgeHog thing) exhibit.
Zone 6 – Lush Canopy.
I’d go for ‘Australian Rainforest’ myself
A rainforest canopy with ferns and tropical flowers is densely vegetated and features the endangered Cassowary. The Cassowary is like an ostrich and is very rare and endangered. If you are very lucky you might see one in the far north of Australia. Lets hope there will be some attempt at a breeding program. You’ll find a picture of one towards the foot of this page.
Zone 7 – High and Dry.
The Hills Are Alive(?)
The cliffs in this exhibit will be home to the yellow-footed rock wallaby, a unique wallaby that is mostly found in the rocky outcrops of the Flinders Ranges.
Zone 8 – Gum Tree Gully.
Koala Town(?)
Koala come last being the main reason most people paid their entrance fee.
More unbiased comment from the Wild Life
Owners of Australia’s newest wildlife park say the animals have settled in well, despite its CBD location.
The general manager claims the animals are coping well with their new environments in the city centre.
Kevin Bush told 702 field reporter, Phil Ashley-Brown, that the animals’ natural habitats have been re-created at Darling Harbour.
“Right down to the soils and trees. We have moved their habitats here and as you can see the cityscape is in the background and is very much a small part of the whole exhibit. The animals are very tame and very calm.”
The owners of Sydney Aquarium set-up the new tourist attraction to offer a “different experience” to Taronga Zoo. Mr Bush deflected earlier criticism that another zoo wasn’t viable.
Wild Life’s – the Official Site