AUCKLAND ZOO
Take a look at Auckland Zoo s new $58 million South East Asia redevelopment. (Video first published July 2019)
Get up close to some of the world s most fascinating creatures. Auckland Zoo Does bigger mean better? It does in this case. Auckland Zoo is New Zealand’s biggest zoo, home to more than 120 different species of animals. Sprawling across 17ha next to Western Springs Park, Auckland Zoo has welcomed more than 28 million visitors since opening in 1922. It’s no surprise because who can resist the tigers, elephants and cute red pandas?
Auckland Zoo/Supplied Wellington Zoo The Capital’s zoo was New Zealand’s first zoo, founded way back in 1906. It’s also the world’s first carbon zero certified zoo. Tucked into Wellington’s hilly green belt, the zoo features more than 100 species from four continents. Sign up for a close encounter experience where it’s just you, the zookeeper and a giraffe, cheetah, red panda, meerkat or lemur. Magic.
And now the method is being used to study our remote ancestors. An excited tweet in April signalled the incredible Neanderthal discovery: “Today we published a paper where we get Neanderthal DNA from cave dirt, and use that DNA to study Neanderthal history across thousands of years. We’ve worked on this for a few years now, I’m so excited for it to be out!” The tweeter was Dr Benjamin Vernot, a bespectacled population geneticist from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, lead author on a paper published in the journal
Science. The DNA found by his group revealed incredible details about individual Neanderthals. It appeared that not one, but two Neanderthal bands lived in one of the caves they studied; the original population replaced by a later group around 100,000 years ago.
Former Auckland Zoo vet says moving elephants comes down to money
4 May, 2021 02:02 AM
4 minutes to read
Auckland Zoo Director Kevin Buley talks about the heartbreaking decision . Video / Dean Purcell / Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo Director Kevin Buley talks about the heartbreaking decision . Video / Dean Purcell / Auckland Zoo
A vet who dedicated years to caring for the elephants at Auckland Zoo says the decision to move its two female elephants Burma and Anjalee boils down to a lack of money. But Auckland Zoo director Kevin Buley is adamant the decision has nothing to do with saving money and is entirely motivated by animal welfare.
Fossil records indicate that in pre-Polynesian times, the kākāpō was New Zealand s third most common bird. However, their numbers have declined by 80 per cent in the past 100 years. They are the heaviest parrot species in the world with females weighing around 1.4 kg, and males 2.2 kg. The country’s kākāpō population currently lives on just four predator-free islands – Codfish Island/Whenua Hou, Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island, Chalky Island/Te Kakahu, and Anchor Island. With no predator-free islands big enough to accommodate them, the only option is for DOC to find an island and then eradicate the pests.