California's San Diego Zoo will later this month open a brand new US$17.4m (€14.6m, £12.8m) Australian enclosure, which is to debut on 25 May.
Called Walkabout Australia, the immersive walkthrough 3.6 acre (14,500sq m) experience will feature a range of native Australian animals and will be themed around Australia’s rural landscapes, with a selection of plants and signs of human habitation encountered along backcountry roads.
In the experience, guests will be able to explore four different types of Australian habitats: grassland, rainforest, wetlands and desert.
In the opening grassland area, visitors will be able to walk through a meadow, which is home to western gray kangaroos, red-necked wallabies and brush turkeys. While visitors must remain on the path, the cageless experience allows them to get up and close with the animals as they journey through the enclosure.
After leaving the grassland, the "Aussie Animal Station" gives visitors an up close look at wombats, echidnas, blue-tongued skinks, woma pythons and sugar gliders. Accompanied by a keeper, special encounters with the animals will be available multiple times each day.
The new attraction will also teaches visitors about water, exploring the connection between it and the animals and people that depend on it. A stream runs through the grassland area, pooling in a billabong pond. Its source is a larger wetland pond, where guests will see radjah shelducks, freckled ducks and magpie geese. In this area children can play in the water's shallows, with a special area to also watch the birds.
A rustic building representing a wool shearing shed called Zuest follows. Acting as a restaurant, the building also teaches visitors about the various techniques and traditions of sheep ranching and wool production practiced in Australia for more than two centuries.
The rainforest habitat offers views of the endangered double-wattled cassowary, which will also take part in a breeding programme dedicated to saving the species from extinction.
The final area – desert – is a recreation of Australia's deviled marbles. From there, the area opens up to different parts of the zoo, taking visitors to either the World Gardens or Condor Ridge parts of the zoo.
“Australia is an extraordinary place and we are thrilled to provide a snapshot of some of the wonders from Down Under,” said Lisa Peterson, director at San Diego Zoo.
"Not only does Walkabout Australia allow us to connect people to Australia’s fascinating wildlife, but it adds another dimension to San Diego Zoo global’s efforts to save endangered species, such as the cassowary and Matschie’s tree kangaroo.”
