The Perth Zoo is a 41 acres (16.6 ha) zoo

Zoo

A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....

 that opened in 1898 in South Perth

South Perth, Western Australia

South Perth is a residential suburb 3 kilometres south of the central business district of Perth, the capital of Western Australia, which adjoins the southern shore of Perth Water on the Swan River...

, Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

. As of January 2011, it is home to 1258 animals of 164 species and includes an extensive botanical collection.

In 2010/11, the zoo had a paid staff of about 248 (167 full time equivalents), plus about 300 volunteer docents. It is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums

World Association of Zoos and Aquariums

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums is the "umbrella" organisation for the world zoo and aquarium community. Its mission is to provide leadership and support for zoos, aquariums, and partner organizations of the world in animal care and welfare, conservation of biodiversity, environmental...

 (WAZA).

History

Perth Zoo was opened on 17 October 1898 by the Governor of Western Australia, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Gerard Smith. Planning for the zoo had started in 1896 when the Western Australian Acclimatization Committee first met, the original purpose of which was to introduce European animals to Australia and establish a zoo. In 1897 this group invited the director of the Melbourne Zoo, Albert Le Souef

Albert Alexander Cochrane Le Souef

Albert Alexander Cochrane Le Souef was an Australian zoologist.Le Souef was the director of the Melbourne Zoo from 1882 to 1902. He was the father of the zoologists Ernest Albert Le Souef, Dudley Le Souef and Albert Sherbourne Le Souef....

, to choose a site. His son Ernest

Ernest Albert Le Souef

Ernest Albert Le Souef was an Australian zoologist.Le Souef was born in Melbourne, the son of Albert Alexander Cochrane Le Souef. He was a director at the Perth Zoological Gardens from its foundation in 1898 until 1935....

 was chosen as the first director of the Perth Zoo, and work began in 1897.

The first exhibits built included two bear caves, a monkey house, a mammal house and a model castle for guinea pigs. The first animals on display included an orangutan, two monkeys, four ostriches, a pair of lions, and a tiger. At first there were only six staff members. The zoo had 53,000 visitors in its first nine months, and has not been closed for a single day since it was opened.

From the start Ernest Le Souef worked to create a botanical collection as well as an animal collection. Work on the gardens started as soon as the site was chosen. Since the site was mostly sand and lacked nutrients and water, loads of manure needed to be brought in, and a well was bored in 1898 to allow irrigation. The zoo included rose gardens, lupin fields, tropical plants, and palms. The original palm collection still stands and boasts over 60 species including Canary Island date palms that are now over 100-years-old. The zoo also grew crops for animals including lettuce, alfalfa, carrots, lucerne and onions. This tradition is still alive, with the zoo producing fodder including hibiscus, bamboo, Fijian fire plant and mirror plant.

Subsequent directors were:-

• L.E. Shapcott - as President of the Zoological Gardens Board 1932-1941
• W.K. Lyall - as Superintendent of the Zoo 1950-1967
• Tom Spence - as Zoo Director 1967-1984
• John De Jose - as Zoo Director 1984-1994
• Ricky Burges - as Zoo CEO 1995-1998
• Susan Hunt - as Zoo CEO 2004 -

Exhibits

Perth Zoo has three main zones - Australian Walkabout, Asian Rainforest and African Savannah - with a few minor exhibit areas (Lesser Primates, South American birds, Main Lake, Galapagos Tortoises). All exhibits are designed to mimic the animals' natural habitats and utilise passive barriers where possible.

Australian Walkabout

The Australian Walkabout includes the Australian Wetlands and Penguin Plunge, Reptile Encounter, Australian Bushwalk, aviaries and the Nocturnal House. The Australian Wetlands includes black swan

Black Swan

The Black Swan is a large waterbird, a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic...

, black-necked stork

Black-necked Stork

The Black-necked Stork is a tall long-necked wading bird in the stork family. It is a resident species across South and Southeast Asia with a disjunct population in Australia. It lives in wetland habitats to forage for a wide range of animal prey...

, brolga

Brolga

The Brolga , formerly known as the "Native Companion", is a bird in the crane family. The bird has also been given the name "Australian Crane", a term coined in 1865 by well-known ornithological artist John Gould in his Birds of Australia.The Brolga is a common gregarious wetland bird species in...

, little pied cormorant

Little Pied Cormorant

The Little Pied Cormorant, Little Shag or Kawaupaka is a common Australasian waterbird, found around the coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and around the islands of the south-western Pacific and the sub-Antarctic...

, darter

Darter

The darters or snakebirds are mainly tropical waterbirds in the family Anhingidae. There are four living species, three of which are very common and widespread while the fourth is rarer and classified as near-threatened by the IUCN. The term "snakebird" is usually used without any additions to...

, blue-billed duck

Blue-billed Duck

The Blue-billed Duck is a small Australian stiff-tailed duck, with both the male and female growing to a length of 40 cm . The male has a slate-blue bill which changes to bright-blue during the breeding season, hence the duck’s common name . The male has deep chestnut plumage during breeding...

, freckled duck

Freckled Duck

The Freckled Duck is a moderately large, broad-bodied duck native to southern Australia. The duck is protected by law...

, Australian shelduck

Australian Shelduck

The Australian Shelduck, Tadorna tadornoides, is a shelduck, a group of large goose-like birds which are part of the bird family Anatidae, which also includes the swans, geese and ducks. The Anatidae article should be referred to for an overview of this group of birds.This is a bird which breeds...

, Radjah shelduck

Radjah Shelduck

The Raja Shelduck or Radjah Shelduck , also known as the Burdekin Duck in Australia, is a species of shelduck. Placed in the genus Tadorna, it differs markedly in external morphology, and mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data suggests its status should be reinvestigated...

, Eurasian coot

Eurasian Coot

The Eurasian Coot, Fulica atra, also known as Coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. The Australian subspecies is known as the Australian Coot.-Distribution:...

, yellow-billed spoonbill

Yellow-billed Spoonbill

The Yellow-billed Spoonbill is common in southeast Australia; it is not unusual on the remainder of the continent, and is a vagrant to New Zealand, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. It is around 90 cm long, and has white plumage with a yellow bill, legs and feet. It nests in trees, marshes or...

, black-winged stilt

Black-winged Stilt

The Black-winged Stilt or Common Stilt is a widely distributed very long-legged wader in the avocet and stilt family . Opinions differ as to whether the birds treated under the scientific name H. himantopus ought to be treated as a single species and if not, how many species to recognize...

, little egret

Little Egret

The Little Egret is a small white heron. It is the Old World counterpart to the very similar New World Snowy Egret.-Subspecies:Depending on authority, two or three subspecies of Little Egret are currently accepted....

, pied heron

Pied Heron

The Pied Heron , also known as the Pied Egret is a bird found in coastal and subcoastal areas of monsoonal northern Australia as well as some parts of Wallacea and New Guinea.-Taxonomy:...

, plumed whistling duck

Plumed Whistling Duck

The Plumed Whistling Duck , also called the Grass Whistle Duck , is a whistling duck which breeds in New Guinea and Australia. It is a predominantly brown-coloured duck with a long neck and characteristic plumes arising from its flanks...

, estuarine crocodile

Saltwater Crocodile

The saltwater crocodile, also known as estuarine or Indo-Pacific crocodile, is the largest of all living reptiles...

, freshwater crocodile

Freshwater Crocodile

The freshwater crocodile , also known as the Australian freshwater crocodile, Johnston's crocodile or colloquially as freshie, is a species of reptile endemic to the northern regions of Australia...

, motorbike frog

Motorbike Frog

Litoria moorei is a frog well known in Southwest Australia, its notoriety deriving from the call suggestive of a common name, the Motorbike Frog. It is a ground dwelling tree frog of the Hylidae family, one of only three species of Hylids occurring in that region...

, splendid tree frog, Western swamp tortoise

Western Swamp Tortoise

The western swamp tortoise , also known as the western swamp turtle, is a short-necked freshwater tortoise that monotypically represents the sub-family Pseudemydurinae.-Description:...

. The Penguin Plunge is home to little penguins

Little Penguin

The Little Penguin is the smallest species of penguin. The penguin, which usually grows to an average of in height and in length , is found on the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand, with possible records from Chile.Apart from Little Penguins, they have several common names...

 and bridled terns

Bridled Tern

The Bridled Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans.-Description:...

. The exhibit includes a 50000 litre pool of filtered salt water with underwater viewing, a beach, a reef, and a rookery.

The Australia Bushwalk takes visitors on our journey through the Australian landscape where they can see dingo

Dingo

The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...

es, emu

Emu

The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...

s, koala

Koala

The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae....

s, red-legged pademelons

Red-legged Pademelon

The Red-legged Pademelon is a species of small macropod found on the northeastern coast of Australia and in New Guinea. In Australia it has a scattered distribution from the tip of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland to around Tamworth in New South Wales...

, numbat

Numbat

The numbat , also known as the banded anteater, or walpurti, is a marsupial found in Western Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. Once widespread across southern Australia, the range is now restricted to several small colonies and it is listed as an endangered species...

s, quokka

Quokka

The Quokka , the only member of the genus Setonix, is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat. Like other marsupials in the macropod family , the Quokka is herbivorous and mainly nocturnal...

, red kangaroos

Red Kangaroo

The Red Kangaroo is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest mammal native to Australia, and the largest surviving marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east coast, and the northern rainforests.-Description:This species is a very...

, short-beaked echidnas

Short-beaked Echidna

The short-beaked echidna , also known as the spiny anteater because of its diet of ants and termites, is one of four living species of echidna and the only member of the genus Tachyglossus...

, Southern hairy-nosed Wombats

Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat

The Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat is one of three species of wombats. It is found in scattered areas of semi-arid scrub and mallee from the eastern Nullarbor Plain to the New South Wales border area. It is the smallest of all three wombat species. The young often do not survive dry seasons...

, Tammar wallabys

Tammar Wallaby

The Tammar Wallaby , also known as the Dama Wallaby or Darma Wallaby, is a small member of the kangaroo family and is the model species for research on kangaroos and marsupials. It is found on offshore islands on the South Australian and Western Australian coast...

, Tasmanian devils

Tasmanian Devil

The Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae, now found in the wild only on the Australian island state of Tasmania. The size of a small dog, it became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in 1936...

, and Western grey kangaroos

Western Grey Kangaroo

The Western Grey Kangaroo is a large and very common kangaroo or macropod, found across almost the entire southern part of Australia, from just south of Shark Bay to coastal South Australia, western Victoria, and the entire Murray-Darling Basin in New South Wales and Queensland...

. A detour takes visitors to the Western Australian Black Cockatoo exhibit, planted with cockatoo food trees and home to Baudin's cockatoo, Carnaby's cockatoo, Major Mitchell's cockatoo

Major Mitchell's Cockatoo

The Major Mitchell's Cockatoo also known as Leadbeater's Cockatoo or Pink Cockatoo, is a medium-sized cockatoo restricted to arid and semi-arid inland areas of Australia...

, Muir's corella

Muir's Corella

Muir's Corella is a stocky, medium-sized white cockatoo endemic to Western Australia. It is the threatened nominate subspecies of the Western Corella.-Description:...

, red-tailed black cockatoo

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

The Red-tailed Black Cockatoo , also known as Banksian- or Banks' Black Cockatoo, is a large cockatoo native to Australia. This species was known as Calyptorhynchus magnificus for many decades until the current scientific name was officially conserved in 1994. It is more common in the drier parts...

, and Red-capped Parrot

Red-capped Parrot

The Red-capped Parrot , also called the Pileated Parakeet , and King Parrot locally in Western Australia, is an Australian species of broad-tailed parrot related to the Rosellas.First described by German naturalist Heinrich Kuhl in 1820, from a collection in Albany,...

. Another detour takes visitors to the Numbats Under Threat exhibit, which showcases the endangered Australian numbat

Numbat

The numbat , also known as the banded anteater, or walpurti, is a marsupial found in Western Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. Once widespread across southern Australia, the range is now restricted to several small colonies and it is listed as an endangered species...

 along with rufous whistlers

Rufous Whistler

The Rufous Whistler is a species of whistler found in New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, and throughout Australia . Predominantly a reddish-brown and grey bird, it makes up for its subdued plumage with its song-making ability...

.

The Nocturnal House is designed in a circular viewing layout that lets visitors circumnavigate the Australian mainland while viewing nocturnal animals under simulated moonlight. Vertebrates in this building include bilby

Bilby

Bilbies are desert-dwelling marsupial omnivores; they are members of the order Peramelemorphia. Before European colonisation of Australia, there were two species. One became extinct in the 1950s; the other survives but remains endangered....

, cane toad

Cane Toad

The Cane Toad , also known as the Giant Neotropical Toad or Marine Toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad which is native to Central and South America, but has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania and the Caribbean...

, chuditch, dibbler

Dibbler

Dibbler is the common name for Parantechinus apicalis, an endangered species of marsupial. It is an inhabitant of the southwest mainland of Western Australia and some offshore islands. It is a member of the Dasyuromorphia order, and the only member of the genus, Parantechinus...

, ghost bat

Ghost Bat

The Ghost Bat , also known as the False Vampire Bat is a bat endemic to Australia, named for the extremely thin membrane of its wings that makes it appear ghostly at night. Ghost Bats have grey fur on their backs and pale grey or white fur on their undersides. They have long, narrow wings but no...

, green tree frog

Green tree frog

Green tree frog is a common name for several different tree frog species:*American green tree frog *Australian Green Tree Frog...

, Northern quoll

Northern Quoll

The Northern Quoll , also known as the Northern Native Cat, the Satanellus, the North Australian Native Cat or the Njanmak , is a carnivorous marsupial mammal, native to Australia.- Taxonomy :The Northern Quoll is a member of the family Dasyuridae, and is often stated to be the most distinctive...

, slow loris

Slow loris

Slow lorises are a group of five species of strepsirrhine primates which make up the genus Nycticebus. Found in South and Southeast Asia, they range from Northeast India in the west to the Philippines in the east, and from the Yunnan province in China in the north to the island of Java in the south...

, spinifex hopping mouse

Spinifex Hopping Mouse

The Spinifex Hopping Mouse , also known as the Tarkawara or Tarrkawarra, occurs throughout the central and western Australian arid zones, occupying both spinifex-covered sand flats and stabilised sand dunes, and loamy mulga and melaleuca flats.The population fluctuates greatly: in normal years it...

, squirrel glider

Squirrel Glider

The Squirrel Glider is a nocturnal gliding possum, one of the wrist-winged gliders of the genus Petaurus.-Habitat:...

, water rat

Water Rat

Water Rat may refer to:AnimalsWater Rat is a common name for several unrelated semiaquatic rodents, including:*European Water Vole, found in north and central Europe and Russia*Rakali, found in Australia and New Guinea...

, Southern brown bandicoot

Southern Brown Bandicoot

The Southern Brown Bandicoot , also known as the Quenda from the local Noongar tongue from South Western Australia, is a short-nosed bandicoot found mostly in southern Australia....

, ringtail possum, feathertail glider

Feathertail Glider

The Feathertail Glider , also known as the Pygmy Gliding Possum, Pygmy Glider, Pygmy Phalanger, Flying Phalanger and Flying Mouse, is the world's smallest gliding possum and is named for its long feather-shaped tail. Although only the size of a very small mouse , it can leap and glide up to 25 metres...

 and brush-tailed bettong. In addition, this exhibit includes a number of invertebrates such as Australian tarantulas

Tarantula

Tarantulas comprise a group of often hairy and often very large arachnids belonging to the family Theraphosidae, of which approximately 900 species have been identified. Some members of the same Suborder may also be called "tarantulas" in the common parlance. This article will restrict itself to...

, millipede

Millipede

Millipedes are arthropods that have two pairs of legs per segment . Each segment that has two pairs of legs is a result of two single segments fused together as one...

s, redback spiders, scorpion

Scorpion

Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...

s, and Sydney funnel-web spider

Sydney funnel-web spider

The Sydney funnel-web spider, Atrax robustus, is an Australian funnel-web spider usually found within a radius of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.-Description:...

s.

The Reptile Encounter was opened on World Environment Day in 1997. It contains 17 exhibits designed to match the animal's natural habitat. The building is climate controlled, and displays reptiles from around the world including black-headed pythons, chameleon dragons, dugite

Dugite

Dugite is a common name for the highly venomous snake, Pseudonaja affinis, an Australian species which can inflict a fatal bite.-Description:...

s, Fijian crested iguanas

Fiji Crested Iguana

The Fiji crested iguana is a critically endangered species of iguana native to some of the northwestern islands of the Fijiian archipelago, where it is found in dry forest.-Taxonomy and etymology:...

, frilled dragons

Frill-necked Lizard

The frill-necked lizard , also known as the frilled lizard or frilled dragon, is found mainly in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. Its name comes from the large frill around its neck, which usually stays folded against the lizard's body. It is largely arboreal, spending the majority of...

, turtles, olive pythons, perentie

Perentie

The Perentie is the largest monitor lizard or goanna native to Australia, and fourth largest lizard on earth, after the Komodo Dragon, crocodile monitor and the water monitor...

s, pygmy mulga goannas

Pygmy Mulga Goanna

The Stripe-tailed Goanna is a species of Monitor Lizard native to Northwestern and Central Australia. They eat insects, lizards, small mammals and eggs.-Description:...

 (Monitor), pygmy pythons

Antaresia perthensis

Antaresia perthensis is a species of snake found in western Australia. Their common names, pygmy python and anthill python, refer to the fact that they are the smallest member of the Pythonidae family and are often found in termite mounds...

, reticulated pythons

Reticulated Python

Python reticulatus, also known as the reticulated python is a species of python found in Southeast Asia. Adults can grow to over 8.7 m in length but normally grow to an average of 3-6 m . They are the world's longest snakes and longest reptile, but are not the most heavily built...

, South-west carpet pythons

Carpet python

Morelia spilota is a large snake of the Pythonidae family found in Australia, Indonesia and New Guinea. There are 6 subspecies listed by ITIS, commonly referred to as Carpet and Diamond pythons.-Description:...

, tiger snakes, Merten's water monitors, blue-tongued skinks, spiny-tailed lizards, and womas.

African Savannah

The African Savannah replaced a variety of barred cages, and was the largest construction project undertaken at the zoo when it was created. The exhibit recreates the African savannah, and includes African painted dog

African Wild Dog

Lycaon pictus is a large canid found only in Africa, especially in savannas and lightly wooded areas. It is variously called the African wild dog, African hunting dog, Cape hunting dog, painted dog, painted wolf, painted hunting dog, spotted dog, or ornate wolf...

s, African lions, cheetah

Cheetah

The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...

s, Grant's zebra

Grant's Zebra

The Grant's Zebra is the smallest of six subspecies of the Plains Zebra.-Distribution:The distribution of this subspecies is in Zambia west of the Luangwa river and west to Kariba, Shaba Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, north to the Kibanzao Plateau. In Tanzania north from...

s, Hamadryas baboon

Hamadryas Baboon

The Hamadryas baboon is a species of baboon from the Old World monkey family. It is the northernmost of all the baboons; being native to the Horn of Africa and the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. These regions provide habitats with the advantage for this species of fewer natural...

s, Meerkat

Meerkat

The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan"...

s, radiated tortoise

Radiated Tortoise

The radiated tortoise is a species in the family Testudinidae. Although this species is native to and most abundant in southern Madagascar, it can be also be found in the rest of this island, and has been introduced to the islands of Réunion and Mauritius...

s, Rothschild's giraffe

Rothschild giraffe

The Rothschild Giraffe is among the most endangered giraffe subspecies with only a few hundred members in the wild. It is named after the famous family of the Tring Museum's founder, Lord Walter Rothschild, and is also known as the Baringo Giraffe, after the Lake Baringo area of Kenya, or as the...

s, spotted hyaena

Spotted Hyena

The spotted hyena also known as laughing hyena, is a carnivorous mammal of the family Hyaenidae, of which it is the largest extant member. Though the species' prehistoric range included Eurasia extending from Atlantic Europe to China, it now only occurs in all of Africa south of the Sahara save...

s and southern white rhinoceroses

White Rhinoceros

The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species...

. Visitors view the animals from a path that simulates a dry riverbed running through the savannah.

Asian Rainforest

The Asian Rainforest is home to a number of threatened Asian species. These include the Asian elephant

Asian Elephant

The Asian or Asiatic elephant is the only living species of the genus Elephas and distributed in Southeast Asia from India in the west to Borneo in the east. Three subspecies are recognized — Elephas maximus maximus from Sri Lanka, the Indian elephant or E. m. indicus from mainland Asia, and E. m....

s, Asian small-clawed otters

Oriental Small-clawed Otter

The oriental small-clawed otter , also known as Asian small-clawed otter, is the smallest otter species in the world, weighing less than 5 kg. It lives in mangrove swamps and freshwater wetlands of Bangladesh, Burma, India, southern China, Taiwan, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines,...

 (which can be viewed underwater through a glass window), Red Panda

Red Panda

The red panda , is a small arboreal mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It is the only species of the genus Ailurus. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, it has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and a waddling gait due to its shorter front legs...

s, Silvery Gibbon

Silvery Gibbon

The silvery gibbon is a primate in the Hylobatidae or gibbon family. Its coat is bluish-grey in colour, with a dark grey or black cap. Like all gibbons, Silvery Gibbons lack external tails, have dorsally-placed scapula and reduced flexibility in the lumbar region. They have long, curved fingers...

s, Sumatran orangutans

Sumatran Orangutan

The Sumatran orangutan is one of the two species of orangutans. Found only on the island of Sumatra, in Indonesia, it is rarer and smaller than the Bornean orangutan. The Sumatran orangutan grows to about tall and in males...

, Sumatran tigers

Sumatran Tiger

The Sumatran tiger is a tiger subspecies that inhabits the Indonesian island of Sumatra and has been classified as critically endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population is projected at 176 to 271 mature individuals, with no subpopulation having an effective population size larger than 50...

, sun bears

Sun Bear

The sun bear , sometimes known as the honey bear, is a bear found primarily in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia; North-East India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Southern China, Peninsular Malaysia, and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.-Description:The sun bear...

, and White-cheeked gibbons. Perth Zoo contributes to the conservation of many of these species in the wild. The Zoo's Sumatran Orangutan breeding program is the most successful in the world, having bred 27 orangutans since 1970. In 2006 it released one of its zoo-born orangutans into the wild in Sumatra as part of an international program to re-establish a wild population of the critically endangered ape.

Lesser Primates

The Lesser Primates exhibit is home to lemurs and monkeys including Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur

Black-and-white ruffed lemur

The black-and-white ruffed lemur is the more endangered of the two species of ruffed lemurs, both of which are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Despite having a larger range than the red ruffed lemur, it has a much smaller population that is spread out, living in lower population densities...

s, Black-capped Capuchins, Bolivian Squirrel Monkeys, Common Marmoset

Common Marmoset

The common marmoset is a New World monkey. It originally lived on the Northeastern coast of Brazil, in the states of Piaui, Paraiba, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, Alagoas and Bahia...

s, Cotton-top Tamarins, Emperor Tamarin

Emperor Tamarin

The Emperor Tamarin is a tamarin allegedly named for its resemblance to the German emperor Wilhelm II. It lives in the southwest Amazon Basin, in east Peru, north Bolivia and in the west Brazilian states of Acre and Amazonas....

s, Pygmy Marmoset

Pygmy Marmoset

The pygmy marmoset or dwarf monkey is a New World monkey native to the rainforest canopies of western Brazil, southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. It is one of the smallest primates, and the smallest true monkey, with its body length ranging from...

s and Ring-tailed Lemur

Ring-tailed Lemur

The ring-tailed lemur is a large strepsirrhine primate and the most recognized lemur due to its long, black and white ringed tail. It belongs to Lemuridae, one of five lemur families. It is the only member of the Lemur genus. Like all lemurs it is endemic to the island of Madagascar...

s.

Galapagos Tortoises

Next to the African Savannah and opposite the Lesser Primates is the exhibit home to two Galapagos Tortoise

Galápagos tortoise

The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise is the largest living species of tortoise, reaching weights of over and lengths of over . With life spans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates...

s.

South American Birds

Home to the most colourful birds of south america including Amazon parrot

Amazon parrot

Amazon parrot is the common name for a parrot of the genus Amazona. These are medium-size parrots native to the New World ranging from South America to Mexico and the Caribbean....

s, Blue-and-gold Macaws, Green-cheeked Conures, Nanday Conures and Sun Conure

Sun Conure

The Sun Parakeet or Sun Conure is a medium-sized brightly colored parrot native to northeastern South America. The adult male and female...

s.

Main Lake

Near the entrance to the Zoo is the Main Lake which has two islands. One is home to a group of Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur

Black-and-white ruffed lemur

The black-and-white ruffed lemur is the more endangered of the two species of ruffed lemurs, both of which are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Despite having a larger range than the red ruffed lemur, it has a much smaller population that is spread out, living in lower population densities...

s and the other to a family of Javan Gibbons

Silvery Gibbon

The silvery gibbon is a primate in the Hylobatidae or gibbon family. Its coat is bluish-grey in colour, with a dark grey or black cap. Like all gibbons, Silvery Gibbons lack external tails, have dorsally-placed scapula and reduced flexibility in the lumbar region. They have long, curved fingers...

. Next to the Main Lake and opposite the cafe are exhibits home to the Southern Cassowary

Southern Cassowary

The Southern Cassowary, Casuarius casuarius, also known as Double-wattled Cassowary, Australian Cassowary or Two-wattled Cassowary, is a large flightless black bird...

 and the Goodfellow's Tree kangaroo

Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo

Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo , also called the Ornate Tree Kangaroo, belongs to the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos, wallabies and their relatives, and the genus Dendrolagus, with eleven other species. The species is native to the rainforests of New Guinea, and the border of central...

. It also includes Australian Pelican

Australian Pelican

The Australian Pelican is a large water bird, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant to New Zealand.-Taxonomy:...

s that move around in the waters.

Talking Zoo

The zoo provides a free online service called Talking Zoo which lets visitors download hours of animal information onto their iPod, MP3 player, mobile phone or PDA.

Heritage Trail

The Heritage Trail (which can be downloaded from the website or collected from the Information Centre) is a self-guided walk that takes visitors around the zoo and shows off its historical buildings. Buildings included in this walk are the bird feed shed, kite cage, bear caves, hay shed, mineral baths from 1898, replicas of tennis shelters from 1903, the Scout Hall built in 1931, the 1947 carousel that is still in use, and the Gate Zoo Residence that was built in the 1960s.
African Savannah

• African Painted Dog
  African Wild Dog
  Lycaon pictus is a large canid found only in Africa, especially in savannas and lightly wooded areas. It is variously called the African wild dog, African hunting dog, Cape hunting dog, painted dog, painted wolf, painted hunting dog, spotted dog, or ornate wolf...
  
  
• African Lion
• Cheetah
  Cheetah
  The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
  
  
• Grant's Zebra
  Grant's Zebra
  The Grant's Zebra is the smallest of six subspecies of the Plains Zebra.-Distribution:The distribution of this subspecies is in Zambia west of the Luangwa river and west to Kariba, Shaba Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, north to the Kibanzao Plateau. In Tanzania north from...
  
  
• Hamadryas Baboon
  Hamadryas Baboon
  The Hamadryas baboon is a species of baboon from the Old World monkey family. It is the northernmost of all the baboons; being native to the Horn of Africa and the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. These regions provide habitats with the advantage for this species of fewer natural...
  
  
• Radiated Tortoise
  Radiated Tortoise
  The radiated tortoise is a species in the family Testudinidae. Although this species is native to and most abundant in southern Madagascar, it can be also be found in the rest of this island, and has been introduced to the islands of Réunion and Mauritius...
  
  
• Rothschild Giraffe
  Rothschild giraffe
  The Rothschild Giraffe is among the most endangered giraffe subspecies with only a few hundred members in the wild. It is named after the famous family of the Tring Museum's founder, Lord Walter Rothschild, and is also known as the Baringo Giraffe, after the Lake Baringo area of Kenya, or as the...
  
  
• Slender-tailed Meerkat
  Meerkat
  The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan"...
  
  
• Spotted Hyaena
  Spotted Hyena
  The spotted hyena also known as laughing hyena, is a carnivorous mammal of the family Hyaenidae, of which it is the largest extant member. Though the species' prehistoric range included Eurasia extending from Atlantic Europe to China, it now only occurs in all of Africa south of the Sahara save...
  
  
• Southern White Rhinoceros
  White Rhinoceros
  The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species...
  
  

Asian Rainforest

• Asian Elephant
  Asian Elephant
  The Asian or Asiatic elephant is the only living species of the genus Elephas and distributed in Southeast Asia from India in the west to Borneo in the east. Three subspecies are recognized — Elephas maximus maximus from Sri Lanka, the Indian elephant or E. m. indicus from mainland Asia, and E. m....
  
  
• Nepalese Red Panda
  Red Panda
  The red panda , is a small arboreal mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It is the only species of the genus Ailurus. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, it has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and a waddling gait due to its shorter front legs...
  
  
• Asian Small-clawed Otter
  Oriental Small-clawed Otter
  The oriental small-clawed otter , also known as Asian small-clawed otter, is the smallest otter species in the world, weighing less than 5 kg. It lives in mangrove swamps and freshwater wetlands of Bangladesh, Burma, India, southern China, Taiwan, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines,...
  
  
• Sumatran Orangutan
  Sumatran Orangutan
  The Sumatran orangutan is one of the two species of orangutans. Found only on the island of Sumatra, in Indonesia, it is rarer and smaller than the Bornean orangutan. The Sumatran orangutan grows to about tall and in males...
  
  
• Sumatran Tiger
  Sumatran Tiger
  The Sumatran tiger is a tiger subspecies that inhabits the Indonesian island of Sumatra and has been classified as critically endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population is projected at 176 to 271 mature individuals, with no subpopulation having an effective population size larger than 50...
  
  
• Sun Bear
  Sun Bear
  The sun bear , sometimes known as the honey bear, is a bear found primarily in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia; North-East India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Southern China, Peninsular Malaysia, and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.-Description:The sun bear...
  
  
• Northern White-cheeked Gibbon

Australian Bushwalk

• Dingo
  Dingo
  The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...
  
  
• Emu
  Emu
  The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...
  
  
• Koala
  Koala
  The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae....
  
  
• Numbat
  Numbat
  The numbat , also known as the banded anteater, or walpurti, is a marsupial found in Western Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. Once widespread across southern Australia, the range is now restricted to several small colonies and it is listed as an endangered species...
  
  
• Quokka
  Quokka
  The Quokka , the only member of the genus Setonix, is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat. Like other marsupials in the macropod family , the Quokka is herbivorous and mainly nocturnal...
  
  
• Red Kangaroo
  Red Kangaroo
  The Red Kangaroo is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest mammal native to Australia, and the largest surviving marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east coast, and the northern rainforests.-Description:This species is a very...
  
  
• Rufous Whistler
  Rufous Whistler
  The Rufous Whistler is a species of whistler found in New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, and throughout Australia . Predominantly a reddish-brown and grey bird, it makes up for its subdued plumage with its song-making ability...
  
  
• Short-beaked Echidna
  Short-beaked Echidna
  The short-beaked echidna , also known as the spiny anteater because of its diet of ants and termites, is one of four living species of echidna and the only member of the genus Tachyglossus...
  
  
• Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat
  Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat
  The Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat is one of three species of wombats. It is found in scattered areas of semi-arid scrub and mallee from the eastern Nullarbor Plain to the New South Wales border area. It is the smallest of all three wombat species. The young often do not survive dry seasons...
  
  
• Tammar Wallaby
  Tammar Wallaby
  The Tammar Wallaby , also known as the Dama Wallaby or Darma Wallaby, is a small member of the kangaroo family and is the model species for research on kangaroos and marsupials. It is found on offshore islands on the South Australian and Western Australian coast...
  
  
• Tasmanian Devil
  Tasmanian Devil
  The Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae, now found in the wild only on the Australian island state of Tasmania. The size of a small dog, it became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in 1936...
  
  
• Western Grey Kangaroo
  Western Grey Kangaroo
  The Western Grey Kangaroo is a large and very common kangaroo or macropod, found across almost the entire southern part of Australia, from just south of Shark Bay to coastal South Australia, western Victoria, and the entire Murray-Darling Basin in New South Wales and Queensland...
  
  

Cockatoos and Parrots

• Baudin's Cockatoo
• Carnaby's Cockatoo
• Major Mitchell's Cockatoo
  Major Mitchell's Cockatoo
  The Major Mitchell's Cockatoo also known as Leadbeater's Cockatoo or Pink Cockatoo, is a medium-sized cockatoo restricted to arid and semi-arid inland areas of Australia...
  
  
• Muir's Corella
  Muir's Corella
  Muir's Corella is a stocky, medium-sized white cockatoo endemic to Western Australia. It is the threatened nominate subspecies of the Western Corella.-Description:...
  
  
• Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
  Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
  The Red-tailed Black Cockatoo , also known as Banksian- or Banks' Black Cockatoo, is a large cockatoo native to Australia. This species was known as Calyptorhynchus magnificus for many decades until the current scientific name was officially conserved in 1994. It is more common in the drier parts...
  
  
• Red-capped Parrot
  Red-capped Parrot
  The Red-capped Parrot , also called the Pileated Parakeet , and King Parrot locally in Western Australia, is an Australian species of broad-tailed parrot related to the Rosellas.First described by German naturalist Heinrich Kuhl in 1820, from a collection in Albany,...
  
  

Australian Wetlands

• Black Swan
  Black Swan
  The Black Swan is a large waterbird, a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic...
  
  
• Black-necked Stork
  Black-necked Stork
  The Black-necked Stork is a tall long-necked wading bird in the stork family. It is a resident species across South and Southeast Asia with a disjunct population in Australia. It lives in wetland habitats to forage for a wide range of animal prey...
  
  
• Brolga
  Brolga
  The Brolga , formerly known as the "Native Companion", is a bird in the crane family. The bird has also been given the name "Australian Crane", a term coined in 1865 by well-known ornithological artist John Gould in his Birds of Australia.The Brolga is a common gregarious wetland bird species in...
  
  
• Little Pied Cormorant
  Little Pied Cormorant
  The Little Pied Cormorant, Little Shag or Kawaupaka is a common Australasian waterbird, found around the coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and around the islands of the south-western Pacific and the sub-Antarctic...
  
  
• Darter
  Darter
  The darters or snakebirds are mainly tropical waterbirds in the family Anhingidae. There are four living species, three of which are very common and widespread while the fourth is rarer and classified as near-threatened by the IUCN. The term "snakebird" is usually used without any additions to...
  
  
• Blue-billed Duck
  Blue-billed Duck
  The Blue-billed Duck is a small Australian stiff-tailed duck, with both the male and female growing to a length of 40 cm . The male has a slate-blue bill which changes to bright-blue during the breeding season, hence the duck’s common name . The male has deep chestnut plumage during breeding...
  
  
• Freckled Duck
  Freckled Duck
  The Freckled Duck is a moderately large, broad-bodied duck native to southern Australia. The duck is protected by law...
  
  
• Australian Shelduck
  Australian Shelduck
  The Australian Shelduck, Tadorna tadornoides, is a shelduck, a group of large goose-like birds which are part of the bird family Anatidae, which also includes the swans, geese and ducks. The Anatidae article should be referred to for an overview of this group of birds.This is a bird which breeds...
  
  
• Rajah Shelduck
• Eurasian Coot
  Eurasian Coot
  The Eurasian Coot, Fulica atra, also known as Coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. The Australian subspecies is known as the Australian Coot.-Distribution:...
  
  
• Yellow-billed Spoonbill
  Yellow-billed Spoonbill
  The Yellow-billed Spoonbill is common in southeast Australia; it is not unusual on the remainder of the continent, and is a vagrant to New Zealand, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. It is around 90 cm long, and has white plumage with a yellow bill, legs and feet. It nests in trees, marshes or...
  
  
• Black-winged Stilt
  Black-winged Stilt
  The Black-winged Stilt or Common Stilt is a widely distributed very long-legged wader in the avocet and stilt family . Opinions differ as to whether the birds treated under the scientific name H. himantopus ought to be treated as a single species and if not, how many species to recognize...
  
  
• Little Egret
  Little Egret
  The Little Egret is a small white heron. It is the Old World counterpart to the very similar New World Snowy Egret.-Subspecies:Depending on authority, two or three subspecies of Little Egret are currently accepted....
  
  
• Pied Heron
  Pied Heron
  The Pied Heron , also known as the Pied Egret is a bird found in coastal and subcoastal areas of monsoonal northern Australia as well as some parts of Wallacea and New Guinea.-Taxonomy:...
  
  
• Plumed Whistling Duck
  Plumed Whistling Duck
  The Plumed Whistling Duck , also called the Grass Whistle Duck , is a whistling duck which breeds in New Guinea and Australia. It is a predominantly brown-coloured duck with a long neck and characteristic plumes arising from its flanks...
  
  
• Nankeen Night Heron
  Nankeen Night Heron
  The Nankeen Night Heron, Nycticorax caledonicus, also commonly referred to as the Rufous Night Heron, and in Melanesia as Melabaob, is a medium-sized heron. It is found throughout much of Australia except the arid inland, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Melanesia...
  
  
• Estuarine Crocodile
  Saltwater Crocodile
  The saltwater crocodile, also known as estuarine or Indo-Pacific crocodile, is the largest of all living reptiles...
  
  
• Freshwater Crocodile
  Freshwater Crocodile
  The freshwater crocodile , also known as the Australian freshwater crocodile, Johnston's crocodile or colloquially as freshie, is a species of reptile endemic to the northern regions of Australia...
  
  
• Motorbike Frog
  Motorbike Frog
  Litoria moorei is a frog well known in Southwest Australia, its notoriety deriving from the call suggestive of a common name, the Motorbike Frog. It is a ground dwelling tree frog of the Hylidae family, one of only three species of Hylids occurring in that region...
  
  
• Splendid Tree Frog
• Western Swamp Tortoise
  Western Swamp Tortoise
  The western swamp tortoise , also known as the western swamp turtle, is a short-necked freshwater tortoise that monotypically represents the sub-family Pseudemydurinae.-Description:...
  
  

Penguin Plunge

• Bridled Tern
  Bridled Tern
  The Bridled Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans.-Description:...
  
  
• Little Penguin
  Little Penguin
  The Little Penguin is the smallest species of penguin. The penguin, which usually grows to an average of in height and in length , is found on the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand, with possible records from Chile.Apart from Little Penguins, they have several common names...
  
  

Main Lake

• Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur
  Black-and-white ruffed lemur
  The black-and-white ruffed lemur is the more endangered of the two species of ruffed lemurs, both of which are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Despite having a larger range than the red ruffed lemur, it has a much smaller population that is spread out, living in lower population densities...
  
  
• Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo
  Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo
  Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo , also called the Ornate Tree Kangaroo, belongs to the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos, wallabies and their relatives, and the genus Dendrolagus, with eleven other species. The species is native to the rainforests of New Guinea, and the border of central...
  
  
• Southern Cassowary
  Southern Cassowary
  The Southern Cassowary, Casuarius casuarius, also known as Double-wattled Cassowary, Australian Cassowary or Two-wattled Cassowary, is a large flightless black bird...
  
  
• Javan gibbon

Nocturnal House

• Bilby
  Bilby
  Bilbies are desert-dwelling marsupial omnivores; they are members of the order Peramelemorphia. Before European colonisation of Australia, there were two species. One became extinct in the 1950s; the other survives but remains endangered....
  
  
• Cane Toad
  Cane Toad
  The Cane Toad , also known as the Giant Neotropical Toad or Marine Toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad which is native to Central and South America, but has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania and the Caribbean...
  
  
• Chuditch
• Dibbler
  Dibbler
  Dibbler is the common name for Parantechinus apicalis, an endangered species of marsupial. It is an inhabitant of the southwest mainland of Western Australia and some offshore islands. It is a member of the Dasyuromorphia order, and the only member of the genus, Parantechinus...
  
  
• Ghost Bat
  Ghost Bat
  The Ghost Bat , also known as the False Vampire Bat is a bat endemic to Australia, named for the extremely thin membrane of its wings that makes it appear ghostly at night. Ghost Bats have grey fur on their backs and pale grey or white fur on their undersides. They have long, narrow wings but no...
  
  
• Green Tree Frog
  Green tree frog
  Green tree frog is a common name for several different tree frog species:*American green tree frog *Australian Green Tree Frog...
  
  
• Northern Quoll
  Northern Quoll
  The Northern Quoll , also known as the Northern Native Cat, the Satanellus, the North Australian Native Cat or the Njanmak , is a carnivorous marsupial mammal, native to Australia.- Taxonomy :The Northern Quoll is a member of the family Dasyuridae, and is often stated to be the most distinctive...
  
  
• Slow Loris
  Slow loris
  Slow lorises are a group of five species of strepsirrhine primates which make up the genus Nycticebus. Found in South and Southeast Asia, they range from Northeast India in the west to the Philippines in the east, and from the Yunnan province in China in the north to the island of Java in the south...
  
  
• Spinifex Hopping Mouse
  Spinifex Hopping Mouse
  The Spinifex Hopping Mouse , also known as the Tarkawara or Tarrkawarra, occurs throughout the central and western Australian arid zones, occupying both spinifex-covered sand flats and stabilised sand dunes, and loamy mulga and melaleuca flats.The population fluctuates greatly: in normal years it...
  
  
• Squirrel Glider
  Squirrel Glider
  The Squirrel Glider is a nocturnal gliding possum, one of the wrist-winged gliders of the genus Petaurus.-Habitat:...
  
  
• Water Rat
  Water Rat
  Water Rat may refer to:AnimalsWater Rat is a common name for several unrelated semiaquatic rodents, including:*European Water Vole, found in north and central Europe and Russia*Rakali, found in Australia and New Guinea...
  
  
• Western Ringtail Possum
  Western Ringtail Possum
  The Western Ringtail Possum or Ngwayir is a possum found in Western Australia, regarded as a subspecies of Common Ringtail Possum, or as a separate species.-Description:...
  
  
• Southern Brown Bandicoot
  Southern Brown Bandicoot
  The Southern Brown Bandicoot , also known as the Quenda from the local Noongar tongue from South Western Australia, is a short-nosed bandicoot found mostly in southern Australia....
  
  
• Ringtail Possum
• Feathertail Glider
  Feathertail Glider
  The Feathertail Glider , also known as the Pygmy Gliding Possum, Pygmy Glider, Pygmy Phalanger, Flying Phalanger and Flying Mouse, is the world's smallest gliding possum and is named for its long feather-shaped tail. Although only the size of a very small mouse , it can leap and glide up to 25 metres...
  
  
• Brush-tailed Bettong

Reptile Encounter

• Black-headed Python
• Chameleon Dragon
  Chelosania
  Chelosania is a genus of Agamidae that contains a single species, Chelosania brunnea. These are commonly known as the Ring-tailed Dragon or the Australian Chameleon Dragon....
  
  
• Dugite
  Dugite
  Dugite is a common name for the highly venomous snake, Pseudonaja affinis, an Australian species which can inflict a fatal bite.-Description:...
  
  
• Fiji Crested Iguana
  Fiji Crested Iguana
  The Fiji crested iguana is a critically endangered species of iguana native to some of the northwestern islands of the Fijiian archipelago, where it is found in dry forest.-Taxonomy and etymology:...
  
  
• Frilled Dragon
  Frill-necked Lizard
  The frill-necked lizard , also known as the frilled lizard or frilled dragon, is found mainly in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. Its name comes from the large frill around its neck, which usually stays folded against the lizard's body. It is largely arboreal, spending the majority of...
  
  
• Olive Python
• Perentie
  Perentie
  The Perentie is the largest monitor lizard or goanna native to Australia, and fourth largest lizard on earth, after the Komodo Dragon, crocodile monitor and the water monitor...
  
  
• Pink-eared Turtle
  Turtle
  Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
  
  
• Pygmy Mulga Goanna
  Pygmy Mulga Goanna
  The Stripe-tailed Goanna is a species of Monitor Lizard native to Northwestern and Central Australia. They eat insects, lizards, small mammals and eggs.-Description:...
  
   (Monitor)
• Pygmy Python
  Antaresia perthensis
  Antaresia perthensis is a species of snake found in western Australia. Their common names, pygmy python and anthill python, refer to the fact that they are the smallest member of the Pythonidae family and are often found in termite mounds...
  
  
• Reticulated Python
  Reticulated Python
  Python reticulatus, also known as the reticulated python is a species of python found in Southeast Asia. Adults can grow to over 8.7 m in length but normally grow to an average of 3-6 m . They are the world's longest snakes and longest reptile, but are not the most heavily built...
  
  
• South-west Carpet Python
  Carpet python
  Morelia spilota is a large snake of the Pythonidae family found in Australia, Indonesia and New Guinea. There are 6 subspecies listed by ITIS, commonly referred to as Carpet and Diamond pythons.-Description:...
  
  
• Tiger Snake
• Merten's Water Monitor
• Western Blue-tongued Skink
• Northern Blue-tongued Skink
  Northern Blue-tongued Skink
  Northern Blue-tongued Skinks are the largest and heaviest of the Blue-tongued Lizards . They are native to Australia and found almost exclusively in the Northern Region...
  
  
• Spiny-tailed Lizard
• Woma

Lesser Primates

• Black-Capped Capuchin
  Tufted Capuchin
  The tufted capuchin , also known as brown capuchin or black-capped capuchin is a New World primate from South America...
  
  
• Bolivian Squirrel Monkey
• Common Marmoset
  Common Marmoset
  The common marmoset is a New World monkey. It originally lived on the Northeastern coast of Brazil, in the states of Piaui, Paraiba, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, Alagoas and Bahia...
  
  
• Cotton-top Tamarin
• Emperor Tamarin
  Emperor Tamarin
  The Emperor Tamarin is a tamarin allegedly named for its resemblance to the German emperor Wilhelm II. It lives in the southwest Amazon Basin, in east Peru, north Bolivia and in the west Brazilian states of Acre and Amazonas....
  
  
• Pygmy Marmoset
  Pygmy Marmoset
  The pygmy marmoset or dwarf monkey is a New World monkey native to the rainforest canopies of western Brazil, southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. It is one of the smallest primates, and the smallest true monkey, with its body length ranging from...
  
  
• Ring-tailed Lemur
  Ring-tailed Lemur
  The ring-tailed lemur is a large strepsirrhine primate and the most recognized lemur due to its long, black and white ringed tail. It belongs to Lemuridae, one of five lemur families. It is the only member of the Lemur genus. Like all lemurs it is endemic to the island of Madagascar...
  
  
• Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur
  Black-and-white ruffed lemur
  The black-and-white ruffed lemur is the more endangered of the two species of ruffed lemurs, both of which are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Despite having a larger range than the red ruffed lemur, it has a much smaller population that is spread out, living in lower population densities...
  
  

Galapagos tortoises

• Galapagos Tortoise
  Galápagos tortoise
  The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise is the largest living species of tortoise, reaching weights of over and lengths of over . With life spans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates...
  
  

South American Birds

• Amazon parrot
  Amazon parrot
  Amazon parrot is the common name for a parrot of the genus Amazona. These are medium-size parrots native to the New World ranging from South America to Mexico and the Caribbean....
  
  
• Blue-and-gold Macaw
• Green-cheeked Conure
• Nanday Conure
• Sun Conure
  Sun Conure
  The Sun Parakeet or Sun Conure is a medium-sized brightly colored parrot native to northeastern South America. The adult male and female...
  
  

Walk-In Aviary

• Blue-winged Kookaburra
  Blue-winged Kookaburra
  The Blue-winged Kookaburra, Dacelo leachii, is a large species of kingfisher native to northern Australia and southern New Guinea.Measuring around 40 cm , it is slightly smaller than the more familiar Laughing Kookaburra. It has cream-coloured upper- and underparts barred with brownish markings. It...
  
  
• Channel-billed Cuckoo
  Channel-billed Cuckoo
  The Channel-billed Cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family. It is monotypic within the genus Scythrops. The species is the largest brood parasite in the world, and the largest cuckoo....
  
  
• Eclectus Parrot
  Eclectus Parrot
  The Eclectus Parrot, Eclectus roratus, is a parrot native to the Solomon Islands, Sumba, New Guinea and nearby islands, northeastern Australia and the Maluku Islands...
  
  
• Emerald Dove
  Emerald Dove
  The Common Emerald Dove is a pigeon which is a widespread resident breeding bird in the tropical and sub-tropical parts of the Indian Subcontinent and east through Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, to northern and eastern Australia. The dove is also known by the names of Green Dove and...
  
  
• Green Pygmy Goose
  Green Pygmy Goose
  The Green Pygmy Goose is a small perching duck which breeds in southern New Guinea and northern Australia.First described in 1842 by the ornithologist John Gould, its specific name is derived from diminutive of the Latin adjective pulcher "pretty". It is one of three species in the Afro-Asian...
  
  
• Pheasant Coucal
  Pheasant Coucal
  The Pheasant Coucal is a species of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family.It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea....
  
  
• Pied Imperial Pigeon

Invertebrates in Nocturnal House

• Australian Tarantula
  Tarantula
  Tarantulas comprise a group of often hairy and often very large arachnids belonging to the family Theraphosidae, of which approximately 900 species have been identified. Some members of the same Suborder may also be called "tarantulas" in the common parlance. This article will restrict itself to...
  
  
• Millipede
  Millipede
  Millipedes are arthropods that have two pairs of legs per segment . Each segment that has two pairs of legs is a result of two single segments fused together as one...
  
  
• Redback spider
• Scorpion
  Scorpion
  Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...
  
  
• Sydney funnel-web spider
  Sydney funnel-web spider
  The Sydney funnel-web spider, Atrax robustus, is an Australian funnel-web spider usually found within a radius of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.-Description:...
  
  

Conservation

The zoo participates in a number of breeding programs for endangered species

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

, both indigenous Australian and non-native species. Programs include those of the Rothschild giraffe

Giraffe

The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...

 and white rhinoceros

White Rhinoceros

The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species...

 as well as Sumatran Tiger

Sumatran Tiger

The Sumatran tiger is a tiger subspecies that inhabits the Indonesian island of Sumatra and has been classified as critically endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population is projected at 176 to 271 mature individuals, with no subpopulation having an effective population size larger than 50...

s and Orangutan

Orangutan

Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...

s resulting in several births. Some Australian species are bred for release into managed habitat in Western Australia, whereas the international species are for increasing genetic diversification in zoo populations.

Exotic Species

Since 2006, Perth Zoo has made a significant contribution to conservation projects in the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park and the surrounding forested areas which support a rich diversity of life including a new colony of orangutans. These orangutans are part of an international program to reintroduce rescued ex-pet and orphaned Sumatran Orangutans into the wild to establish a new population of this critically endangered species. More than 139 orangutans have been released into the area and some have bred.

In November 2006, Perth Zoo released 14-year-old, Perth Zoo-born Sumatran Orangutan Temara into Bukit Tigapuluh as part of the reintroduction program. Temara was the first zoo-born orangutan in the world to be released into the wild. This was followed in 2011 with the release of the first male zoo-born orangutan, Semeru, into the wild. Perth Zoo works with the Frankfurt Zoological Society

Frankfurt Zoological Society

The Frankfurt Zoological Society is an independent, non-profit conservation organisation based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The society is funded through membership fees, donations, bequests, grants and earnings from its endowment fund.-History:...

, Indonesian Government and the Australian Orangutan Project on this program and other conservation activities in Bukit Tigapuluh.

Perth Zoo contributes to the conservation of threatened species in the wild through its fundraising program, Wildlife Conservation Action. Started in 2007, funds raised have been used for the conservation of Sumatran Orangutan, Sumatran Tiger, Sumatran Elephant, African Painted Dog, Sun Bears, Tree Kangaroos, Javan Gibbons and Australian native species. More than $881,000 has been raised since the program began.

Native Species

Working with the Department of Environment and Conservation, Perth Zoo breeds threatened Western Australian animal species for release into managed areas of habitat in the wild as part of its Native Species Breeding Program. As of 2011, Perth Zoo breeds Numbat

Numbat

The numbat , also known as the banded anteater, or walpurti, is a marsupial found in Western Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. Once widespread across southern Australia, the range is now restricted to several small colonies and it is listed as an endangered species...

s, Western Swamp Tortoise

Western Swamp Tortoise

The western swamp tortoise , also known as the western swamp turtle, is a short-necked freshwater tortoise that monotypically represents the sub-family Pseudemydurinae.-Description:...

s, Dibbler

Dibbler

Dibbler is the common name for Parantechinus apicalis, an endangered species of marsupial. It is an inhabitant of the southwest mainland of Western Australia and some offshore islands. It is a member of the Dasyuromorphia order, and the only member of the genus, Parantechinus...

s, Woylies and threatened WA frog species including the Sunset Frog, the White-bellied Frog and the Orange-bellied Frog.

The Numbat

Numbat

The numbat , also known as the banded anteater, or walpurti, is a marsupial found in Western Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. Once widespread across southern Australia, the range is now restricted to several small colonies and it is listed as an endangered species...

 (Myrmecobius fasciatus) Western Australia's mammal emblem and one of only two diurnal marsupials, the Numbat is the only Australian mammal to feed exclusively on termite

Termite

Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...

s. Despite the establishment of several populations by the Department of Environment and Conservation, it is still classified as Endangered by the IUCN. Perth Zoo has been breeding Numbats for release into the wild since 1986. The first successful birth was in 1993. By early 2011, 165 Numbats had been provided by the Zoo for release into protected habitat.

The Western Swamp Tortoise

Western Swamp Tortoise

The western swamp tortoise , also known as the western swamp turtle, is a short-necked freshwater tortoise that monotypically represents the sub-family Pseudemydurinae.-Description:...

 (Pseudemydura umbrina) is a short-necked freshwater tortoise

Tortoise

Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...

 and Australia's most Critically Endangered

Critically Endangered

Critically Endangered is the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN Red List for wild species. Critically Endangered means that a species' numbers have decreased, or will decrease, by 80% within three generations....

 reptile. The Western Swamp Tortoise has only been recorded at scattered localities in a narrow, three-to-five kilometre strip of the Swan Coastal Plain. Since 1988, Perth Zoo has bred more than 500 Western Swamp Tortoises. The main barrier to the further recovery of the species is the lack of suitable habitat.

The Dibbler

Dibbler

Dibbler is the common name for Parantechinus apicalis, an endangered species of marsupial. It is an inhabitant of the southwest mainland of Western Australia and some offshore islands. It is a member of the Dasyuromorphia order, and the only member of the genus, Parantechinus...

 (Paranthechinus apicalis) is a small carnivorous marsupial found on two islands off the coast of Jurien Bay

Jurien Bay, Western Australia

-Demographics:At the ABS 2006 census, Jurien Bay had a population of 1,175, which represented over one-third of the total population of the Shire of Dandaragan...

 (Island Dibblers) and on the south coast of Western Australia within the Fitzgerald River National Park

Fitzgerald River National Park

Fitzgerald River National Park is a national park in Western Australia , southeast of Perth, in the Shire of Ravensthorpe and the Shire of Jerramungup....

 (Mainland Dibblers). It once had a much wider distribution, but is now classified as Endangered by the IUCN. Perth-Zoo-bred Dibblers were used to establish a new population on Escape Island in Jurien Bay. The focus has now changed to breeding dibblers from Fitzgerald River National Park for release on the mainland. By early 2011, over 500 dibblers had been provided by the Zoo for release into protected habitat.

Previous breeding programs include:

The Chuditch (Dasyurus geoffroi) or Western Quoll

Western Quoll

The western quoll , also known as the chuditch or western native cat, is a medium sized predator and like its eastern and northern relatives, has a white-spotted brown coat and a long tail. It is most closely related to the eastern quoll from which it differs in possessing a first toe on the...

, is one of four quoll species in Australia and is the largest marsupial predator in Western Australia. At the time of European settlement, Chuditch occurred in approximately 70% of the continent. By the late 1980s, they had become Endangered, with less than 6,000 remaining in the south-west of Western Australia. Perth Zoo has bred more than 300 Chuditch for release in the last decade. Since the breeding program began, the status of Chuditch has been modified from Endangered to Vulnerable

Vulnerable species

On 30 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 9694 Vulnerable species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and sub-populations.-References:...

. This breeding program is now complete.

Shark Bay Mouse

Shark Bay Mouse

The Shark Bay Mouse, Djoongari or Alice Springs Mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Australia, restricted to four islands in the Shark Bay area. It was once found throughout the western two thirds of Australia but it suffered greatly after the arrival of...

 (Pseudomys fieldi) also known as Djoongari, prior to 1993 the only known population of Djoongari was on Bernier Island

Bernier Island

Bernier Island is one of three islands that comprise the Bernier and Dorre Island Nature Reserve in the Shark Bay World Heritage area in Western Australia.It was a hospital location in the early 1900s....

 in the north-west of Western Australia, adjacent to the Shark Bay

Shark Bay

Shark Bay is a World Heritage listed bay in Western Australia. The term may also refer to:* the locality of Shark Bay, now known as Denham* Shark Bay Marine Park* Shark Bay , a shark exhibit at Sea World, Gold Coast, Australia* Shire of Shark Bay...

 region and was considered to be one of Australia's most geographically restricted animals. Over 300 Perth-Zoo-bred Djoongari have been released to sites on the mainland and on islands in the north-west of Western Australia. This breeding program is now complete.

The Central Rock-rat (Zyzomys pedunculatus) Central Rock-rat is a critically endangered rodent

Rodent

Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....

 that was presumed extinct until it was rediscovered in the MacDonnell Ranges

MacDonnell Ranges

The MacDonnell Ranges of the Northern Territory, are a long series of mountain ranges located in the centre of Australia , and consist of parallel ridges running to the east and west of Alice Springs...

 Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

in 1996. The last of the Zoo's Central Rock Rats were sent to Alice Springs Desert Park in 2007 and the breeding program closed.