관광명소 Taronga Zoo - Sydney

[호주이민일기]

시드니 하버의 북쪽에 있는 동물원

약 30만m2 로 굉장히 넓다.

오리너구리, 코알라, 에뮤등 호주의 동물들이 많이 살고 있다

동물들에게 먹이주는 모습을 구경하거나 동물극장에서 바다표범의 고예도 즐긴다.

타롱가는 아보리진어로 아름다운 물의 풍경 이라는 의미

그 이름처럼 높은 곳에서 보는 시드니 만으리 풍경은 놀랄 정도로 아름답다

걸어서 돌아다니면 하루종일 걸리지만 로드트레인을 이용하면

효율적으로 돌아볼수 있다.

Taronga Zoo - Sydney

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From the oyster to the eagle, from the swine to the tiger, all animals are to be found in men and each of them exists in some man, sometimes several at the time. Animals are nothing but the portrayal of our virtues and vices made manifest to our eyes, the visible reflections of our souls. God displays them to us to give us food for thought. - Victor Hugo

A large chimp strolls purposefully over to the rock wall, knuckles dragging until he stands up straight, observes the wall and with an almighty THUD, pounds the metal door with a closed fist. He's hungry and wants his lunch NOW!

Feeding time at the zoo, always a crowd-pleaser invokes ooohhhs and ahhhs as the humans watch the natives get restless.

The chimp saunters off. For now, he'll have to wait. Back down through the trees and onto the rocks, he joins the rest of the family. It's almost as if we, the crowd have been invited into their living room on Boxing Day - there's Uncle John sitting up the back, casually observing the hyperactive kids who are either swinging from the suspended ropes, playing with branches or terrorising their weary parents.

Chimpanzees have a rather bizarre resting position where they lie on their side, one knee bent up and into their chest, with the opposite arm draped nonchalantly over their body scratching their backside. It's charming stuff and incites many a chortle from amused onlookers.

The Chimpanzee exhibit at Taronga Zoo is one of the many open-air enclosures that let you get up close and personal with the animals.

Situated at Mosman, one of Sydney's most salubrious suburbs, Taronga Zoo occupies over 33 hectares and is a must-see for any visitor to the Olympic City. The zoo is home to over 2000 specimens and 400 species.

Broad walkways wind round the various exhibits and down the tree-lined hill to the wharf on Sydney Harbour. Indeed the inhabitants at Taronga Zoo have some of the best views in Sydney.

The giraffes undoubtedly have prime position, with most photos of their sinewy necks and smiley faces capturing CentrePoint Tower, the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge in the background. It's a tough job, but these majestic creatures appear to be more concerned about munching their next carrot and sniffing their feeder's shorts - what is the thing about animals and rear ends?

Taronga is sectioned off according to the animal's country of origin. If you start at the top of the park and make your way down, you won't be left with the uphill walk at the end of the day.

At the top left corner of the park you'll find the Australian native animal exhibits. In one spacious walk-through enclosure, kangaroos, wallabies and emus laze under gum trees. Although very much in patting distance, and fantastic for close-up photos, the zoo recommends that hands and fingers be kept away from the sometimes-aggressive animals that make up Australia's Coat of Arms.

A wooden ramp spirals around yet more gum trees, providing eye-level views of Taronga's koala family. These quiet, furry marsupials spend much of the day curled round a limb, oblivious to the constant stream of people around them. At 10.30am and 1.30pm each day, you can have your photo taken with a koala - a very Aussie souvenir.

The popular African Safari Walk recreates for each animal type, its native environment. More oooohhs and ahhhhhs can be heard as city-dwellers come face-to-face with lions and tigers and bears and other animals with teeth or horns the size of kitchen knives.

The Sumatran tiger enclosure lets you view (from behind the glass, of course) this rare and beautiful beast at very close range. Apparently, no two tigers have the same striped pattern, and even the markings on one side of a tiger's body are different from the other side.

Three lion cubs with a cuteness factor of 110% held my interest for what seemed like hours. The way they rolled over each other and played like kittens. Kittens with paws the size of adult feet, that is!

Of the current starring attractions, the Snow Leopards are the most exotic. Though their casual slouch says they are relaxed, their piercing eyes and flicking tail suggest that they are highly alert and waiting to pounce!

Just opposite the snow leopards are the quirky meerkats. These furry, striped animals love to watch - to sit on their haunches with arms poised, looking from side to side. Their particular interest on Boxing Day was the fleet of helicopters circling above in preparation for the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Each time a helicopter flew over the meerkat pen, twenty little heads followed in a curious trance-like gaze.

The Australian Nightlife exhibit is equally fascinating and it's worth spending at least twenty minutes in there to get accustomed to the dark. Flying foxes, possums and a myriad of other nocturnal critters begin to appear about the same time as cries of "Muuummmmm, where are you?" get louder.

Throughout the day, there are various shows, keeper talks and animal feeds. The Free Flight Bird Show (1.00pm and 3.00pm, and training show at 11.30am) is a crowd favourite, starring among others, Marion the barn-owl, Arne the sulphur-crested cockatoo and Livingstone the macaw. You can never quite tell which direction the birds will come whizzing from, or in the case of the training show I saw, which direction they'll keep flying to. There are even a couple of trained rats, whose main objective is to run along the edge of the fence that surrounds the ampitheatre. We were told that the rats had been fast runners today - they, like us can have slow days too!

The Seal Show (1.00pm and training show 2.30pm) brings squeals of delight from the audience, and it's best to get there 15-20 minutes early to secure a seat (avoid the very front row seats unless you want to get soaked).

A 15-year-old New Zealand fur seal named Bill, demonstrated several tricks before going AWOL for the afternoon. It was seal breeding season, and this is when male seals bulk up on food. Taronga uses food as part of its positive reinforcement in training, so, as the keeper explained, when Bill wasn't hungry, he wasn't motivated to perform. Campbell, a younger seal slid onstage to the cheers of the crowd and saved the day.

At Taronga, it's common to see peacocks perched on railings, seagulls dive-bombing for chips and turkeys scurrying through the bushes. It's also very easy to pull up a patch of lawn and have a picnic lunch, as many families did on Boxing Day.

Taronga Zoo is well equipped for strollers and wheel chairs and has an ample supply of food outlets. There's even a stage for jazz concerts and symphonies during the summer months.

My last stop was another pass by the chimpanzee enclosure, just in time for the long-awaited feeding session. The chimps had been locked up long enough to let the keeper scatter fresh leaves and celery around the ground. Once she was safely out of site, the chimps were let loose in a ceremony not dissimilar to the running of the bulls. Each chimp knew exactly where the goodies were and galloped to their favourite position, "whooo-hooo-hooo-ing" all the way.

The big chimp grabbed a couple of whole lettuces and placed them next to his hairy side for safekeeping. The babies each grabbed a leafy branch and scampered up one of the high poles. Mum made do with a couple of carrots while Uncle John resumed his very human-like pose, staring at us, as if to say, "We're just having dinner. Would you mind coming back later?"

It was time to go, and I nodded to Uncle John as he regarded me through those dark, glassy eyes, his big rubbery lips pursed. As I left, I could have sworn he nodded back! Ahhh...the magic of animals.

Taronga Zoo - FAST FACTS
Where:	Bradley's Head Road, Mosman
Phone:	61 2 9969 2777
Web:	www.taronga.org.au
Public Transport:	Ferry from Circular Quay or Bus from Neutral Bay Junction

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타롱가 주 ㅋ 가 본 적이 있네요^^