Madison's Day at the Taronga Zoo

Blog post written by Madison Koo (she/her) age 16 from New York. Edited by Brianna Luedke.

Whoa…what a day! I can't believe all the amazing animals I saw at the Taronga Zoo: tigers and lions and bears, oh my! We started the day by catching the ferry at Wharf 4, we were running a bit behind but, don’t worry guys, we made it! And off we went, to what I would call, the best zoo in the world. Once we arrived at the zoo, we were greeted by elephant reproduction specialist, Cameron. He is by far, the best tour guide I have ever come across. The lessons and activities were so engaging, and I didn’t feel bored at all. The CIEE troop learned a lot about the diversity and endemism of animals in the USA (my homeland) and Australia. From this, we found out that the USA surpasses Australia in the diversity of mammals and amphibians while Australian species surpass the US in the diversity spectrum of birds, reptiles, fishes, and invertebrates. Did you know that Australia is home to 275,000 species of invertebrates? That’s nuts! We also learned that Australia hosts more endemic mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, and invertebrate species than all of the USA. 

After an informative lesson at the Zoo’s Science building, the troop and I explored the zoo’s animal exhibits. We started off with the iconic red kangaroo. Another cool animal we witnessed was the tree kangaroo, which we learned has larger feet than the red kangaroo. Moving onto the aviation breeds, we traveled to the bird sanctuary. This is where we learned about the most important avian pollinator of flowers, the honeyeater. Cameron explained how a honeyeater species can be found in every Australian habitat and many of these birds defend their territory. Not only did we learn about the honeyeater, but we also saw one! These birds are quite shy, so it must have come out just for us. LOL. Along with the regent honeyeater, I saw the superb parrot, the brush bronzewing, and the regent bowerbird. 

And as much as I love birds, I had to check out the other animals as well. And good thing I did. I was able to see so many cool animals and even boarded a flight to Indonesia! Some of the animals I saw were echidnas, camels, a sun bear, tigers, monkeys, capybaras, koalas, Tasmanian devils, quokkas, dingos, and emus. Not going to lie, my favorite animal to see was the seals. A few friends and I were even able to catch the 14:00 seal show. It was mind boggling! We viewed the seals as they performed handstands, jumps in the air, and flips out of the water. It was truly a sight to be seen. From the animal drawing contests to the lively hopping of the red kangaroo, I was blown away by the sheer awesomeness of the Taronga Zoo. If there is one thing I'm sure of, it's that I never wanted to leave this amazing zoo in sydney. One day at this zoo was most certainly not enough to explore the exhibits in its entirety, so I hope I can visit again soon!