Perth Zoo is a zoological park in South Perth, Western Australia. The zoo first opened in 1898, and by 2011 housed 1258 animals of 164 species Planning for the zoo had started in 1896 when the Acclimatisation Society first met, the original purpose of which was to introduce European animals to Australia and establish a zoo for conservation purposes. In 1897 this group invited the director of the Melbourne Zoo, Albert Le Souef, to choose a site. His son Ernest was chosen as the first director of the Perth Zoo, and work began in 1897.
From the start, Ernest Le Souef worked to create a botanical collection as well as an animal collection to preserve for the future. Work on the gardens started as soon as the site was chosen and finalised. Since the site was mostly sand and lacked nutrients and water, much 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 61 species including Canary Island date palms that are now over 110 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.
In 2010/11, the zoo had a paid staff of about 248 (167 full-time equivalents),
Additionally, the zoo has had several other noteworthy individual animals in both record longevity and significant contribution to global endangered species captive breeding programs. Puan, a female Sumatran orangutan born in 1956, was gifted to the zoo by Ismail of Johor in 1968 along with three other orangutans. She had 11 offspring, and at the time of her death in 2018 aged 62 (a world record for her species) had 54 living descendants in various zoos around the world and even some released into the wild. Northern white-cheeked gibbon Phillip lived at Perth Zoo from September 1974 to July 2023 and is the record holder of longevity for the males of his species, and had fathered many offspring who in turn have been significant members of the global captive breeding program for the critically endangered species.
Governance
The head managers of Perth Zoo have from its opening to the present been:
The Zoological Parks Authority has been known as:
Exhibits
Perth Zoo's largest three precincts are the African Savannah, the Asian Rainforest and the Australian Bushwalk, with other precincts including the Australian Wetlands, Nocturnal House, Penguin Plunge, Primate Trail, Reptile Encounter and the zoo's Main Lake. but may also be obtained from the Information Centre. 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.
Previous breeding programs
The chuditch(Dasyurus geoffroi) or western quoll, 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. This breeding program is now complete.
Shark Bay mouse(Pseudomys fieldi) also known as djoongari, prior to 1993 the only known population of djoongari was on Bernier Island in the north-west of Western Australia, adjacent to the 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) is a critically endangered rodent that was presumed extinct until it was rediscovered in the MacDonnell Ranges 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.