THERE’S almost pin drop silence as everyone trains their eyes on a small opening amongst a dense clump of dried twigs and leaves. Several minutes pass and yet all present do not show any signs of yielding. The wait continues…
Then, without any warning, two extremely cute cat-like faces peer out from the darkness. “Silence please and no sudden movements,” an attending zookeeper immediately shoots out a barely audible reminder.
Knowing the significance of the moment, everyone in the group nods their heads. The first public presentation of the two newest members of Symbio Wildlife Park’s growing Nepalese red panda family is definitely history in the making.
These adorable cubs were born several months ago but the zookeepers had kept mum about the good news to give the newborns time to adjust and bond with their mother. While young red pandas in the wild remain in their nests under the watchful eyes of their mothers until they’re about 4 months old, the cubs here get additional attention from doting zookeepers who take on their maternal role very seriously.
Once the little pandas become used to our presence and start to play, the zookeeper gives us the much-awaited thumbs up signal to denote that we can finally take in the special moment at leisure.
PLAYFUL PANDAS
While watching the gentle cubs closely follow their mother on her rounds in search of an early lunch, we learn that red pandas typically grow to the size of a domesticated cat while in captivity. Interestingly, they always appear twice as large thanks to their long, bushy tails which prove useful when balancing on trees and keeping warm during cold winter nights.
Today, there are fewer than 10,000 red pandas living in the mountainous regions of Nepal, northern Myanmar and central China. They’ve become one of the world’s most endangered wildlife species because of habitat loss as a result of widespread human encroachment and massive deforestation.
Thanks to the careful breeding programmes at animal sanctuaries around the world, the red panda and all the other endangered species not only have a fighting chance to survive but also thrive in greater numbers.
The healthy cubs playing energetically in front of us are testament enough of the care and dedication provided by the zoo keeping team here in Symbio Wildlife Park. Apart from meticulously going through the delicate process of assist-feeding the cubs, devoted team members also help nurse the lactating mother and ensure that she’s constantly in the pink of health.
Symbio Wildlife Park is a family-owned-and-operated zoo located on the southern outskirts of Sydney in the suburb of Helensburgh. Conveniently positioned on the top of the Illawarra escarpment and nestled on 16 acres of well-manicured gardens, this popular family getaway is home to many Australian animal favourites as well as a large range of amazing exotic species, including cheetahs, ring-tailed lemurs and meerkats.
This pride of New South Wales started off as a small wildlife park back in 1975. Over the years, it has grown by leaps and bounds to become a multi-award winning and internationally recognised zoo that has made a name for itself by giving visitors the once-in-a-lifetime close encounter with their favourite animals.
MEERKAT TRIPLETS
Bidding farewell to the red pandas, we head over to the meerkat enclosure. I can’t help grinning when the attending zoo keeper points out that the three smaller members of the inquisitive group were triplets born on Aug 31, 2017, Malaysia’s Independence day!
Born to first-time parents Aya and Penfold, each one of them only weighed an average 25 grammes and measured just 8cm in length at birth. Today, the triplets are young adults who are discovering the wonders of the outside world by shadowing their parents’ every move.
Copying the movements of grownups, especially their mothers, plays an important part in the integration of young meerkats into the group’s social structure. Through these experiences, the little ones learn foraging techniques as well as skills essential to communal living.
Sounds of jovial laughter and squeals of delight at the meerkat enclosure exit draw my attention to a nearby group of children having a whale of a time hand playing with a large mob of kangaroos and wallabies under the watchful eye of their mothers. The cheery commotion gets even louder when a baby kangaroo suddenly wriggles out and begins hopping around, embarking on its first venture to discover the world outside, away from its mother.
The sight of the kangaroo walk-through area immediately brings to mind the fact that Symbio Wildlife Park is the only place closest to Sydney, where visitors can feed and pat two of Australia’s most iconic animals while they lounge on the lush green grass.
KANGAROO JOEY ADVENTURE
The eastern grey kangaroo found in abundance in Symbio Wildlife Park is the second largest and heaviest living marsupial and native land mammal in Australia. They’re usually more placid and smaller in stature than the red kangaroo. Both variants have large and powerful hind feet and a long muscular tail. The latter is used for balance when hopping and as a fifth limb when movements are slow.
In the wild, eastern grey kangaroos live on the open grassland and forested coastal areas of eastern Australia and Tasmania. Predominantly grazing animals, these herbivores eat a range of plants, including mushrooms. With grasses, they adore the young green protein-rich shoots most.
Breeding is continuous throughout the year and reaches a peak in summer. The newborn joey, which weighs less than one gramme and is about the size of a jellybean, is born 36 days after mating. It climbs unaided into the pouch and attaches itself to one of its mother’s four teats. After nine months, the young kangaroo would begin to leave the pouch but continue to suckle from time to time. It becomes independent from its mother at about 18 months of age.
The group is nowhere in sight by the time I make my way to the other parts of the park. I must have been really engrossed with the marsupials and didn’t realise that my group had already left. Shrugging off the trivial matter, I assure myself that things will work out fine with the map of the park in my hand and the strategically placed signages.
COMMITMENT TO CONSERVATION
During my walk to the koala sanctuary, I come across a sign that declares Symbio Wildlife Park’s long standing commitment to environmental sustainability and the conservation of ecological equilibrium. The words, “A sustainable future for generations of all species”, serve as a poignant reminder about the plight of endangered species which lose their habitats due to environmental destruction.
It’s a statement that should resonate at all levels of our society, highlighting the delicate balance between the environment, wildlife and humans as well as the critical role that Symbio Wildlife Park plays with regards to wildlife conservation, sustainability and education.
To this end, Symbio Wildlife Park has successfully implemented many strategies, including the reduction of electrical and water consumption as well as the diversion of nearly all organic matter from landfills despite experiencing a continuous year-on-year increase in visitorship.
Arriving just in time for the interactive koala presentation show, I see the place brimming with eager children and their equally excited parents. Fortunately, the din tones down significantly as soon as several zookeepers make their entrance with a trio of adorable koalas.
As the animals gingerly limber up a tree trunk, a presenter points out that koalas actually have three fingers and two thumbs which provide them with a stronger grip when climbing and reaching out for dense branches filled with delicious eucalyptus leaves. At the same time, the second and third fingers on the hind paws fuse to form a double claw which are useful for grooming and removing ticks.
Although there are over 600 different species of eucalyptus trees found in Australia, scientists discovered that koalas only prefer to eat about 10 per cent of the total number.
Consuming nearly a kilogramme of the low nutrient and mildly toxic leaves on a daily basis, the koala conserves energy by sleeping up to 22 hours each day.
Koalas have thick, woolly fur, which acts as a water-repelling raincoat and protects them from extremes of both high and low temperatures. In the wild, koalas can be found along mainland Australia’s eastern and southern regions, inhabiting New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.
FIRST EUROPEAN DISCOVERY
Much to the surprise of everyone present, the narrator claims that Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks failed to observe the koala during their HMB Endeavour expedition along the east coast of Australia and Botany Bay in 1770. The reason given was because koalas remain camouflaged by the leaves on the upper storey of trees during the day and only come down in the evenings to forage.
Cook, however, did have a hand in the European discovery of this unique mammal. While sailing up the coast on April 25 that same year, he recorded the sighting of a hill with a top which looked like a hat in the vicinity of modern-day Wollongong. That place, just 20 minutes south of Symbio Wildlife Park and known today as Hat Hill, became the site of the first scientific discovery of the koala in 1803.
As soon as the presentation ends, a slight scramble ensues as children make a beeline for the stage and vie with each other to be among the first to meet and have their selfies taken with the koalas during the highly popular Happy Snap encounter session.
It’s heartening to see their level of enthusiasm as this keen interest can easily be translated into an awareness towards the rapidly declining koala population in the wild over the years. Threatened by habitat loss, it’s believed that there are less than 80,000 koalas left today.
Just before leaving, I engage several volunteers in deep conversation regarding the ongoing koala breeding programmes. Pointing towards two fully grown koalas, they tell me that two zookeepers at Symbio Wildlife Park put their lives on hold for two months back in 2015 to play mother and hand-rear a pair of koala joeys.
HEARTWARMING TALE
Imogen and Harry were born earlier that year but Harry’s mother died of leukaemia when he was just 22 weeks old, depriving him of the vital pap, partly digested eucalyptus leaves regurgitated by mother koalas, needed to survive.
After a series of consultations with industry specialists, it was decided to hand-rear Imogen, who was a month older than Harry, and try to use her mother, Kelly, as a surrogate for Harry by tucking him into the lone parent’s pouch. The fostering experiment was a resounding success, with Kelly instantly taking over the role of nurturing mother and adopting Harry as her own.
Experienced and well-informed, the keepers here are able to give in-depth information about specific animals and provide interesting behind-the-scene facts on their behaviour as well as life history. This is especially crucial when it comes to shy creatures which are almost always hidden from plain sight in their enclosures.
Case in point is Leo, a very rare albino echidna which was recently adopted by the park when he was found alone in poor health and away from his mother. At such a tender age, Leo would have struggled to survive in the wild. Thanks to the motherly care provided by the staff members, Leo is now a big hit with visitors here.
Symbio Wildlife Park’s well thought out conservation and preservation efforts will go a long way in helping to create awareness among the general public towards the plight of threatened animal species. With concerted effort, perhaps a day will come when humans can really co-exist peacefully with other living things on this planet that we all call home.
Go to www.symbiozoo.com.au for details