Giraffes are the tallest land animals, reaching up to 18 feet in males. These gentle giants are known for their long necks, unique golden-brown spot patterns, and prehensile tongues, which help them feed on treetop leaves. They can run surprisingly fast, reaching speeds of 56 km/h. Giraffes live in social herds and use their height to watch for predators. Each giraffe has its own distinct coat pattern, adding to their mysterious charm in the wild.
Giraffes are herbivores with a diet primarily consisting of leaves, fruits, flowers, and twigs. They are especially fond of acacia trees, using their long, prehensile tongues (up to 18 inches) to strip leaves from tall branches. Their tongues are adapted to grip and manipulate leaves, while their teeth and jaw muscles help them tear foliage. Giraffes also feed on a variety of other plants, depending on the availability of food in their habitat, including shrubs and grasses.
Giraffes are currently classified as Vulnerable. While not critically endangered, they face significant threats from habitat loss, poaching, and human-wildlife conflict. The reticulated giraffe subspecies is listed as Endangered, with populations declining due to these factors. Conservation efforts are underway to protect giraffe populations, including habitat restoration, anti-poaching measures, and raising awareness about their ecological importance.
Spider monkeys have long, slender limbs and a prehensile tail that acts like an extra hand, helping them swing through the trees with incredible agility. Their fur is typically dark, with lighter patches around their faces, and they have expressive, wide eyes. Their tails are hairless underneath, providing a secure grip as they move through the canopy. These monkeys are built for acrobatics, with their elongated arms and legs allowing them to leap from branch to branch with ease. Watching them swing and flip around the jungle, it’s clear they’re nature’s playful, gravity-defying acrobats!
Spider monkeys are primarily frugivorous, meaning their diet consists mainly of fruits, which make up the majority of their food intake. They are known to consume a wide variety of fruits, including berries, figs, and other tropical fruits, which are abundant in the rainforests where they live. In addition to fruit, their diet is supplemented with leaves, flowers, and nuts. They are also known to eat seeds and occasionally insects, although these make up a smaller portion of their diet.
Endangered primarily due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and poaching. As rainforests in Central America are cleared for agriculture, logging, and urban expansion, these monkeys lose the vast tree canopies they rely on for food and shelter. Habitat fragmentation makes it even harder for them to travel between forest patches, limiting access to resources and mates. Additionally, poaching for bushmeat and the illegal pet trade further threatens their population. With slow reproduction rates and increasing pressures from climate change, the species faces a precarious future. Conservation efforts focused on habitat protection and reducing human impact are critical to saving these acrobatic primates.
The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is a large, semi-aquatic reptile native to the southeastern United States. Adults typically range from 3 to 4.5 metres in length, with some males reaching up to 5.8 metres. They have dark, nearly black scales with rough, bumpy skin and a muscular, broad body. Their heads are broad and rounded with large, powerful jaws filled with sharp, conical teeth. The eyes and nostrils are positioned on top of the head, allowing them to see and breathe while the rest of the body is submerged.
Alligators are carnivorous and have a varied diet consisting mainly of fish, birds, and mammals, adapting to available prey in their wetland habitats. They commonly eat fish and wading birds but will also prey on mammals especially during drier seasons. Amphibians, like frogs and toads, are often eaten by juvenile alligators, along with smaller reptiles such as turtles and snakes. They also consume invertebrates like crayfish and snails, particularly as juveniles. Opportunistic in nature, alligators will eat almost anything they can catch, including carrion when available, making them highly adaptable predators in their ecosystem.
Plains Zebras migrate annually across Namibia and Botswana in search of better grazing pastures, forming Africa’s longest land migration of over 400kms. Zebra can reach speeds of 65kph. They can also deliver strong kicks and bite when threatened
Mid-sized and thick bodied, Zebras are recognisable by boldly striped black and white with a black or dark muzzle. All Zebras have individual markings with no two alike. Their necks are maned with short hair and their tail ends in a longhaired tuft
Southern Sudan and southern Ethiopia, east of the Nile River to southern Angola and northern Namibia and northern South Africa
Herbivore; Feeding selectively on particular grass species
Breeding occurs throughout the year although peak births occur during the wet season. The herd stallion has sole breeding access to the females
Zebras are a highly social species, living in complex social systems. Harems comprise a single stallion to several unrelated mares and their recent offspring. Bachelor groups also exist. Groups come together to form migrating herds of 10,000 or more for safety against predators.
The Domedary Camel has a single hump, which stores fat the Camel can break down when resources are scarce. Our camels certainly don’t have this problem, and when cisiting you’ll discovery they are VERY enthusiastic feeeders and may put their mouth around your hand if you’re offering food. For that reason we ask you to keep your hand flat when feeding camels.
Diet
Camels are herbivorous grazers that constantly eat foliage, dry grasses, and available desert vegetation (mostly thorny plants).
It takes 15 months, longer than a year for a femal Camel to be ready to give birth to a sinlge baby camel.
Camels were introduced to Australia much earlier than you may think – right back in 1840. Burke and Wills used Camels while exploring because of their ability to survive in dry, arid conditions for a long period of time.
Australia is lucky enough to have several species of brightly coloured Lorikeets. Named after their stunning technicoloured appearance, rainbow lorikeets are a beautiful sight in many Australian backyards, parks and gardens. In the early 1900s Rainbow lorikeet numbers were concerning, but after protections were put in place, their numbers have steadily built over the last 60 odd years. Larger birds, feral cats and the international parrot trade still pose a threat to these stunning birds, but their numbers are currently strong.
Hunter Valley Wildlife Park’s walk through Lorikeet Sanctuary is home to Rainbow Lorikeets, Scaly Breasted Lorikeets, and Red-Collared Lorikeets. Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park also boasts a selection of Lorikeets in their aviary.
C175: 25.30CM
SEXES: SIMILAR
HABITAT: Found in open forests and closed
DIET: Their diet consists of nectar, pollen, fruit, seeds and insects
BREEDING: Both sexes prepare the nest cavity and feed the young, but only the female incubates
the egg. The clutch size is between and s eggs, which are incubated for 25 days.
GENERAL INFORMATION: Although wide easterly
distribution, often locally common in southern Queensland.
SIZE: 23CM
SEXES: SIMILAR
HABITAT: Woodland, urban parks and gardens
DIET: Eucalyptus and Banksia flowers, not as adaptable to cultivated foods as the familiar Rainbow Lorikeet
BREEDING: May-February, nests are made in a tree hollow. 2-3 eggs laid and incubated for 29 days.
GENERAL INFORMATION: similar to the Raindow Lorikeet, replacing the former in the Northern Territory and Kimberely region.
SEXES: SIMILAR
Largest Australian Lorikeet, they are less tolerant of urbanisation than their cousins.
SIZE: 26 CM
HABITAT: Woodland, swamps, parks and gardens.
DIET: Range of native flower nectar and insect larvae
BREEDING: Aug-Dec, 1-3 eggs laid in a tree hollow and incubated for 23 days. Young fledge at 8-9 weeks.
Ring Tiled Lemurs ‘sun worship’ which means they face their tummies to the sun and stretch their arms out wide to warm themselves up.
Ring-tailed Lemurs live in groups of 5-25 animals with the females making up a well-ordered hierarchy that dominates over males. Female lemurs remain in the group whilst males join other groups, thus we have a group of males on the islands at Mogo.
Ring-Tailed Lemurs diet consists mainly of fruit, leaves, flowers, bark, sap and the occasional invertebrate. Due to the fact that the vegetation in forests inhabited by these lemurs is sparse and non-continuous, they are often found traveling on the ground.
Ring-tailed Lemurs live in groups of 5-25 animals with the females making up a well-ordered hierarchy that dominates over males.
Unfortunately Ring-Tailed Lemur populations are rapidly declining in the wild, with around 50% of their natural habitat having been destroyed in the past 35 years. This steep decline in numbers has left them classified as an “Endangered” species on the IUCN red list.
The forests that Ring-Tailed Lemurs prefer are quickly being converted to farmland, overgrazed by livestock, or harvested for charcoal production. Ring-tailed lemurs are also hunted for food in certain areas of their range and are frequently kept as pets.
Fortunately, they are found in several protected areas in southern Madagascar, but the level of protection varies widely in these areas offering only some populations refuge from hunting and habitat loss.
Our wildlife parks at Hunter and Mogo both home lions. These magnificent creatures are usually tawny or a sand colour, but can also be white due to a receive gene ‘leucism’.
Lions can run at about 55km/h but their prey average around 80km/h. To get around this they must get as close as possible to their dinner without being seen and then explode from hiding, relying on surprise and brute force. Female lions are the original ‘stalkers’.
Lions are strictly carnivorous, relying on a diet of Buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, roan, sable, springbok, gemsbok, kob, impala, Warthog, waterbuck, haribeest and other animals.
Female lions are the stable presence in the pride. They are responsible for cub rearing and most of the hunting, as well as contributing significantly to the defense of the pride.
Females are the active hunters possessing a balance of speed, power, stealth and endurance that the much larger males struggle to match. Males are primarily responsible for patrolling, marking and defending the pride range as well as mating, but it is the female members that keep the pride together and functioning, often surviving several pride takeovers by various coalitions of males.
Meerkats (Suricata suricatta) are small, lively mammals native to southern Africa. Known for their adorable habit of standing upright on their hind legs, they act as lookout scouts for their group. With their sharp eyes and social nature, they live in large families, hunting insects, digging for roots, and keeping an eye out for predators. Always curious and playful, meerkats are famous for their teamwork, taking turns to keep watch and even grooming each other in their tight-knit clans!
Meerkats are primarily insectivores, but their diet is quite varied. They primarily hunt insects, such as termites, beetles, and grasshoppers, which make up a large part of their diet. However, they are opportunistic eaters and will also feast on small vertebrates, including lizards, small birds, and rodents. Additionally, meerkats enjoy fruits, berries, and roots, particularly during times when insects are less abundant. They are also known to raid bird nests for eggs. Their diverse diet helps them adapt to the changing conditions of their desert and savanna habitats.
Binturongs, with their prehensile tails, dark fur, and mysterious demeanor, appear almost mythical, evoking a sense of enchantment and intrigue. Binturongs are usually gentle animals, provided they don’t feel threatened or harassed. If you get close enough to our Binturong ‘Boogle’, you may notice he smells a lot like buttered popcorn. His scent glands create this unusual smell and are something Binturongs are best known for.
Binturongs are solitary animals, usually only seeking out another Binturong for mating.
Binturongs are omnivorous and eat small mammals, birds, insects, as well as fruits.
If you’d like to learn more about these intriguing animals, Personal Binturong Encounters are available at Mogo Wildlife Park and Hunter Valley Wildlife Park.