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Symbio Zoo (helensburgh, Sydney)


tdierikx
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I was told I had free entry today - they wouldn't take my money... *grin*

I got lots of nice photos - including a joey peeking out of it's mother's pouch... yeehaaa! Just sorting through them now to select the nicest ones to upload to my Flickr - be back a bit later to post some here, OK?

T.

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OK - photos are up on my Flickr... http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdierikx/

Here's a taste...

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14-09-2013-symbio 175 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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14-09-2013-symbio 202 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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14-09-2013-symbio 473 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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14-09-2013-symbio 689 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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14-09-2013-symbio 1067 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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14-09-2013-symbio 1122 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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14-09-2013-symbio 1205 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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14-09-2013-symbio 1523 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Enjoy!

T.

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Yesterday I and a friend went to Symbio again...

Photos here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdierikx/

The Cotton Top Tamarin babies are now about 3 weeks old, and are starting to get bigger and more active... too cute for boots!

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21-09-2013-symbio 114 by tdierikx, on Flickr

The Tigers never disappoint - check out their reaction to their dinner being secured up a pole...

Cinta...

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21-09-2013-symbio 419 by tdierikx, on Flickr

... and then Jalur decides he'll have that thanks...

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21-09-2013-symbio 440 by tdierikx, on Flickr

... and this little guy decided to say hello on one of the paths...

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21-09-2013-symbio 1120 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Oh - and you know Aleksandr from the Compare The Meerkat ads?

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21-09-2013-symbio 022 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Enjoy!

T.

Edited by tdierikx
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I got the coolest email last night... from John Radnidge, the owner of Symbio...

He's just come back from leave, and has looked at the photos I've dropped off on my visits to Symbio... and he likes!

He's offered to get me even closer to some of the animals for some photo opportunities... SQUEEAALLL!!! I'm still grinning like a loon this morning...

Symbio is expanding too. In the next 9 months they are going to be building their lion, cheetah, and lemur enclosures. The new reptile house is nearly finished, as is the koala breeding sanctuary. Their tiger exhibit only opened earlier this year, and has already won awards for it's setup...

Seriously - if you are in Sydney, you really need to visit Symbio... you won't be disappointed... it's a really lovely place completely free of the argy bargy and rude crowds of the bigger and more famous zoos around.

T.

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I got the coolest email last night... from John Radnidge, the owner of Symbio...

He's just come back from leave, and has looked at the photos I've dropped off on my visits to Symbio... and he likes!

He's offered to get me even closer to some of the animals for some photo opportunities... SQUEEAALLL!!! I'm still grinning like a loon this morning...

Symbio is expanding too. In the next 9 months they are going to be building their lion, cheetah, and lemur enclosures. The new reptile house is nearly finished, as is the koala breeding sanctuary. Their tiger exhibit only opened earlier this year, and has already won awards for it's setup...

Seriously - if you are in Sydney, you really need to visit Symbio... you won't be disappointed... it's a really lovely place completely free of the argy bargy and rude crowds of the bigger and more famous zoos around.

T.

Great opportunity! Very jealous!

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I'm still grinning like a loon...

Will wait until after the school holidays before looking for favours like getting close to the animals though... I think they will be pretty busy for the next 2 weeks and will need all hands on deck supervising rampaging children... the last thing they need is to be babysitting a person who wants to take photos as well.

I'm thinking of asking my boss for a week off sometime after the school holidays anyways - that may be a better time to get up close to the animals with the minimum amount of bother for the staff.

T.

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Latest pics are up... taken today...

Cinta and Jalur decided to have a spat... tiger fight caught on camera... woot!

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28-09-2013-symbio 416 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Woody the Tasmianian Devil was particularly obliging...

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28-09-2013-symbio 908 by tdierikx, on Flickr

... and can you get ANY cuter than this?

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28-09-2013-symbio 868 by tdierikx, on Flickr

This little family decided to have a walk through the kangaroo section...

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28-09-2013-symbio 717 by tdierikx, on Flickr

This little guy had a tick on his eye... the keepers saw to it as soon as we informed them... and he happily munched lucerne from our hands...

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28-09-2013-symbio 137 by tdierikx, on Flickr

If you look closely in the emu's eye you can see me and a friend taking his/her photo...

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28-09-2013-symbio 131 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Damn I love Symbio!!!

T.

Edited by tdierikx
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I'm seriously excited at the chance to get up closer to the Symbio exotics... they are seriously amazing animals, and Symbio is run by people who genuinely care about their health and wellbeing.

The enthusiasm the staff there show when going about their daily tasks is contagious... everyone thoroughly love their jobs and love the animals in their care like they are their own. I reckon they have the best jobs in the world.

It was seriously cool to see tigers playing zoomies and just acting like big loony cats on Saturday. I'm hoping that I might be able to help make some enrichment toys for the animals down the track and then watch (and photograph) them playing with them... how cool would that be? Gotta learn about the various behaviours of each animal, and then see what ideas I can come up with that they may not have used before (or often). We get lots of large cardboard boxes at work - I may just have to collect a few to use for enrichment ideas... and we get some smaller ones I could get for the smaller animals like the monkeys and the meerkats.

I watched one of the keepers hand feeding the Meerkats some mealworms as a treat on Saturday... there's another thing I'd love to do... *grin*

I'd also love to catch some pics of the Crocodiles getting their tucker too...

T.

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Todays' pics are up...

A sample...

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05-10-2013-symbio 001 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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05-10-2013-symbio 045 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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05-10-2013-symbio 150 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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05-10-2013-symbio 278 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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05-10-2013-symbio 395 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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05-10-2013-symbio 425 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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05-10-2013-symbio 468 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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05-10-2013-symbio 533 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Enjoy!

T.

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That's Jalur. He is 5 years old, and came from New Zealand with his sister Cinta.

Cinta has been a bit of a princess of late, preferring to stay in the night dens/yards instead of coming out to play... so Jalur gets 2 lunches when she doesn't feel like coming out after the keepers have laid out lunch... he's no silly billy!

T.

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Went to Symbio again today... and I met a new little arrival...

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07-10-2013-symbio 004 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Kato decided that sleeping like this was the go this morning...

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07-10-2013-symbio 052 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Jalur was first out for lunch...

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07-10-2013-symbio 053 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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07-10-2013-symbio 074 by tdierikx, on Flickr

... and then Cinta decided she'd come out too...

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07-10-2013-symbio 084 by tdierikx, on Flickr

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07-10-2013-symbio 124 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Common Marmosets are deadly cute... but check out the teeth!

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07-10-2013-symbio 327 by tdierikx, on Flickr

This little one decided to check us out...

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07-10-2013-symbio 544 by tdierikx, on Flickr

... and Woody is a right corker, isn't he?

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07-10-2013-symbio 584 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Plenty more at... http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdierikx/sets

Enjoy!

T.

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No tiger pics on Saturday - Kato was out in the morning and refused to come back inside so that Cinta and Jalur could come out and play... Jalur was not happy and made it known by roaring a few times during the afternoon. Naughty Kato! Even a huge leg of venison wouldn't tempt the old bugger to come in - he just looked, then rolled over on his back and went back to sleep. Someone may be too well fed methinks... lol!

No biggie - there are plenty of other cool animals at Symbio to get nice pics of - and I got to pat a few Koalas as well... *grin*

Pics can be found here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdierikx/sets/ in the Symbio Zoo 12th October 2013 set.

Here's a taste...

Millie having a drink...

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12-10-2013-symbio 021 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Joeys are getting bigger!

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12-10-2013-symbio 039 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Kelly doing what Kelly does best - chillaxing...

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12-10-2013-symbio 174 by tdierikx, on Flickr

I think this is Lone Wolf...

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12-10-2013-symbio 184 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Ani leading the Kangaroos off to the iso area after one of them was injured...

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12-10-2013-symbio 231 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Ash watching Izzy approach him (it's mating season)...

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12-10-2013-symbio 298 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Young love - Izzy on the left, Ash on the right...

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12-10-2013-symbio 301 by tdierikx, on Flickr

Enjoy.

T.

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I took some large cardboard boxes and 2 clam shell pools to Symbio today for the tigers... and they used one of the clam shells to hide lunch in for the tigers... Cinta was the one to get the treat... yay for Cinta! Cinta is usually a scaredy cat when it comes to new things - but she ran straight to the clam shell and checked it out today. Took her 2 attempts to find the food hidden under the scratch, but it was obviously worth it... lol!

Jalur was slower on the uptake today, so Cinta got both of their lunches... lol! It's usually Mr Piggie who gets all the lunch...

Photos coming later...

T.

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