Auckland Zoo unveils new primate habitat, part of South East Asia Jungle Track

Wednesday, 1 July 2020

Auckland Zoo's new primate enclosure is ready for opening

A new home for primates at Auckland Zoo will give visitors an experience like no other.

On Wednesday, the zoo opened the first phase of its $60 million South East Asia Jungle Track – a project it has dubbed its 'most ambitious' in its 97-year history.

Funded by Auckland Council's long-term plan, the high canopy habitat will allow the zoo's three orangutans and two siamangs to climb 25-metre-high aerial pathways and move as they would in the wild.

Primate team leader Amy Robbins said the project has been spoken of since the beginning of her 20 years working at the zoo.

The high canopy habitat is the first phase of the zoo's South East Asia Track to open.

Auckland Zoo primate team leader Amy Robbins.

* Auckland Zoo's biggest renovation yet, which comes with a $58m price tag

* Orangutans settle in at Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park

The new habitat was meant to open to the public on April 2, but was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

* Auckland Zoo moves three Orangutans to Christchurch

The overall build of the high canopy area took about two years.

'South East Asia is an area particularly close to our heart but also, geographically it's really close to New Zealand,' Robbins said.

The habitat has spaces for the animals to explore or relax.

'We also house a lot of species that represent biodiversity within South East Asia. We have held orangutans for a long time, and we'd always known we needed to upgrade their environment, and we wanted to do it well.'

Auckland Zoo head of facilities Monica Lake described the new habitat as 'a whole interaction rather than simply a one-dimensional experience'.

The new primate habitat allows the animals to be up high in the trees and ropes.

She said it would put New Zealand on the map in terms of the best orangutan and siamang habitats in zoos.

It was a different experience for Auckland Zoo, where visitors weren't just watching the animals through glass.

'You can feel the wind, you can sometimes smell the orangutans or the siamangs, you can hear them calling, you can see their hands, you can see them choosing sunny spaces.

“We believe that the animals who live here have at least as good, if not better, life than their counterparts that live in the wild and that’s a really important part of our work here at the zoo.”

The habitat was meant to have opened to the public on April 2, but Covid-19 delayed it, Lake said.

In a way, it had been a 'gift' to the project as it had allowed the animals to settle into the area properly and had allowed staff to solely focus their time on the animals.

Because of the pandemic, the completion of the rest of the project would be delayed and Lake said the team was discussing timelines now.

It would be completed in the 'near future' but no end dates had been set.

Although there would be extra costs now that the project timeline had to be extended, Lake said it was still within budget.

The rest of the jungle track, which would span one-fifth of the zoo when finished, will have a lake and wetlands as well as a lowlands habitat for Sumatran tigers and Asian small-clawed otters.

It would feature open-air bridges for the tigers to walk on.

A swamp forest will also be created to house Asian crocodiles and other reptiles and fish.