Wild Life Sydney Zoo (formerly Sydney Wildlife World) is a

wildlife park A safari park, sometimes known as a wildlife park, is a zoo-like commercial drive-in tourist attraction where visitors can drive their own vehicles or ride in vehicles provided by the facility to observe freely roaming animals. A safari park ...

in the

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour and neighborhood adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central busines ...

precinct, on the western edge of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or ...

, Australia. Opened in September 2006, the zoo is located adjacent to a leisure and retail precinct that includes the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium and Madame Tussauds Sydney.

History

In May 2006, Sydney Aquarium announced plans to expand the existing aquarium site, in order to incorporate a wildlife park. Following this announcement, and after the acquisition of the tourist attractions at

Sydney Tower Sydney Tower, also known as Westfield Tower and formerly as Centrepoint Tower, is an observation and telecommunications tower that is the tallest structure in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, as well as the second-tallest observation tower ...

and of Manly Oceanarium, Sydney Aquarium changed its name to Sydney Attractions Group.

Village Roadshow Village Roadshow is an Australian company which operates cinemas and theme parks, and produces and distributes films. Before being acquired by private equity company BGH Capital, the company was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange a ...

purchased Sydney Attractions Group in late 2007. UK attractions group

Merlin Entertainments Merlin Entertainments Limited is a global entertainment company based in London, England, which operates a number of theme park resorts and other visitor attractions. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until November 2019, when it was ...

bought Sydney Wildlife World as part of its acquisition of Village Roadshow assets in March 2011. The park changed its name to Wild Life Sydney and re-opened on 13 September 2011. The attraction was named the best family-focused tourism at ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

s 2007 Travel and Tourism Awards.e-Travel Blackboard: Australia's Number One Industry Newsletter
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Design

Construction began in November 2004 on the site, and was completed in August 2006. Wild Life Sydney is unusual for a zoo or wildlife park in that the public areas are almost entirely enclosed and air-conditioned. The A$52 million development features a walkway which snakes through of enclosures. The upper level exhibits are open-air, enclosed only by a large stainless steel mesh roof structure supported by curved beams, which were designed to look like the ribs of the rainbow serpent of Aboriginal myth when viewed from above. This open-air feature has enabled the exhibits to be landscaped naturally with live plants, including full-sized trees. The largest exhibit is the semi-arid habitat of kangaroo walkabout, featuring of red sand trucked in from central Australia and full-sized bottle trees. This habitat houses Kangaroo Island kangaroos,

echidna Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the Family (biology), family Tachyglossidae , living in Australia and New Guinea. The four Extant taxon, extant species of echidnas ...

s, a

quokka The quokka (; ''Setonix brachyurus'') is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat. It is the only member of the genus ''Setonix''. Like other marsupials in the macropod family (such as kangaroos and wallabies), the quokka is herbiv ...

and

koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...

Exhibits

Wild Life Sydney Zoo is divided into ten zones, containing the following exhibits: Tricky Tongues and Treehouse *

Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo (''Dendrolagus goodfellowi''), also called the ornate tree-kangaroo, is an endangered, long-tailed mammal native to rainforests of New Guinea. Like most tree-kangaroos (genus '' Dendrolagus''), it lives in the treetops ...

Short-beaked echidna The short-beaked echidna (''Tachyglossus aculeatus''), also called the short-nosed echidna, is one of four living species of echidna, and the only member of the genus ''Tachyglossus'', from Ancient Greek (), meaning "fast", and (), meaning ...

Devil's Den *

Tasmanian devil The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii''; palawa kani: ''purinina'') is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It was formerly present across mainland Australia, but became extinct there around 3,500 years ago; it is now con ...

Outback Shack * Eastern brown snake * Northern death adder *

Red-bellied black snake The red-bellied black snake (''Pseudechis porphyriacus'') is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae, indigenous to Australia. Originally described by George Shaw in 1794 as a species new to science, it is one of eastern Australia ...

Tiger snake The tiger snake (''Notechis scutatus'') is a large and highly venomous snake of southern Australia, including its coastal islands and Tasmania. These snakes are often observed and locally well known by their banding, black and yellow like a ti ...

Wallaby Cliffs * Bare-nosed wombat * Chestnut-eared finch *

Red-browed finch The red-browed finch (''Neochmia temporalis'') is an estrildid finch that inhabits the east coast of Australia. This species has also been introduced to French Polynesia. It is commonly found in temperate forest and dry savannah habitats. It may ...

* Spencer's goanna * Yellow-footed rock wallaby Daintree Rainforest *

Australian green tree frog The Australian green tree frog (''Ranoidea caerulea''/''Litoria caerulea''), also known as simply green tree frog in Australia, White's tree frog, or dumpy tree frog, is a species of tree frog native to Australia and New Guinea, with Introduc ...

* Australian king parrot * Boyd's forest dragon * Brown cuckoo-dove *

Emerald dove The emerald dove or common emerald dove (''Chalcophaps indica''), also called Asian emerald dove and grey-capped emerald dove, is a widespread resident breeding Columbidae, pigeon native to the tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian Subcon ...

* Frill-neck lizard *

Green and golden bell frog The green and golden bell frog (''Ranoidea aurea''), also named the green bell frog, green and golden swamp frog and green frog, is a species of ground-dwelling tree frog native to eastern Australia. Despite its classification and climbing abi ...

* Magnificent tree frog *

Plumed whistling duck The plumed whistling duck (''Dendrocygna eytoni''), also called the grass whistling duck, is a whistling duck that breeds in Australia. It is a predominantly brown-coloured duck with a long neck and characteristic plumes arising from its flanks. ...

* Red-legged pademelon *

Satin bowerbird The satin bowerbird (''Ptilonorhynchus violaceus'') is a species of passerine bird in the bowerbird family Ptilonorhynchidae that is endemic to eastern Australia. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Ptilonorhynchus''. Taxonomy The sati ...

Southern cassowary The southern cassowary (''Casuarius casuarius''), also known as double-wattled cassowary, Australian cassowary, or two-wattled cassowary, is a large Flightless bird, flightless black bird, found in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and northeastern ...

* Topknot pigeon * Wonga pigeon Kangaroo Walkabout * Australian king parrot *

Budgerigar The budgerigar ( ; ''Melopsittacus undulatus''), also known as the common parakeet, shell parakeet or budgie ( ), is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot native to Australia. Naturally the species is green and yellow with black, scallop ...

Chestnut-breasted mannikin The chestnut-breasted mannikin (''Lonchura castaneothorax''), also known as the chestnut-breasted munia or bully bird (in Australia), is a small brown-backed munia with a black face and greyish crown and nape. It has a broad ferruginous breast ba ...

* Chestnut-eared finch *

Cockatiel The cockatiel (; ''Nymphicus hollandicus''), also known as the weero/weiro or quarrion, is a medium-sized parrot that is a member of its own branch of the cockatoo family endemic to Australia. They are prized as exotic household pets and compa ...

* Kangaroo Island kangaroo *

Galah The galah (; ''Eolophus roseicapilla''), less commonly known as the pink and grey cockatoo or rose-breasted cockatoo, is an Australian species of cockatoo and the only member of the genus ''Eolophus''. The galah is adapted to a wide variety of m ...

Gouldian finch The Gouldian finch (''Chloebia gouldiae''), also known as the Gould's finch or the rainbow finch, is a colourful passerine bird that is native to Australia. Taxonomy The Gouldian finch was described by British ornithologist John Gould in 1844 ...

Princess parrot The colourful princess parrot (''Polytelis alexandrae'') is an Australian bird of the parrot family. Its name was given in honour of Princess Alexandra of Denmark, who in 1863 married the Prince of Wales Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Edward V ...

Spinifex pigeon The spinifex pigeon (''Geophaps plumifera''), also known as the plumed-pigeon or gannaway pigeon, is one of three endemic Australian bird species within the genus ''Geophaps''. It occurs within a broader group known as bronzewing pigeons. This s ...

* White-browed woodswallow * White-headed pigeon * Wonga pigeon Crocodile Billabong * Banded rainbowfish *

Central bearded dragon The central bearded dragon (''Pogona vitticeps''), also known as the inland bearded dragon, is a species of Agamidae, agamid lizard found in a wide range of arid to semiarid regions of eastern and central Australia. Taxonomy ''Pogona vitticeps' ...

* Central netted dragon * Crimson-spotted rainbowfish * Dwarf bearded dragon *

Freshwater crocodile The freshwater crocodile (''Crocodylus johnstoni)'', also known Common name, commonly as the Australian freshwater crocodile, Johnstone's crocodile, and the freshie, is a species of crocodile native to the northern regions of Australia. Unlike ...

* Frill-neck lizard *

Olive python The olive python (''Liasis olivaceus'')
a

Pig-nosed turtle The pig-nosed turtle (''Carettochelys insculpta''), also known as the Fly River turtle, the pitted-shelled turtle, and the Warrajan is a species of turtle which is native to northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It is the only living mem ...

* Red-collared lorikeet * Seven-spot archerfish * Shingleback lizard Platypus Pool *

Platypus The platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus''), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypi ...

Night Fall * Bilby *

Black-headed python The black-headed python (''Aspidites melanocephalus'') Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . is a species of snake in the family Pythonidae (the python family). The species is endemi ...

* Centralian knob-tailed gecko *

Eastern quoll The eastern quoll (''Dasyurus viverrinus'', formerly known as the eastern native cat) is a medium-sized carnivorous marsupial (dasyurid), and one of six extant species of quolls. Endemic to Australia, they occur on the island state of Tasmania, ...

* Night skink * Palyoora *

Rufous bettong The rufous rat-kangaroo or rufous bettong (''Aepyprymnus rufescens'') is a small, jumping, rat-like marsupial native to eastern Australia. It is the only species in the genus ''Aepyprymnus''. The largest member of the potoroo/bettong family (Pot ...

Scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

* Spotted python *

Sugar glider The sugar glider (''Petaurus breviceps'') is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum. The common name refers to its predilection for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its ability to glide through the air, much lik ...

Tawny Frogmouth The tawny frogmouth (''Podargus strigoides'') is a species of frogmouth native to the Australian mainland and Tasmania and found throughout. It is a big-headed, stocky bird often mistaken for an owl due to its nocturnal habits and similar colouri ...

Woma python The woma python (''Aspidites ramsayi''), also known commonly as Ramsay's python, the sand python,O'Connor F (2008)Western Australian Reptile Species.Birding Western Australia. Accessed 20 September 2007.Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of th ...

Yellow-bellied glider The yellow-bellied glider (''Petaurus australis''), also known as the fluffy glider, is an arboreal and nocturnal gliding possum that lives in native eucalypt forests in eastern Australia, from northern Queensland south to Victoria. Habitat Th ...

Koala Rooftop (including Koala Rooftop Cafe * Cyclone Larry stick insect * Giant burrowing cockroach * Goliath stick-insect * Mitchell's rainforest snail * Queensland whistling tarantula * Superworm *

Koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...

Wolf spider Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae (), named for their robust and agile hunting skills and excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude, hunt alone, and usually do not spin webs. Some are opportunistic hunters, pouncing upon ...

Experiences

Wild Life Sydney offers a Koala Photo experience where guests can get close to the Koalas and take a quality photo with them.

References

External links