Melbourne Zoo is Australia's oldest zoo and was modelled on London Zoo. The zoo was opened on 6 October 1862 at the Royal Park site of on land donated by the City of Melbourne. Before this, animals were housed at the botanical gardens in Melbourne. Initially the zoo was important for the acclimatisation of domestic animals recovering from their long trip to Australia. It was only with the appointment of Albert Alexander Cochrane Le Souef in 1870 that more exotic animals were procured for public display, and the gardens and picnic areas were developed. Visitors can see historical cages including the heritage listed Elephant House, which has been renovated and adapted for use for customers paying to sleep overnight in tents at the zoo in popular Roar and Snore evenings. These evenings allow the public to see some of the nocturnal animals at the zoo in evening guided tours by keepers. One of the most famous exhibits was Queenie the elephant. The zoo is set among flower gardens and picnic areas. Many of the animals are now organised in bioclimatic zones: African rainforest featuring gorillas, mandrills, pigmy hippos and parrots; Asian Rainforest with tigers and otters; and the Australian bush with koala, kangaroos, emu, echidnas and endangered hairy nose wombats. Popular exhibits also include the Butterfly House, the great flight aviary and the Trail of the Elephants. Melbourne Zoo most recently completed construction and opened their carnivores trail in early 2018. The zoo includes a large schools section and caters to many school visitors annually, its immensely popular education program encourages young minds to conserve animals. The Zoos Victoria administers the Melbourne Zoo, as well as the Werribee Open Range Zoo which features herbivorous creatures in an open range setting; and Healesville Sanctuary on of bushland exhibiting Australian fauna. On 15 January 2010 Melbourne Zoo welcomed its first elephant calf, Mali. This is the second elephant calf born in Australia, the first being in Sydney in July 2009. Mali is the first female calf born in Australia and the first calf born via artificial insemination. Melbourne Zoo commemorated 150 years of operation in 2012 and this was celebrated in an Australian Zoos collector's edition of stamps released by Australia Post in September 2012.
Exhibits
Trails of the Elephants: six Asian elephants — females Mek Kapah, Dokkoon, Kulab, Num-oi and Mali along with six-year-old male Man Jai. The herd rotates through three paddocks throughout the day.
Butterfly House: a greenhouse-style walk-through exhibit for tropical butterflies.
Orangutan Sanctuary: Home for the Zoo's two families of orangutans.
Asian rainforest: the original portion of the Asian rainforest adjoins Trail of the Elephants and Orangutan sanctuary. Includes enclosures for Sumatran tigers, Asian small-clawed otter and two small aviaries for Asian birds.
Great Flight Aviary: a large free-flight aviary within the Australian outback exhibit dating from the 1930s. Visitors walk along a boardwalk through three different bioregions representing an Australian rainforest, wetlands and bushland. Significant species include southern cassowaries, brolga, royal spoonbills, eclectus parrots, and red-tailed black cockatoos.
Reptile house: contains a variety of Australian and exotic reptiles.
African rainforest: This walk opens with the walk through 'lemur island' exhibit, home to a troop of male ring tail lemurs. the major exhibit at the centre of this area is for western lowland gorillas.
