TARONGA ZOOLOGICAL PARK

zoo located in Taronga Park, Sydney, Australia, one of the outstanding zoos in Australia. It first opened in 1881 in Sydney as the Moore Park Zoo and was run by the Zoological Society of New South Wales. In 1916 the zoo reopened at a site in Taronga Park, overlooking Sydney Harbour, where the zoo now occupies 28 hectares (75 acres). The management of the zoo was taken over by the Zoological Parks Board of New South Wales in 1973. Because of Australia's strict import restrictions, Taronga Zoo's collection of 4,000 specimens of 725 species consists mainly of native wildlife. The zoo has had success breeding the extremely rare mountain pygmy possum, the koala, the brush-tailed bettong, and the parma wallaby. Its bird collection is extensive, and the rain forest aviary, opened in 1972, exhibits the rarely seen lyrebird, along with bowerbirds, honeyeaters, and fruit pigeons. The zoo also possesses most of the 50 species of parrots native to Australia and has the distinction of having bred the New Zealand kiwi. In 1977 the Zoological Parks Board opened a drive-through park, the Western Plains Zoo, near Dubbo, about 300 miles (480 km) from Sydney. This zoo exhibits large marsupials, herds of ungulates, large flightless birds, and waterfowl.