Wild Summer Fun At Taronga Western Plains Zoo

New arrivals are making a splash at Taron­ga Western Plains Zoo – NSW’s Best Major Tourist Attraction – this summer. The Dubbo Zoo, which claimed the gong at the recent NSW Tourism Awards, has welcomed four Black-handed Spider Monkey babies, three African Lion cubs, two Quokka joeys and a critically endangered Scimitar-horned Oryx calf this year.

“Lion cubs Kaari, Mzuri and Nguvu have turned into quite the handful for parents Marion and Lwazi as well as their four big sisters,” said Director Steve Hinks. “They love playing with and pouncing on their sib­lings, as well as anything they find in their exhibit from balls to sticks and even tree roots!” The best time to see the cubs is be­tween 10am and 10:30am.

The Black-handed Spider Monkey troop has welcomed four new arrivals to the Pri­mate Islands on Savannah Lake, and the awesome foursome can be spotted from Cafe Wild. The best time to see the troop is at the Spider Monkey feed between 12:30pm and 1pm daily.

The final new arrival is a Scimitar-horned Oryx calf. “This calf is a fantastic little am­bassador for his species, which is a true conservation success story. Once extinct in the wild, Scimitar-horned Oryx were rein­troduced to their native Chad by a coalition of zoos from the USA and Europe in recent years and have since been reclassified as critically endangered,” Mr Hinks said.

Taronga Western Plains Zoo is open eve­ry day of the year including Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. All tickets are valid for two days and include access to more than 10 free keeper activities, The Waterhole waterplay area, Waterhole Cafe and Frozen Coke Kiosk between 10am and 3pm. You can buy tickets online at taronga.org.au