Visit New "Land of Change"

I like to go to the Brevard Zoo and take pictures. It gives me practice for when I go on my next Expedition, but in reality I just like the animals. For about six monthes, the Australia-Asia section was closed for renovation. It recently re-opened as Land of Change: Australia and Beyond. It is really nice and I have been twice since it opened a few weeks ago. Let me give you a tour...

The entrance is the same as before but the changes are immediately noticable. There is a new open-air theater where they perform demonstrations. On this day, they were showing the dingos. I did not stop in because it was crowded. I wanted to get to the other new areas.

One of the first new displays I came to was the small hut containing two Komodo Dragons. I had heard they had got the pair, and the new hut is nice. There is a nice sign on the entrance.

My only problem with the hut is kind of ironic. I have been complaing that most monkeys are in caged pens and my camera likes to auto-focus on the screen and not the animal. They have solved that problem here with plexi-glass but then I had reflection problems. I have included an example of a bad photo of a Komodo Dragon. I could see them better than the camera could. I will try different times of the day to see if it makes a difference.

Like the aviaries, the kangaroo display now has a double door system for entering. They warn oyu that the kangaroos are running free with the emus, so be on the look out for them crossing the walkways. Here is the new entrance to the kangaroo encounter.

The walkways have short fences. There are large man-made tree that are FPL solar panels. There are three in the kangaroo area. The small hut in this first photo is the Komodo Dragon hut.




 Here are some more pictures of the walkway, solar trees, and barns that house the animals.

This is looking back at the entrance from the path near the barn...

On this day, one of the workers was feeding one of the young swamp wallabys. There are the gray ones and there are red kangaroos. I need practice to distinguish the wallabys from the kangaroos. I have found that the people at the zoo are very helpful if you ask questions. Not just the volunteers, but the other workers too. Notice that it is a small baby milk bottle she is feeding the wallaby with.

There was a small joey in the pouch of this female.

 It seems nap-time was just finishing and they were coming out for lunch. I had asked about one male having his eyes squinting. I think the sun was just too bright after his nap in the dark barn. But what do I know?

 In this photo, you can see the leg of the young one sticking out of her pouch. There was a little girl there and she asked her mom what that was. Her mom said it is a baby! The girl freaked out and started taking lots of pictures with her phone. I agree with her, it is kind of cool!

Of course, there is plenty of food put out and the local wildlife likes to get their share. Here is a squirrel in the food bowl with a red cardinal looking on.

The entrance to the two loops of the bird aviary is right across from the kangaroo walkabout. They sell nectar and sticks with seeds at the counter. The right doors is where the lorikeets are with about six other birds. The left side has the cockatiels, laughing kookaburra and a few other birds. I highly recommend a visit to these new facilities. An airplane flew over low and all the birds starting screeching. Sounded like a bad B-movie.

Here is a boy with a nectar cup. The lorikeet found it and was not leaving. I think the kid was a little nervous.

I was lucky to see the feeding of the laughing kookaburra. I asked about food and she told me a small mouse. They do eat other lizards and things. The girl said this kookaburra had caught a three foot rat snake once. But he liked his lunch so well that he dive get a performance of his laugh.

There were some professional sand builders there. They were hard at work on this Land of Change display. very intricate. Plus, the cockatoo was entertaining them...

Continuing on the boardwalk, they do have a cassowary crossing sign.

 Here is the cassowary, ready for his close-up!

 My last stop was to see the Visayan Warty Pig. I heard that they had some new kids. What do I see in their pen, I think it was the same red cardinal from the kangaroo walk.

I did catch this photo of all three Visayan Warty Pigs. The little ones were running all over the place.

Like I said earlier, if you get a chance, plan a visit to the Brevard Zoo. I have a pass that can get one adult in plus me. I would love to have company on a visit.