Auckland Zoo

Auckland Zoo Auckland Zoo is a not-for-profit organisation focused on conserving wildlife and wild places.

At the heart of all Auckland Zoo's work and activities is its mission: "to bring people together to build a future for wildlife”. Auckland Zoo plays a vitally important role in breeding, research and recovery programmes for threatened wildlife. In fact, a portion of your ticket goes towards the Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund to support both local and international field-based projects.

It’s – a special day dedicated to celebrating these big cats! 🦁 Did you know lions once roamed across much of Europe, ...
09/08/2025

It’s – a special day dedicated to celebrating these big cats! 🦁

Did you know lions once roamed across much of Europe, Africa and Asia? Today lions have vanished from 94% of their historic range and are now found mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and a small region in India.

These apex predators play a vital role in maintaining a balanced ecosystem. By regulating prey populations such as zebras and wildebeests, they help prevent overgrazing. Without lions, these herbivores could deplete vegetation, leading to soil erosion and other serious environmental issues.

Sadly, wild lions face many challenges including habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict and a decline in their prey species.

Here at the Zoo you can visit lioness sisters Aziza, Kibibi and Ilola. During your visit you might spot them napping, playing, keeping watch or enjoying a feast!

Exciting update - this rare native bird has been released into a beautiful wetlands home!As you may remember from our ea...
08/08/2025

Exciting update - this rare native bird has been released into a beautiful wetlands home!

As you may remember from our earlier post, this young matuku-hūrepo (Australasian bittern) was brought to our veterinary hospital in a critically ill condition.

She was found by MPI staff in an Auckland Airport carpark in early July, and upon arrival at the Zoo, tests by our team revealed starvation, severe anaemia and signs of infection.

With dedicated veterinary care and a quiet place to recuperate, she has made a remarkable recovery. Just last week she was released into Matuku Link– a safe wetlands’ habitat in West Auckland where she can thrive. Prior to her release, Department of Conservation and Zoo staff fitted her with a special light-weight tracker.

“This tracker, which has already provided us with some data, records this bird’s movements and communicates it back to us researchers via New Zealand’s cell phone network,” explains DOC Science Advisor, Emma Williams.

“It helps us wetland managers understand how she is coping, and as time goes on, whether she is breeding or not, and which sites are important for matuku-hūrepo within the Auckland/Northland/Waikato region. All of this is critical to enabling us to maximise protection for the species.”

Click the link in our comments to read more about her recovery!

07/08/2025

What did dinosaurs really sound like?

Vertebrate palaeontologists are undertaking fascinating work into dinosaur vocalisations – and some of this research comes from studying ‘living dinosaurs’ today.

What we do know is, at some point in dinosaur history a special vocal organ appears that is unlike the one that you or I (or land-dwelling animals in general) use. Watch as Dr Julia Clarke explains more!

Marvel at these ancient ancestors on our Dinosaur Discovery Track.

Thanks to the US State Department for making Dr. Clarke's visit possible.

Our careers expo was a success - with 20 schools and nearly 500 students visiting over two busy days!This was the third ...
06/08/2025

Our careers expo was a success - with 20 schools and nearly 500 students visiting over two busy days!

This was the third year of our Wildlife Science Champions Expo, brought to life by principal partners Mazda NZ, whose aim is to inspire and educate students on science and conservation-based careers.

We had engaging talks from keynote speakers, hands-on workshops and a range of stalls from conservation community group. These workshops covered topics such as the importance of our marine ecosystems and how to care for them, why humane pest control practices are vital for native species, the mahi of our Auckland Council rangers, and how to conserve bees!

Thank you to Mazda, Tip Top, Montana Group and Kiwi Coaches for supporting this event.

Did you know that school groups can book conservation-focused education sessions with us? Click the link in our comments to learn more.

04/08/2025

These ancient looking crocodilians are known for being a shy, secretive species.

We care for two sunda gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii), and a valuable part of this care includes weekly training sessions – as shown in this from Sonja.

Sumpit and her sister Malu participate in training sessions that currently focus on two key behaviours: recall and stationing. These sessions are entirely voluntary, with each gharial free to choose whether or not to engage and respond to the behavioural cues presented by their keepers.

Successful participation is positively reinforced using primary reinforcers, which may include fish, possum, venison, rabbit, or –on today’s occasion wallaby.

This training helps our team monitor their health, guide them to different parts of their habitat when needed and avoid food competition. It also builds trust between the crocodilians and our keepers.

When you visit, see if you can spot Malu and Sumpit in their Swamp Forest habitat and celebrate with us!

You’re helping us to support threatened snakes! 🐍We’ve recently confirmed our small grants programme recipients for 2025...
04/08/2025

You’re helping us to support threatened snakes! 🐍

We’ve recently confirmed our small grants programme recipients for 2025. This conservation funding round had a special focus on the protection and research of threatened and endangered snakes.

We received some incredible applications from conservationists with snake-focused fieldwork and advocacy in countries within Central and South America, Asia and Africa! Of these, seven successful conservation projects were selected by our Conservation Fund working group and committee.

These projects focus on searching for lost species, population estimates, ecological research and/or education and awareness campaigns for a total of ten different snake species. Everything from the endangered three-horned pit viper in Vietnam to the critically endangered Ecuadorian eyelash boa (named for the bristle-like scales above their eyes) in Ecuador.

Every time you visit us, you’re helping to support conservation in New Zealand and around the world – yes that’s right, simply by visiting!

Credit/copyright: Ashe's bush viper - Jordan Benj; northern jumping pit viper - Francisco Martínez Pérez; drawing of Ecuadorian eyelash boa - attribution unknown; three-horned scaled pit viper - Xavier Rufray.

Ring-tailed vs ruffed lemurs – can you tell the difference? 🤔This week's edition of our free Wild Wednesday webinar look...
03/08/2025

Ring-tailed vs ruffed lemurs – can you tell the difference? 🤔

This week's edition of our free Wild Wednesday webinar looks at some of the similarities and differences with the animals you can find at Hamilton Zoo and Auckland Zoo.

Join our conservation learning team to learn about chimpanzees, bison, caracal cats and capuchin monkeys, as well as some familiar faces.

When: 2pm, Wednesday 6 August
Sign up with this Zoom link (you don’t need an account to join): https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_R5_JqWUHSzKkPy1BtG9WIQ

Click the link in our comments to view previous episodes of Wild Wednesday!

Mini king of the jungle! 🐒 Golden lion tamarins are famous for their silky golden coats and lion-like manes even though ...
01/08/2025

Mini king of the jungle! 🐒

Golden lion tamarins are famous for their silky golden coats and lion-like manes even though they’re not related to lions at all!

To celebrate and shine a light on these New World monkeys, twins Aurora (female) and Rufino (male) have been treated to a nest of bromeliads, dandelion weeds and pineapple sage, complete with hidden mealworms – a favourite for them to forge for.

They also have log feeders filled with sticky acacia gum, since tamarins love to snack on tree sap and gums. All of this encourages their natural foraging behaviours and keeps these curious little monkeys busy, active and stimulated.

Come say hi and help us spread the word about these amazing tamarins and their rainforest home this weekend!

01/08/2025

Delivering orangutans food by drone? Believe it or not, that’s what we do!

We have a licensed drone (UAV) team, made up of kaimahi from different departments, that put this technology to good and inventive use at the Zoo.

Their tasks include checking the integrity of the aerial pathway system (made of 2km worth of ropes!), ensuring trees and vegetation are at a safe distance from these pathways, and delivering bamboo-wrapped food packages into baskets 25 metres off the ground!

This mahi ensures the safety of our award-winning high canopy habitat; while the food packages are a delightful discovery for both orangutans and siamang to find and enjoy at height.

WildCats Conservation Alliance protect the critically endangered Sumatran tiger and its habitat! 🐅In the past six months...
31/07/2025

WildCats Conservation Alliance protect the critically endangered Sumatran tiger and its habitat! 🐅

In the past six months, Lingkar Inisiatif rangers have carried out six patrols across 159km of forest surrounding Kerinci Seblat National Park. This is the second-largest national park in Southeast Asia, it covers 1.83 million hectares and is home to at least 166 Sumatran tigers (from a population of roughly 400-500 in the wild).

With support from Auckland Zoo, the rangers have identified five poaching sites and one illegal logging site, found 28 locations where forest had been illegally cleared for plantations and removed seven glue traps set to catch birds.

These patrols are driven by local knowledge and careful tracking, helping to prevent illegal activity and keep the forest safe not just for tigers, but also for many other threatened species that share their habitat.

Zoos have historically made up 75% of the donations to WildCats Conservation Alliance. You support this mahi every time you visit us!

📸 : WildCats Conservation Alliance.

By visiting our Zoo in Auckland, you're helping to conserve lizards in a mountainous area of Guatemala!🦎The mission of F...
31/07/2025

By visiting our Zoo in Auckland, you're helping to conserve lizards in a mountainous area of Guatemala!🦎

The mission of Fundesgua -Fundación para las Especies Amenazadas de Guatemala- is to ensure thriving populations of endemic Guatemalan reptile species, and one of their key projects is to conserve the Campbell’s alligator lizard.

This species depends on the pine-oak forests of the region, which are rapidly shrinking, and their habitat is now an alarming 3% of the lizard’s original range!

Collaboration with local communities and authorities has been instrumental in curbing this threat, but ongoing efforts are essential to secure the species’ future.

Recently, their ranger team have been tracking lizard movements using radiotelemetry to better understand their behaviour, habitat use and dispersal patterns. These insights will help to design more effective habitat restoration strategies and guide long-term conservation efforts for this critically endangered species.

Another important part of this work includes expanding and reconnecting habitat for Campbell's Island lizard in the cloud forests of Jalapa. In these photos you can see rangers transporting native tree seedlings to a restoration site.

📸 : FUNDESGUA. .

In the jungles of Sumatra, amidst elephants, orangutans, tigers and sun bears - the Sumatran Ranger Project work to cons...
31/07/2025

In the jungles of Sumatra, amidst elephants, orangutans, tigers and sun bears - the Sumatran Ranger Project work to conserve wildlife! 🦧

Their 11-strong ranger team remove poachers’ snares, mitigate human-wildlife conflict, actively monitor wildlife, and support forest-edge communities living in the buffer zone of the Gunung Leuser National Park.

The rangers are currently building their 17th and 18th predator proof livestock corrals for two more forest edge communities.

These corrals are made with donated ranger and locals’ time and effectively mean that livestock can be safely kept away from tigers that wander into communities that have settled along the forest border. This protects the livelihoods of the local farmers, while also protecting tigers from being attacked out of retaliation for killing livestock.

Another way that SRP care for forest-edge communities is by donating crops to landowners and community groups. To date, they’ve grown over 8000 seedlings to disperse throughout local communities. This can help locals transition away from unsustainable oil palm or rubber, or help to support their livelihoods.

SRP are currently fundraising for field first aid training to ensure the team are better equipped whilst on patrol. Click the link in our comments to learn more.

📸: Sumatran Ranger Project.

Address

99 Motions Road
Auckland
1022

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Thursday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Friday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Saturday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Sunday 9:30am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+6493603805

Website

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