Australia Zoo – The Crocoseum
A trip to Australia Zoo would not be complete without a
visit to the Crocoseum, the arena in which Steve Irwin used to display his croc
handling skills whilst also using the opportunity to educate the visitors about
the myths and misunderstandings we have over crocodiles. The show now is run by
the various zoo handlers, and we went to the 12:00 midday Wildlife Warriors
show (the main event at the Crocoseum). It started off well, we had an intro
involving dozens of tropical birds including parrots and macaws. They had been
trained (I think) to fly around the arena really quickly and really low, flying
at what felt like a few feet above our heads.
One of the birds had been trained to fly into the audience
and onto a volunteer’s arm. The handler told the volunteer to hold out a bank
note (the guy pulled out a $20 note) and as instructed, this black and red bird
flew into the crowd and onto the volunteer’s arm and removed the $20 note from
his hand and flew back to the handler…who pocketed the cash, genius.
The next thing we knew this huge condor flew out from the
backstage area and onto the arena green where it gobbled up food that had been
left for it amongst dead animal models…the handler explained that condors eat
carrion. This bird was massive, Nicola managed to get a shot in context,
showing the condor next to the handler which really demonstrates the size of
the thing.
Next, a water snake came swimming into the arena, followed
by its handler, who was gingerly swimming alongside this snake…not much to say
about the snake, other than a man was swimming with it.
Then came the star attractions…the crocs! At first, only a
little baby came out, but then after a little joke session with the little
fella, the real croc came out. The croc we saw was called “Munga”, he was
pretty big and was a saltie (salt water crocodile, generally bigger than the
fresh water crocs). The two handlers demonstrated a few do’s and don’t with
crocs…don’t stick your head in its mouth…try and get on land as in water they
can swim up to 28kph whereas on land, contrary to popular belief, they are
slow. Only the first jump/lunge out of the water are they quick, and that’s
because they are propelled by their tails. Also, don’t hang on any low branches
near a swamp, as it turns out they can jump vertically…crikey!
A trip to Australia Zoo would not be complete without a
visit to the Crocoseum, the arena in which Steve Irwin used to display his croc
handling skills whilst also using the opportunity to educate the visitors about
the myths and misunderstandings we have over crocodiles. The show now is run by
the various zoo handlers, and we went to the 12:00 midday Wildlife Warriors
show (the main event at the Crocoseum). It started off well, we had an intro
involving dozens of tropical birds including parrots and macaws. They had been
trained (I think) to fly around the arena really quickly and really low, flying
at what felt like a few feet above our heads. 
One of the birds had been trained to fly into the audience
and onto a volunteer’s arm. The handler told the volunteer to hold out a bank
note (the guy pulled out a $20 note) and as instructed, this black and red bird
flew into the crowd and onto the volunteer’s arm and removed the $20 note from
his hand and flew back to the handler…who pocketed the cash, genius.
The next thing we knew this huge condor flew out from the
backstage area and onto the arena green where it gobbled up food that had been
left for it amongst dead animal models…the handler explained that condors eat
carrion. This bird was massive, Nicola managed to get a shot in context,
showing the condor next to the handler which really demonstrates the size of
the thing.
Next, a water snake came swimming into the arena, followed
by its handler, who was gingerly swimming alongside this snake…not much to say
about the snake, other than a man was swimming with it.
Then came the star attractions…the crocs! At first, only a
little baby came out, but then after a little joke session with the little
fella, the real croc came out. The croc we saw was called “Munga”, he was
pretty big and was a saltie (salt water crocodile, generally bigger than the
fresh water crocs). The two handlers demonstrated a few do’s and don’t with
crocs…don’t stick your head in its mouth…try and get on land as in water they
can swim up to 28kph whereas on land, contrary to popular belief, they are
slow. Only the first jump/lunge out of the water are they quick, and that’s
because they are propelled by their tails. Also, don’t hang on any low branches
near a swamp, as it turns out they can jump vertically…crikey!
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