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Our vision: a world where diversity of species and habitats is secure.
Our purpose: to secure long term populations of species in natural environments while engaging the community in global conservation action.
Our aims include connecting people with nature, inspiring in people a passion for conservation, and providing links and practical means for people to become active in conservation programs here at the Zoo and beyond our borders.
In a world first, one of Perth Zoo’s Sumatran Orang-utans has been released into a protected national park in Sumatra, Indonesia, as part of an orang-utan reintroduction program. Accompanied by Perth Zoo staff, 14-year-old Temara was transported to Indonesia on 31 October 2006 and released into Bukit Tigapuluh National Park on 16 November. Temara, who was born at Perth Zoo, has since been followed daily by two specially-trained trackers and Perth Zoo’s head orang-utan keeper, Kylie Bullo.
As part of her ‘soft-release’, Temara will continue to be carefully monitored by her two Indonesian trackers for a minimum of two years and provided with supplementary food if necessary. So far, she has done extremely well, displaying wild behaviours, foraging for food and water and travelling through the canopy.
The aim of the release program, which is run by the Sumatran Orang-utan Conservation Programme (SOCP) in conjunction with the Frankfurt Zoological Society, the Indonesian Government and the Australian Orangutan Project, is to re-establish a viable Sumatran Orang-utan population in Bukit Tigapuluh.
The release of Temara provides the opportunity to increase the numbers and genetic diversity of the orang-utan population in the Park. Her progress in the forest is being recorded in detail, providing vital information on the adaptation of zoo-born orang-utans to a wild environment.
For more information on this project, visit Perth Zoo’s website.
 Located behind-the-scenes at the Zoo's South Perth site, the primary goal of Perth Zoo’s Native Species Breeding Program (NSBP) is to support Threatened Species Recovery Plans through breeding animals for release by the Department of Environment and Conservation and conducting scientific research into the reproduction and other aspects of the biology of threatened fauna.
Current breeding programs include Numbat, Western Swamp Tortoise, Dibbler and Central Rock Rat. Previous successful programs have included Chuditch and Lancelin Island Skink.
Nearly one-third of the 5,743 known species of frogs in the world today are facing extinction—that’s about 2,000 species! Researchers are working furiously toward a solution to this global problem. In Western Australia, the State Government is providing $450,000 over four years to Perth Zoo to set up an amphibian research and breeding program.
The program will address two significant environmental threats to the 78 species of Western Australian amphibians: Chytrid fungus and the cane toad invasion. To achieve this, Perth Zoo is developing captive breeding and cryopreservation methods for amphibian species under threat with a focus on south-west Western Australian species. This program is being developed in conjunction with the Department of Environment and Conservation, the Western Australian Museum, the University of Western Australia and Murdoch University.
The research will include the following research projects:
 Husbandry of analogue species to WA threatened frog species (leading to the study of the threatened species); - Captive breeding, and growth and development studies of analogue species of WA threatened frog species (leading to the study of the threatened species);
- The induction of ovulation in frogs;
- Investigation of the reproductive tracts of frogs, including the presence of a sperm storage organ;
- The non-invasive collection of frog sperm and its cryopreservation; and
- Freezing and vitrification of frog embryos.
Other projects are expected to flow on from this initial research.
In recent years, Perth Zoo has established close working partnerships with in-situ conservation projects in which our staff are actively involved. These include the Australian Orangutan Project, the Silvery Gibbon Project, Painted Dog Conservation Inc and the Asian Rhino Project. In addition, we support staff projects in research and conservation of Sandhill Dunnarts and Gilbert’s Potoroo.
 Two rescued Cambodian Sun Bears, Jamran and Bopha, arrived at Perth Zoo on 23 January 2007. Perth Zoo worked closely with the Free The Bears Fund, which provided specialist care for the bears at its Cambodian sanctuary, to provide Jamran and Bopha with a new life as part of the regional breeding program for this species. A fundraising campaign, Project Sun Bear, was launched by Perth Zoo in 2003 to raise funds to build a specially-designed Sun Bear exhibit and transport the bears to Perth. The bears are settling in well to their new home.
The construction of this specially-designed exhibit was made possible thanks to the generosity of the community of Western Australia who supported Perth Zoo’s Project Sun Bear to provide a new home for two rescued Cambodian Sun Bears. The exhibit consists of two enclosures that can be linked or separated depending on the behavioural needs of the animals. There is also a maternity den at the back of the exhibit to provide the dam with the privacy she needs to raise cubs. The lushly vegetated exhibit represents the bears’ natural habitat. Large trees allow these most arboreal of bear species to climb and nest as they would in the wild. The exhibit also includes a stream with rock pools to provide relief for the bears on hot, summer days.
Visitors have an excellent view of the exhibit with a full-glass viewing bay. A life-sized sculpture of a Sun Bear at the entrance to the exhibit functions as a donation box to support conservation of Sun Bears in Cambodia.
 This $5.2 million elephant exhibit redevelopment began in 2004 with stage one completed in 2005. Stage one includes a new exercise and display area for the three females, as well as a new swimming pool and modifications to their barn. The new exercise and display area feed up the existing elephant yard for exclusive use of the bull elephant, Putra Mas. The redevelopment project also includes a new visitor interpretive hub called Bukit Station which focuses on the conservation of Southeast Asian rainforests. A specially commissioned film screening at the recently-opened hub provides visitors with an insight into the lives of Sumatran Orang-utans, Sumatran Tigers and Asian Elephants and conservation projects in the wild for these species.
Work on stage two of the elephant exhibit upgrade began in Jan 2007. Stage two includes a new barn for the bull elephant, an additional exercise yard for the females and an amphitheatre-style seated viewing area for visitors. When completed, the redevelopment will increase the size of the elephant exhibit threefold.
Website: www.perthzoo.wa.gov.au
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