Week 5 of Fast Facts Friday, and we are looking up to our Giraffes. Literally!

🦒 Male giraffes are larger than females, weighing in at up to 1,900kg and often at a height of more than 5 meters tall.

🦒 They have a prehensile tongue which can extend 45cm.

🦒 Giraffe average 2 hours sleep a day, one of the shortest sleep requirements out of all mammals.

🦒 After 15 months of gestation, the female will give birth standing up. The young will drop to the floor and then stand, walk and feed within a few hours of being born. They are around 1.8m at birth and weigh 60-70kgs.

We have three giraffes at the Zoo who are all very observant. They know when someone is watching them.

🍀We are open every day this long weekend 🍀

Come and meet our animals, all our encounters are available this weekend (unless already booked), grab an ice cold drink from our food van 🧋 and enjoy seeing our animals exploring their enclosures in the sunshine ☀️

#longweekend #longweekendadventures #melbourne #hallsgapzoo #nationalpark #hallsgap #grampiansnationalpark #visitmelbourne

Fast Fact Friday’s subject for week 4 is our Meerkats, which is infact a type of mongoose, rather than a type of cat.

😎 Meerkats are highly observant and will use their long tail like a tripod with their legs to maintain a steady stance and higher vantage point.

😎 They live in groups of up to 30 individuals, where they will take turns in each role within the mob. This includes caring for the young, foraging or hunting, and sentry duty (standing guard for predators such snakes or eagles).

😎 Meerkat eyes are surrounded by dark circles to reduce glare from the sun. These ‘natural sunglasses’ allow them to spot predators easier in the open desert.

😎 They dig ‘bolt holes’ which are safe trenches for them to escape to in emergencies when they are foraging.

Our cheeky boys love their peas and corn. Hence, we had to name one of them Peas and his Brother was dubbed Corn.

✨✨Have you ever wanted to meet and have a photo with the Queen of selfies? ✨✨

We are very excited to announce that encounters with Ember our little Quokka are starting this long weekend.
Come and meet Ember and as you are chatting to her keepers about all things Quokkas you can pat her and try to get the best Quokka selfie you can.

Please email frontdesk@hallsgapzoo.com.au to book in as we only have limited spots available.
Encounter time will be at 3pm every day.
Participants must be 4 years and older (4-7 year olds must have paying guardian with them).

Today we celebrated World Wildlife Day. It is a day to recognise all our fauna and flora and the role they play in our ecosystems.
We are so lucky to have all these animals to share this planet with and without them our world changes, we need to make sure we do everything we can to protect them.

For week 3 of Fast Fact Friday, we are focused on Dragons, Gippsland Water Dragons to be precise.
🦎They typically live in groups with a dominant male, many females and young of all ages.
🦎 Water Dragons can lay up to 18 eggs in a single clutch.
🦎 Like the name suggests these reptiles love the water and can hold their breath underwater for over an hour and they use this tactic to evade predators.

Next time you are visiting see how many you can count.

Knuckles has the right idea spending the hot day having his lunch delivered to him while taking a swim. 📸 Supervisor Mila

Welcome to week 2 of Fast Fact Friday.
This week we are looking at the fascinating Wedge-Tailed Eagle.

🪶 Wedge-Tailed Eagles are Australia’s largest bird of prey and one of the world’s largest eagle, with an average wingspan of 2.3m.

🪶They build nests 1.8m across by 3m deep and will reuse these nests in following breeding seasons while continuing to add to them.

🪶Wedge-Tailed Eagle juveniles are a light brown colour and will darken as they get older.

Photo of our beautiful Hummer who is with us as he is unable to be returned to the wild after sustaining injuries from being hit by a car.

📸 Keeper Haylee

#nationalpark #hallsgapzoo #visitmelbourne #melbourne #grampiansnationalpark #hallsgap #wedgetailedeagle

Welcome to our first week of Fast Fact Friday.
Each week we will post new facts about a species we have here at the zoo. We want to share our beautiful animals with you and together we can explore what makes them so unique.
Obviously, we had to start with this animal. Who else? The Cheetah! The fastest land animal.
-Cheetahs can accelerate into a 112km/h sprint in only 3 seconds, but they cannot maintain high speeds for more than a minute.
- The Cheetah’s spots are designed for camouflage while hiding and during hunting and each Cheetah has a unique pattern in their spots.
-Cheetahs do not roar instead they purr just like our domestic cats at home.

Despite being very fast, they spend a lot of their time resting and lying in wait for the right moment to chase prey, you will see our boys lazing around in the sun and surveying their area.

What animals would you like to have featured in Fast Fact Friday? Comment below.

Running low on personal space after these school holidays? (Our Redneck Wallaby mum knows how you feel) Hop on in to the zoo today to let the kids run off some steam so they sleep well and are ready for the new school year. The weather is going to be perfect to see all the animals out and about.

📸 Keeper Sherrin

#grampians #grampiansvictoria #grampiansnationalpark #schoolholidays #schoolholidaysmelbourne #hallsgap #hallsgapzoo #hallsgapvictoria

Come and enjoy some up close encounters with our animals and while our keepers talk to you about facts and individual personalities you can:

😍Have a Red Panda walk across your lap,
😱Pat a rhino,
😄Hold a lizard,
🤭Feed a cheetah,
🤗Get kisses from the dingoes,
😮Feel small standing next to our giraffe
🥰Hold an otters hand
🤪Deal with the craziness of our meerkat mob
🤗Or walk our baby wombat

If you’ve had encounters what has been your favourite?

Check out the link below for more information and it is always best to pre book as some encounters are limited to only 2 people a day.

https://hallsgapzoo.com.au/encounters/