Here's a Melbourne fun fact for you: our city is home to a flourishing herd of Asian elephants. You might have paid them a visit at Melbourne Zoo over the years, but with the birth of three new calves in recent years, the herd had outgrown their enclosure and were ready for bigger and better things. Luckily, the team at Zoos Victoria had planned for the growing elephant clan, with the construction of a ginormous, world-class habitat at Werribee Open Range Zoo. It's been a long time coming, but the herd has finally made the big move.
After a lot of careful planning, the historic operation to transport the elephants across Melbourne was a huge success, with the six adult elephants and three calves riding in trucks on a 40 kilometre voyage from Parkville to Werribee over the course of five days. It was an intense logistical mission – the elephants were transported in air-conditioned shipping containers, which were lifted by cranes onto and off the trucks. Excitingly, this is the very first time that Werribee Zoo has been home to elephants.
Werribee Open Range Zoo elephant trail project officer and zookeeper Lucy Truelson said the elephants were enjoying their new surroundings and "celebrating" in their new home.
"They’re playing, exploring the landscape and they’ve slept beautifully. All these things show us that they’re content, confident, happy and thriving," Truelson says.
Their new $88 million enclosure is the elephant equivalent of a mega mansion, spanning a massive 21 hectares, which is equivalent to the size of a whopping five MCG stadiums and the entire Melbourne Zoo.
It's designed to cater to their every need, with six different areas, two gigantic pools, massive weatherproof barns and a two-metre-deep sandpit. Two overpasses will cross above visitor walking trails, so the elephants will walk above visitors to cross between the different parts of their enclosure.
As the elephants settle in to their new home, they'll be taking some quiet time before they're ready for visitors. But watch this space to find out when we'll be able to see them.
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