Place archive

Melbourne Zoo

Melbourne Zoo, located in Parkville, Victoria, is Australia’s oldest continuously operating zoo, managed by Zoos Victoria alongside sister sites Werribee Open Range Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary. As a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, it participates in coordinated breeding programs for threatened species including the orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster), one of Australia’s most endangered birds, and the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae), listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and protected under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Its 2009 giant panda program, a partnership with the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, hosted Wang Wang and Fu Ni for 15 years, supporting research into Ailuropoda melanoleuca nutrition and reproductive physiology alongside

Melbourne Zoo houses giant pandas under international loan agreement with the China Conservation and Research Center, as part of the cooperative panda diplomacy and ex-situ conservation network.