Exclusive First-look: Australian Adventures, The Making of an Exhibit

Have you ever wondered how a zoo exhibit comes together?

The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens is adding a new exhibit highlighting the Australian desert.

In a News Channel 3 exclusive, Caitlin Thropay has been following the making of “Australian Adventures” from the very beginning and brings us a look at what went into this new habitat.

“Australian Adventures” is nearing completion. The new exhibit is set to open on March 21st.

President and CEO of the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, Allen Monroe allowed KESQ’s camera inside to film the making of the exhibit.

“The idea for Australian Adventures started about two years ago," Monroe told News Channel 3. "We thought about the need to always update our park and what additional stories we can tell for conservation,” he added.

The story of “Australian Adventures” began looking a whole lot different than it does today.

“It took about nine months for design and details to be worked out and then another nine months or so for construction so this has been a multi-year project that is finally coming to its fruition,” Monroe said.

The nearly one acre, $3 million exhibit has been a labor of love.

“Which sounds like an awful lot of money until you realize all the details and all the things that have gone into making this a great success,” he said.

What was once a dirt lot, is now being filled with Australian plants and animals.

Some of the rocks in the exhibit were hand-painted to look like real sandstone.

There’s more than 50 species of plants, all native to Australia.

“It’s not just the rocks that look like Australia, but also the botanical garden aspect of that,” he said.

The best part is of course the adorable animals. The exhibit offers a unique immersive wallaby walkabout experience.

“When we were designing this habitat, we wanted to be able to select species from Australia that would do well in our desert climate, although lots of Australia is desert, not all of it is," he said. "For instance, Koala Bears would not do well in southern California's 110 or 120 degree temperature,” he added.

If you look up, the netting itself took five months to make. That’s because it was hand-woven.

“We’ll have things like Cockatiels and Parakeets that are native to Australia flying in here,” he said.

As the zoo keeps growing, so does its family.

“We’ve hired some additional staff, some Australian Adventure keepers that will be responsible for maintaining this habitat, for feeding the animals and making sure their needs are met and also engaging with our guests and sharing those stories that only the keepers can,” he said.

Who knew Australia was so close to home now with “Australian Adventures!”

“We are so excited to open this up here in March to give our guests a taste of the land down under,” Monroe said.

This exhibit is almost ready to have some visitors. It’ll be opening up to the public on Saturday, March 21.

Stay with us on News Channel 3 for more exclusive looks inside the exhibit and introductions to the new animals of The Living Desert.