Destination Australia: Curator of birds K.C. Lint headed off on a two-month trip to Australia, planning to visit Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, and other locations on a collecting trip to obtain Australiasian mammals, reptiles, and birds, including tree kangaroos, water dragons, death adders, white-tailed black cockatoos, and Rajah shellducks, among many others. He also planned to visit Sir Edward Hallstrom, president of the Taronga Park Zoological Trust, who had been instrumental on several occasions in helping the San Diego Zoo obtain koalas and other Australian species. Sir Edward had been named an honorary vice-president of the Zoological Society of San Diego for his friendship over the years.

There are only two species of alligators, the American alligator and the Chinese alligator, and the Chinese species has long been exceedingly rare—at one point it was considered extinct, until small populations were found in the vicinity of Wuhu and Tai'hu of the Yangtze River Valley. So it was with considerable excitement that reptile curator Charles

Emperor penguins came to the Zoo for the first time in 1957, a group of six, along with four Adelie penguins, also a first for the Zoo.

Off to Australia and Animal Firsts

Animal firsts for 1957 included a Chinese alligator named Wuhu, a gift from the Prague Zoo, and emperor penguins. Bird curator K.C. Lint headed out on a collecting trip to Australia, an expedition that would prove quite fruitful for the San Diego Zoo.

1957

Innovation 1957 - 1966

© 2024 San Diego Zoo Global Site by Mindgruve