Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park is a
biopark within the Pearcedale Conservation Park located at
Pearcedale on the
Mornington Peninsula
The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geogra ...
near
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. It aims to display the fauna that was found in the
Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve
Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve in the Australian state of Victoria located on land and coastal waters associated both with the Mornington Peninsula and the bay known as Western Port.
The biosphere ...
prior to European settlement as well as working towards the recovery of threatened Australian fauna. The park is open all year except on Christmas Day. The sanctuary, as part of Pearcedale Conservation Park, is an institutional member of the
Zoo and Aquarium Association
The Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia (ZAA), based in Sydney, Australia and Wellington, New Zealand, is an association of zoos, aquariums, sanctuaries and wildlife parks across Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the South Pacifi ...
(ZAA). It is ECO Certified at the Ecotourism level by Ecotourism Australia.
History
![Moonlit Sanctuary entrance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Moonlit_Sanctuary_entrance.jpg)
Development of the zoo started in December 1998, with construction of a visitor center, a wetland habitat with a lake, and more than 30 animal enclosures, as well as many Australian trees and other plants. The zoo was opened in September 2001.
Evening walks
Moonlit Sanctuary operate
evening walks which are an environmental immersion experience. A guide takes visitors on a walk through natural bushland where the guide spotlights a variety of
nocturnal
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...
animals, many of them endangered. The guide gives talks about the animals, and answers visitors’ questions. Visitors come into close contact with the animals in their natural habitats and can observe their natural behaviours. This is different visitor experience from a normal
zoo
A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes.
The term ''zoological g ...
visit where visitors view a large number of species for short periods of time and rarely bother reading signs. Moonlit Sanctuary visitors spend longer periods of time with a small number of animals, and receive a lot of information from the accompanying guide.
Daytime visits
Moonlit Sanctuary is also open during the day, where visitors get an experience closer to a normal zoo. It operates education services for school children, and provides research facilities for graduate students. It also engages in conservation breeding of endangered species.
Animals
In total over 400 animals representing over 60 different species call the sanctuary home. Some examples of the native animal species kept at the sanctuary are listed below.
▣
Banded lapwing
The banded lapwing (''Vanellus tricolor'') is a small to medium-sized shorebird, found in small parties or large flocks on bare ground in open grasslands, agricultural land and open savannah. It is native to Australia and in the past considered ...
▣
Banded stilt
The banded stilt (''Cladorhynchus leucocephalus'') is a nomadic wader of the stilt and avocet family, Recurvirostridae, native to Australia. It belongs to the monotypic genus ''Cladorhynchus''. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band fo ...
▣
Bare-nosed wombat
▣
Barking owl
The barking owl (''Ninox connivens''), also known as the winking owl, is a nocturnal bird species native to mainland Australia and parts of New Guinea and the Moluccas. They are a medium-sized brown owl and have a characteristic voice with cal ...
▣
Bush stone-curlew
The bush stone-curlew or bush thick-knee, also known as the Iben bird (''Burhinus grallarius'', obsolete name ''Burhinus magnirostris'') is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia. Its favoured habitat is open plains and woodlands, whe ...
▣
Central bearded dragon
The central bearded dragon (''Pogona vitticeps''), also known as the inland bearded dragon, is a species of agamid lizard found in a wide range of arid to semiarid regions of eastern and central Australia.
Taxonomy
''Pogona vitticeps'' was fi ...
▣
Chestnut-eared finch
The Australian zebra finch or chestnut-eared finch (''Taeniopygia castanotis'') is the most common estrildid finch of Central Australia. It ranges over most of the continent, avoiding only the cool humid south and some areas of the tropical far ...
▣
Cunningham's spiny-tailed skink
Cunningham's spiny-tailed skink (''Egernia cunninghami''), also known commonly as Cunningham's skink, is a species of large skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is native to southeastern Australia.
Etymology
Both the specific ...
▣
Dingo
The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (Basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage of dog found in Australia (continent), Australia. Its taxonomic classification is de ...
▣
Eastern barn owl
The eastern barn owl (''Tyto javanica'') is usually considered a subspecies group and together with the American barn owl group, the western barn owl group, and sometimes the Andaman masked owl make up the barn owl. The cosmopolitan barn owl is ...
▣
Eastern blue-tongued lizard
The ''Tiliqua scincoides scincoides,'' or eastern blue-tongued lizard, is native to Australia. It is unique due to its blue tongue, which can be used to warn off predators. In addition to flashing its blue tongue, the skink hisses and puffs up its ...
▣
Eastern grey kangaroo
▣
Eastern long-necked turtle
The eastern long-necked turtle (''Chelodina longicollis'')Kennett, R., Roe, J., Hodges, K., and Georges, A. 2009. ''Chelodina longicollis'' (Shaw 1784) – eastern long-necked turtle, common long-necked turtle, common snake-necked turtle. ''In'': ...
▣
Eastern whipbird
The eastern whipbird (''Psophodes olivaceus'') is an insectivore, insectivorous passerine bird native to the east coast of Australia. Its whip-crack song is a familiar sound in forests of eastern Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Heard mu ...
▣
Eclectus parrot
The eclectus parrot (''Eclectus roratus'') is a parrot native to the Solomon Islands, Sumba, New Guinea and nearby islands, northeastern Australia, and the Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is unusual in the parrot family for its extreme sexual dimor ...
▣
Emu
The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ''Dromaius''. The emu' ...
▣
Gang-gang cockatoo
The gang-gang cockatoo (''Callocephalon fimbriatum'') is a parrot found in the cooler and wetter forests and woodlands of Australia, particularly alpine bushland. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Callocephalon''. Mostly mild grey in ...
▣
Gippsland water dragon
The Australian water dragon (''Intellagama lesueurii''), which includes the eastern water dragon (''Intellagama lesueurii lesueurii'' ) and the Gippsland water dragon (''Intellagama lesueurii howittii'' ) subspecies, is an arboreal agamid specie ...
▣
Helmeted honeyeater
The
helmeted honeyeater (''Lichenostomus melanops cassidix'') is a passerine bird in the honeyeater family. It is a distinctive and critically endangered subspecies of the yellow-tufted honeyeater, that exists in the wild only as a tiny relict p ...
▣
Kangaroo Island grey kangaroo
▣
Koala
The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the womb ...
▣
Lace monitor
The lace monitor or tree goanna (''Varanus varius'') is a member of the monitor lizard family native to eastern Australia. A large lizard, it can reach in total length and in weight. The lace monitor is considered to be a least-concern species ...
▣
Laughing kookaburra
The laughing kookaburra (''Dacelo novaeguineae'') is a bird in the kingfisher subfamily Halcyoninae. It is a large robust kingfisher with a whitish head and a brown eye-stripe. The upperparts are mostly dark brown but there is a mottled light ...
▣
Long-nosed potoroo
The long-nosed potoroo (''Potorous tridactylus'') is a small, hopping, gerbil-like mammal native to forests and shrubland of southeastern Australia and Tasmania. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it lives alone and digs at night f ...
▣
Major Mitchell's cockatoo
Major Mitchell's cockatoo (''Lophochroa leadbeateri''), also known as Leadbeater's cockatoo or the pink cockatoo, is a medium-sized cockatoo that inhabits arid and semi-arid inland areas of Australia, though it is seen regularly in other climat ...
▣
Orange-bellied parrot
The orange-bellied parrot (''Neophema chrysogaster'') is a small parrot endemic to southern Australia, and one of only three species of parrot that migrate. It was described by John Latham in 1790. A small parrot around long, it exhibits sex ...
▣
Rainbow lorikeet
The rainbow lorikeet (''Trichoglossus moluccanus'') is a species of parrot found in Australia. It is common along the eastern seaboard, from northern Queensland to South Australia. Its habitat is rainforest, coastal bush and woodland areas. Six ...
▣
Red-bellied pademelon
▣
Red-necked wallaby
The red-necked wallaby or Bennett's wallaby (''Notamacropus rufogriseus'') is a medium-sized macropod marsupial (wallaby), common in the more temperate and fertile parts of eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Red-necked wallabies have been i ...
▣
Red-tailed black cockatoo
The red-tailed black cockatoo (''Calyptorhynchus banksii'') also known as Banksian- or Banks' black cockatoo, is a large black cockatoo native to Australia. Adult males have a characteristic pair of bright red panels on the tail that gives t ...
▣
Regent honeyeater
The regent honeyeater (''Anthochaera phrygia'') is a critically endangered bird endemic to southeastern Australia. It is commonly considered a flagship species within its range, with the efforts going into its conservation having positive effe ...
▣
Rufous bettong
The rufous rat-kangaroo or rufous bettong (''Aepyprymnus rufescens'') is a small, jumping, rat-like mammal native to eastern Australia. It is the only species in the genus ''Aepyprymnus''. The largest member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroida ...
▣
Sacred kingfisher
The sacred kingfisher (''Todiramphus sanctus'') is a medium-sized woodland kingfisher that occurs in mangroves, woodlands, forests and river valleys in Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the western Pacific.
Taxonomy
The binomial name ''H ...
▣
Satin bowerbird
The satin bowerbird (''Ptilonorhynchus violaceus'') is a bowerbird endemic to eastern Australia.
A rare natural hybrid (biology), intergeneric hybrid between the satin bowerbird and the regent bowerbird is known as Rawnsley's bowerbird.
Descrip ...
▣
Shingleback lizard
''Tiliqua rugosa'', most commonly known as the shingleback lizard or bobtail lizard, is a short-tailed, slow-moving species of blue-tongued skink (genus ''Tiliqua'') endemic to Australia. It is commonly known as the shingleback or sleepy lizard ...
▣
Southern bettong
▣
Southern hairy-nosed wombat
The southern hairy-nosed wombat (''Lasiorhinus latifrons'') is one of three extant species of wombats. It is found in scattered areas of semiarid scrub and mallee from the eastern Nullarbor Plain to the New South Wales border area. It is the s ...
▣
Spinifex hopping mouse
The spinifex hopping mouse (''Notomys alexis''), also known as the tarkawara or tarrkawarra, occurs throughout the central and western Australian arid zones, occupying both spinifex-covered sand flats and stabilised sand dunes, and loamy mulga ...
▣
Spotted tree monitor
''Varanus timorensis'', the Timor monitor or spotted tree monitor, is a species of small monitor lizards native to the island of Timor and some adjacent islands.
Taxonomy
Kimberley rock monitors (''Varanus glauerti''), banded tree monitors (''V ...
▣
Spotted-tailed quoll
▣
Squirrel glider
The squirrel glider (''Petaurus norfolcensis'') is a nocturnal gliding possum. The squirrel glider is one of the wrist-winged gliders of the genus '' Petaurus''.
Habitat
This species' home range extends from Bordertown near the South Australia ...
▣
Sulphur-crested cockatoo
The sulphur-crested cockatoo (''Cacatua galerita'') is a relatively large white cockatoo found in wooded habitats in Australia, New Guinea, and some of the islands of Indonesia. They can be locally very numerous, leading to them sometimes being ...
▣
Superb parrot
The superb parrot (''Polytelis swainsonii''), also known as Barraband's parrot, Barraband's parakeet, or green leek parrot, is a parrot native to south-eastern Australia. It is a dimorphic species and one of three species in the genus ''Polyte ...
▣
Swamp wallaby
The swamp wallaby (''Wallabia bicolor'') is a small macropod marsupial of eastern Australia. This wallaby is also commonly known as the black wallaby, with other names including black-tailed wallaby, fern wallaby, black pademelon, stinker (in Qu ...
▣
Swift parrot
The swift parrot (''Lathamus discolor'') is a species of broad-tailed parrot, found only in southeastern Australia. The species breeds in Tasmania during the summer and migrates north to south eastern mainland Australia from Griffith-Warialda ...
▣
Tammar wallaby
The tammar wallaby (''Notamacropus eugenii''), also known as the dama wallaby or darma wallaby, is a small macropod native to South and Western Australia. Though its geographical range has been severely reduced since European colonisation, the ...
▣
Tasmanian devil
The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii'') (palawa kani: purinina) is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. Until recently, it was only found on the island state of Tasmania, but it has been reintroduced to New South Wales in ...
▣
Tawny frogmouth
The tawny frogmouth (''Podargus strigoides'') is a species of frogmouth native to the Australian mainland and Tasmania and found throughout. It is a big-headed, stocky bird, often mistaken for an owl, due to its nocturnal habits and similar colour ...
▣
Wedge-tailed eagle
The wedge-tailed eagle (''Aquila audax'') is the largest bird of prey in the continent of Australia. It is also found in southern New Guinea to the north and is distributed as far south as the state of Tasmania. Adults of this species have lon ...
▣
White-browed woodswallow
The white-browed woodswallow (''Artamus superciliosus'') is a medium-sized (~19 cm) passerine bird endemic to Australia. The white-browed woodswallow has very distinctive plumage consisting of white brow over a black head with the upper bod ...
▣
Woylie
The woylie or brush-tailed bettong (''Bettongia penicillata'') is a small, critically endangered, gerbil-like mammal native to forests and shrubland of Australia. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it moves by hopping and is acti ...
▣
Yellow-bellied glider
The yellow-bellied glider (''Petaurus australis''), also known as the fluffy glider, is an arboreal and nocturnal gliding possum that lives in native eucalypt forests in eastern Australia, from northern Queensland south to Victoria.
Habitat
...
▣
Yellow-tailed black cockatoo
The yellow-tailed black cockatoo (''Zanda funerea'') is a large cockatoo native to the south-east of Australia measuring in length. It has a short crest on the top of its head. Its plumage is mostly brownish black and it has prominent yello ...
Conservation
Moonlit has successfully bred a number of rare and endangered species including southern bettong (aka eastern bettong), eastern quoll, Julia Creek dunnart, fluffy glider (yellow-bellied glider) and squirrel glider. The eastern quoll and southern bettong are now extinct on the mainland and only found in the wild in Tasmania. In 2016 it opened a new breeding facility for the critically endangered orange-bellied parrots, designed to house up to 20 pairs.
Awards
In 2009 Moonlit Sanctuary won the Victorian Keep Australia Beautiful award for Preservation of the Environment with an emphasis on local fauna and flora.
In 2010 Moonlit Sanctuary won the Victorian Tourism Award for Ecotourism.,
won this award for a second time in 2014. for a third time in 2018 a fourth time in 2019and a fifth time in 2021.Subsequently to the 2021 win Moonlit Sanctuary was inducted into the Victorian Tourism Awards Hall of Fame.
In 2017 Moonlit Sanctuary won the Premier's Sustainability Award for Environmental Protection for their Orange-bellied Parrot Breeding for Recovery program.
In 2018 Moonlit Sanctuary won the Victorian Tourism Award for Tourism Attraction as well as Ecotourism.
Subsequently, they won Silver for Ecotourism at the 2018 Australian Tourism Awards.
Notes
External links
*
{{Zoos of Victoria
Tourist attractions in Victoria (Australia)
Zoos in Victoria (Australia)
Wildlife sanctuaries of Australia
Mornington Peninsula
Western Port
2001 establishments in Australia
Environment of Victoria (Australia)
Parks in Victoria (Australia)
Protected areas established in 2001
Wildlife parks in Australia