2022 was a humungous year for us all here at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

With one of the wettest forecasts to date, an extended spring season was felt with a jaw dropping baby boom.

April was the month of Easter treats with the arrival of a zebra filly, Marion and Lwazi's first litter of four African lion cubs and Murruwa the quokka joey.

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April and June saw giraffe calves Matata and Wayo born 3-weeks-apart and that was soon followed by Zambazi and Amanzi in October - a mere one day apart!

Ring-tailed lemur twins were welcomed in September, followed closely by the arrival of a Spider monkey into the troop in November. The exciting births didn't stop there, in November, two critically endangered addax calves joint the herd, as well as a critically endangered Bongo calf.

In March we had a huge delivery from over the ditch with the arrival of Asian Elephant Anjalee who has since integrated into the herd, and in April we carried out a critical White rhino bull swap of bulls Umfana and Satara to ensure genetic diversity in our crash.

The zoo celebrated it's 45th Birthday in February and saw the first ever Tasmanian Devils on display at our site. In March we were awarded Bronze at the Australian Tourism Awards and backed up our win with Gold at the NSW Tourism Awards for Best Major Tourist Attraction (for the second year in a row) and a Gold in the Unique Accommodation category for Zoofari Lodges.

In November, we launched a family-fun activity with ten pedal boats on our Savannah Lake, giving guests an option of exploring around our Primate Islands like never before.

December saw two huge construction milestones - the $20million funding announcement for a Serengeti Plains Visitor Experience and the official opening of the new Wildlife Hospital for all guests to finally see through the window into how our veterinary staff heal the 700+ animals in the zoo, as well as the wildlife that the public bring in on the daily.

Our Sanctuary conservation programs had a huge year, with unprecedented breed and release success. The Plains-wanderer program released 11 critically endangered birds into Oolambeyan National Park, NSW, and 32 of our Greater Bilbies boarded a chartered flight and were released into Australian Wildlife Conservancy's Newhaven Sanctuary, NT.

The Regent Honeyeater program successfully hatched 33 chicks for the second breeding season and teamed up with Taronga Zoo Sydney to release an incredible 50 individuals onto Wonnarua Country in the Hunter Valley, NSW. The team are amidst the third breeding season with numbers already beating the previous seasons!

In a mere seven months, the Chuditch team commenced a breeding program from scratch, successfully bred 14 joeys from three pairs and released a cohort of 15 mixed aged individuals into the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park in SA in a bid to bolster the small wild population.

Taronga Western Plains Zoo now turns its attention to 2023 with construction steaming ahead on the world's largest purpose-built Platypus conservation centre - the Taronga Platypus Rescue HQ.

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