The Fennec Fox has hair on the soles of its feet to protect them from the burning heat of the Sahara Desert sand.
Zoo Plants
Special Plants in the Zoo Gardens
Taronga Zoo has many interesting plants within the grounds. Significant trees include:
Small Leaved Fig
Ficus obliqua.
A rainforest giant. These trees were planted when the zoo was developed in the early 1900's.
Tree Waratah
Alloxylon Flammeum.
Native to the moist forest of New South Wales and Queensland. The tree displays magnificent red flowers during summer. Flowering will not occur until it is 7 or 8 years old.
Tree Gardenia
Gardenia thunbergia.
Native to South Africa, it is found in evergreen forests - occasionally in woodland and bush. Large fragrant snow white flowers are borne through spring-summer, plus sporadic flowering throughout the year.
In Australia the plant grows to 5m tall by 3m wide. It is one of the largest of its type in Australia.
Wollemi Pine
Wollemia nobilis.
This is a conifer found growing in isolated gorges in the Wollemi Wilderness Area, approximately 100km from Sydney. This tree can grow to 40m high in its natural environment and is one of the greatest botanical finds of the 20th century. The pine appears to be a ‘living fossil' related to an extinct species of Araucariaceae found in the fossil record of South Australia about 50 million years ago.
Taronga's Wollemi Pine area features six pines growing with their associated flora. They are surrounded by warm-temperate rainforest species found growing on basalt soils dominated by coachwood, Ceratopetalum apetalum, Sassafras, Doryphora sassafras, Soft Tree Fern, Dicksonia antarctica, King Fern, Todea barbara, and intermixed with Sydney Peppermint, Eucalyptus piperita.
