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Perhaps no creatures benefited more from the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance replacing its outdated Bird World building with the new Down Under habitat than Salem and Neville. Previously, the two southern cassowaries were swapped in and out of a single public-facing area tucked outside the 44-year-old facility. As of May 2024, however, the giant flightless birds have become stars of the Australia exhibit, where they enjoy large, adjacent outdoor enclosures that could be connected during future attempts to breed the endangered animals.
The prehistoric-looking avians—considered one of the world’s most dangerous birds, thanks to their size (often 100-plus pounds), speed (up to 31 mph), and bone-shattering kicking power—are one of four species showcased in Down Under. The three-acre habitat is designed to immerse visitors in the sights, smells, and sounds of Australia—particularly within Wallaby Way, where there are no fences separating visitors from more than a dozen marsupials—and as always, the zoo’s intention is to entertain and educate.
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“[We want to] facilitate authentic connections between humans and animals—to develop that empathy for animals, to be able to take their perspectives,” says Brittany Frederick, the zoo’s director for conservation engagement. “Over time, that translates to wanting to care for them and conserve them.” We asked Frederick and Matthew Lenyo, the zoo’s curator of primates in Australasia, to help us uncover five surprises that await guests in the Denver Zoo’s Down Under habitat.
1. There are no koalas.
You also won’t find platypuses or wombats or Tasmanian devils. Although these are all iconic Australian species, Lenyo says, the zoo considers much more than name recognition when deciding which animals to house. “We have what we call an institutional collection plan, and essentially, it’s a living document that looks at, as an organization, what are our priorities?” Lenyo says. In addition to making sure Colorado’s climate is appropriate for incoming animals, the calculus includes balancing population conservation efforts with responsibly managing resources, from money to water to electricity.
Red-necked wallabies and Huon tree kangaroos (a rare species from Papua New Guinea), which both have Species Survival Plans with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, were in. So were the zoo’s existing residents from Oz: the southern cassowaries and red kangaroos. Tasmanian devils, however, have too large of an environmental impact, since they can’t be bred in the United States and must be imported from Australia. And koalas—those fuzzy, aww-inducingly adorable arboreal marsupials? “We’re also looking at the level of engagement,” Lenyo says. “Koalas are really cool animals, but they’re not super active. They don’t do a lot. They like to eat and sleep.”
2. You can walk in the midst of a mob of wallabies and kangaroos.
Delivering on the zoo’s mission to make Down Under an immersive experience, Wallaby Way is a sweeping enclosure with a winding pathway where visitors can stroll alongside wallabies and kangaroos. Zoo employees are stationed at the entrance to instruct guests to put away food, stay on the walkway, and give the animals space should they approach. But once inside, there’s nothing obstructing guests’ sightlines to the animals as they hop, munch, sniff, and generally go about their days.
“There’s no barrier,” Frederick says. “We’re able to see what those wallabies really look like, what they smell like, the things that they’re doing in a way that just feels really close and authentic.” On the way in, families can pick up a guide to help kids observe what, exactly, the marsupials are up to.
Such an open design relies on visitors to behave themselves, and although the risks of Yellowstone-bison-selfie-esque behaviors were discussed, Lenyo says he wasn’t too worried. “One of the reasons that we wanted to try this is that we know our Denver community,” Lenyo says. “We know they care a lot about the Denver Zoo, and we have a great relationship and trust.” So far, he adds, guests have been respectful of the rules and the animals.
Currently, Wallaby Way is home to 12 red-necked wallabies and three kangaroos, most of which are male, but there is room for growth, either via introducing more adults or the birth of joeys. “We’re looking to bring in more wallabies this fall—more younger girls to join the mob,” Lenyo says.
3. The art was created by an Indigenous Australian woman named Kirli Saunders.
Throughout Down Under, look for the colorful contemporary artwork of Kirli Saunders, a Gunai woman who has ties to the Biripi, Gundungurra, Yuin, and Dharawal peoples of the east coast of Australia. She created the designs that adorn a hanging piece near the Wallaby Way entrance, a mural on the new bathroom building, and interpretive signage. Saunders also served as a consultant during the conception of Down Under.
“It’s a pretty unique take among North American zoos to really work to elevate a platform for First Nations peoples to tell their own stories, instead of us telling stories for them,” Frederick says, noting that her team rejected a sheep station (a fixture in many other zoos’ Australia exhibits) because of its ties to colonialism. In contrast, traditional knowledge—from Saunders, herself a conservationist who manages land and animals in Australia, and other Indigenous stewards she connected the zoo with—is highlighted throughout Down Under.
4. The flora is mostly native to Colorado but meant to mimic Australian landscapes.
In addition to installing a recycled water irrigation system, the zoo’s horticulture team chose plants that will be hardy enough to withstand Colorado’s climate fluctuations while still creating an Australian outback feel. “The challenge that they have is they are also designing this exhibit with these plants that are very appetizing,” Lenyo says, noting that guests might notice temporary fencing around some landscaping within Wallaby Way. “We’re excluding the animals temporarily in order to allow those plants to develop. And you know, if they decide to have a huge buffet once those fences come down, we’ll evaluate and go from there.”
Phytophiles can follow the native bees to Salvia azurea (blue sage) and Ratibida columnifera (long-headed coneflower), both drought-tolerant prairie perennials that were chosen to evoke grassland habitats of Australia, says Denver Zoo curator of horticulture Allie Byrd Skaer. The former can grow up to five feet tall, with flowers that range from sky blue to periwinkle, and the latter has a similar aesthetic to yellow daisies. With tropical-looking burgundy, pink, or white blooms on shrubby trees that grow to around 15 feet, Chilopsis linearis (desert willow) adds rainforest vibes, while the four-to-six-inch-wide red, pink, and white flowers of Hibiscus moscheutos (crimson-eyed rose mallow) draw hummingbirds to the cassowary habitat.
5. Marshmallow and Anita, both rescues, have quickly become fan favorites.
Marshmallow, an albino female wallaby, would likely have been popular with guests no matter what, given that her white coat makes her easily identifiable within the mob. But the mild-mannered marsupial has a compelling backstory: She came to the Denver Zoo earlier this year from SeaQuest Littleton, an aquarium that shuttered after years of animal welfare complaints and regulatory citations. Similarly, Anita, a red kangaroo, was rescued from a zoo in Puerto Rico and, perhaps due to her previous exposure to humans, is a little less shy than other Wallaby Way residents.
Frederick says the zoo is increasingly leaning into the public’s appetite for hearing about animals’ individual quirks. Neville the cassowary, for example, “is a funny bird, because he’s this big dinosaur-looking bird—and cassowaries have a reputation for the potential to be pretty dangerous,” Frederick says. “And he’s actually a little bit of a scaredy cat.”
It’s fun, but it’s also a big part of the strategy to engender empathy that will eventually spur conservation action. “We’re moving from presenting the animals in our care as ‘a wallaby’ to presenting the animals in our care as ‘Marshmallow, the wallaby,’ right? Who has her own thoughts, who has her own feelings, who has her own individual needs. She gets sunscreen on her nose,” Frederick says. “Creating these immersive habitats gives us the vehicle to be able to do that in new and unique ways.”
The Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. General admission ($25.20 for adults, $22.05 for seniors, $18.90 for kids, free two and under) grants you access to the Down Under exhibit. Reserve tickets online.
