| Date opened | 1948 [1] (1996 at current location) |
|---|---|
| Location | Somersby, New South Wales, Australia |
| Land area | 22acres |
| Number of animals | 800+ |
| Number of species | 200+ |
| Annual visitors | 20,000+ |
| Memberships | ZAA[2] |
| Website | http://www.reptilepark.com.au/ |
The Australian Reptile Park is located at Somersby on the Central Coast, New South Wales in Australia. It is about 50 kilometres (31 mi) (a one hour drive) North of Sydney, and is just off the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway. The park is home to a variety of reptiles, including snakes, lizards and crocodiles, as well as other Australian animals, such as kangaroos, cassowaries and Tasmanian devils.
The park is heavily involved in snake and spider venom collection for use in the production of Antivenom and is credited for saving the lives of thousands.
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The park was founded by Eric Worrell in 1948 [1] at the Umina Beach Aquarium. It 1959 it was renamed Australian Reptile Park and moved to North Gosford,[3] on the site of a failed orange orchard.
A second move occurred in 1996, to Somersby, adjacent to Old Sydney Town.[3]
Just past midnight on 17 July 2000, most of the main park building was destroyed when a faulty electrical wiring caused a fire. Park staff helped fire crews, but ultimately the building was lost along with most of the hundreds of reptiles and frogs that had been maintained in the building. With a lot of work from the staff, and support from the city and from other zoos around Australia, the zoo was able to re-open its doors on the 9 September 2000, just over seven weeks after the fire.[4]
As of 2010, the Park remains the sole supplier of snake and funnel-web spider venom to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) for the nation's anti-venom program. Over its 60 year history the park has assisted in saving over 15,000 lives.[1][5][6]
Reptiles and snakes at the Park include American Alligators, crocodiles, turtles, tortoises, skinks, Komodo dragons, monitor lizards, geckos, iguanas, pythons, taipans, brown snakes, and death adders.[6]
Arachnids include tarantulas, funnel web spiders, trapdoor spider, huntsman spider, Goliath birdeater spider, mouse spider, redback spider, wolf spider, and scorpions.[6]
The Park also houses Australian animals including koalas, grey-headed flying foxes, eastern grey kangaroos, Tasmanian devil, wombats, wallabys, dingos, platypuses, echidnas, ring tailed possums, and cassowaries.[6]
The park is home to a large replica diplodocus initially named Dino, sometimes said to be the very first of Australia's Big Things. This structure had portions of its legs removed and was moved to Somersby when the park changed location. In the light of additional media attention the dinosaur was renamed "Ploddy".
A crocodile named Eric, born in 1947 in Australia's Northern Territory, was featured for many years at the park.[7] He was a star attraction and had a fan club of over 10,000 members across the world. Every year Eric consumed his own body weight of various animals such as chicken, goat and fish.[8]
Eric had been implicated in the disappearance of two indigenous children in the 1980s, and was captured for the safety of the community. He was first taken to Darwin Crocodile Farm, where he bit off the heads of two female crocodiles with whom he was supposed to mate, and lost his right rear foot in a duel with a fellow crocodile.[7] In 1989 he arrived by special freighter jet at the Australian Reptile Park and became a major attraction. He was named after the park's founder Eric Worrell who had died in 1987.
Eric the crocodile died on 30 June 2007 from a systemic infection, exacerbated because staff couldn't treat him due to power outages caused by storms in the area. His vet, Peter Nosworthy, believes age made him susceptible to the infection, while his size made it impossible to administer intensive care. At 5.6m long and 700 kg, Eric was the largest crocodile in New South Wales at the time of his death. A memorial to Eric is now at the rear of the park.[8]
Eric now has a successor called Elvis the who arrived at the park in September 2007, and has been dubbed the zoo's unhappiest resident. In December 2011, Elvis lost two teeth during an attack on park staff and their lawnmowers.[9]
Talks and presentations include Galapagos Tortoise feeding, a reptile show, a Tasmanian devil talk, Koala talk, Spider talk, Dingo talk, and Alligator feeding.[6]
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