Australian Reptile Park

Australian Reptile Park

Entrance to the Australian Reptile Park
Date opened	Australian Reptile Park established July 1958 (opened to public October 3, 1959); park re-opened at current site September 7, 1996; the Ocean Beach Aquarium (Reptile Park's precursor) was opened in 1950.
Location	Somersby, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	33°25′06″S 151°16′38″E / 33.418247°S 151.277222°E / -33.418247; 151.277222Coordinates: 33°25′06″S 151°16′38″E / 33.418247°S 151.277222°E / -33.418247; 151.277222
Land area	22 acres (8.9 ha)
No. of animals	2,000+
No. of species	400+
Annual visitors	250,000+
Memberships	Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA)[1] NSW Zoo Association (NSWZA) NSW Fauna and Marine Park Association (NSW FMPA) Australasian Society of Zoo Keeping (ASZK)
Website	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 M1 Pacific Motorway. The Park has one of the largest reptile collections in Australia, with close to 50 species on display. The wide variety of reptile species at the Park includes snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises, Komodo dragons, American alligators and crocodiles.

In addition, the Park features Australian mammals such as kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, platypuses, Tasmanian devils, a wombat, quokkas, echidnas, and dingoes. Australian birds featured include cassowaries.

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. It is an institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA).

History[]

The park was founded by Eric Worrell in 1948 ^[2] at the Ocean Beach Aquarium Umina Beach. In 1959, it was renamed the Australian Reptile Park and moved to Wyoming, north of Gosford.^[3]

A second move occurred in September 1996, to Somersby, adjacent to Old Sydney Town.^[3]

Brief chronology[]

1949 – Eric Worrell starts building Ocean Beach Aquarium at Umina Beach

1950 - Ocean Beach Aquarium opens to the public (includes a variety of marine fish, juvenile crocodile and snake and lizard pits). Eric Worrell begins his snake venom milking work to contribute to the anti-venom manufacturing by the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories

1955 – Ocean Beach Aquarium contributes to production of first antivenom to Taipan envenomation

1958 – The zoo moves to Wyoming, NSW and changes its name to the Australian Reptile Park (Ocean Beach remains open temporarily)

1959 - The Australian Reptile Park first opens to the public on the 3rd of October

1962 – The Australian Reptile Park contributes to availability of a full range of antivenoms

1963 – 'Ploddy' (originally named Dino), the dinosaur erected, the first of Australia's big icons

1968 – First nocturnal house in southern hemisphere opens

1970 – Eric Worrell receives MBE recognising his role in producing antivenom

1970 – The Park begins providing funnel-web spider venom to Seqiris (formerly bioCSL) in the long process of developing an antivenom

1972 – Captive breeding of cassowaries begins

1980 – The long-awaited funnel-web spider antivenom is made available

1985 – A management team is formed to steer the future of the Australian Reptile Park, which included future owners John and Robyn Weigel

1987 – Eric Worrell passes away, aged 62

1989 – 4.7-metre-long ‘Eric’ the saltwater crocodile is imported from the Northern Territory on a special jet freighter – named in honour of Eric Worrell

1992 – John and Robyn Weigel become principal owners of the business, and make the decision to relocate the Park.^[4]

1996 – A parade is held in Gosford celebrating the relocation of Ploddy the dinosaur to its new home. Over 15,000 well-wishers lined the streets and cheered as Ploddy was ceremoniously transported from Wyoming to her new home in Somersby

1996 – The Australian Reptile Park relocates to Somersby and reopens on 7 September

2000 – Just past midnight on 17 July, 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 9 September 2000, just over seven weeks after the fire.^[5]

2007 – A main attraction to the park, Eric the Crocodile passes away. He is replaced by Elvis, a 4.5 metre male saltwater crocodile

2008 – Park Director, John Weigel, is awarded Member of the Order of Australia for his contribution to Australian Tourism and the production of snake and spider antivenoms.

2011 – John Weigel founds Devil Ark, a conservation breeding facility for the endangered Tasmanian devil in the Barrington Tops that is now part of the larger Aussie Ark.

2013 – The Australian Reptile Park remains the sole supplier of terrestrial snake and funnel-web spider venom to Seqiris (formally bioCSL) for the nation's antivenom program.^[6] Over its 60-year history, it is estimated that the Park has assisted in saving close to 20,000 lives.^[2][7]

2013 – In July, more than twenty reptiles were stolen from the Park. Lizards, geckos, snakes and one alligator were taken.^[8] A pair of Soloman Island skinks were recovered in August^[9]

2015 – Australian Reptile Park Director, Tim Faulkner, is named "Conservationist of the Year" for 2015 by The Australian Geographic Society^[10]

2016 – Tim Faulkner and Liz Gabriel named as co-directors alongside John & Robyn Weigel

2018 – New Komodo Dragon exhibit opened. Home to two Komodo dragons named Kraken and Daenerys

2018 – Australian Reptile Park wins NSW State Business of the Year awarded by the NSW Business Chamber^[11]

2019 – The Park wins Best Major Attraction at the NSW Tourism Awards^[12]

2019 – A new exhibit, housing a pair of endangered Goodfellow's tree-kangaroos, is opened

Animals[]

Reptiles at the Park include American alligators, crocodiles, turtles, tortoises, skinks, Komodo dragons, monitor lizards, geckos, iguanas, pythons, taipans, brown snakes, death adders, and a King cobra.^[7]

Arachnids include tarantulas, funnel web spiders, trapdoor spider, huntsman spider, Goliath bird-eating spider, mouse spider, redback spider, wolf spider, and scorpions.^[7]

The Park also houses Australian mammals and birds including koalas, grey-headed flying foxes, eastern grey kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, wombats, wallabies, dingos, platypus, echidnas, ring tailed possums, quokkas and cassowaries.^[7] In late 2019, the Australian Reptile Park opened a new exhibit, displaying a pair of Goodfellow's tree-kangaroos.

Past Attractions[]

Eric the crocodile[]

A crocodile named Eric, born in 1947 in Australia's Northern Territory, was featured for many years at the park.^[13] 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 by consuming various animals such as chicken, goat and fish.^[14]

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.^[13] 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.^[14]

Education[]

Talks and presentations include Galápagos tortoise feedings, a reptile show, a Tasmanian devil talk, Koala talk, Spider talk, Dingo talk, and Alligator feeding.^[7]

The Australian Reptile Park also welcomes hundreds of school groups into the Park throughout each year for syllabus-based animal and conservation education.^[15]

Antivenom Programs[]

Snake venom-milking program[]

Since the 1960s, the Australian Reptile Park has been the sole suppliers of terrestrial snake venom for the purpose of making antivenom. It is estimated that 300 lives are saved by antivenom in Australia each year and since the program’s inception, approximately 20,000 Australian lives have been saved by the program. The Australian Reptile Park is currently home to 250 venomous snakes that are a part of the venom program that are milked on a fortnightly basis.

Milking snakes for venom[]

Focused judgement and great dexterity are needed to obtain snake venom from the venomous species of snakes found in Australia. Keepers at the Australian Reptile Park use two different techniques depending on the species of snake.

For taipans, mulga (king brown snakes) and tiger snakes, keepers position the snake’s fangs to penetrate a latex membrane stretched over a glass beaker. The snake then bites onto the beaker and the venom is dropped into the beaker and collected.

For Eastern brown snakes and death adders, a technique called “pipetting” is used. The procedure requires keepers to push a polypropylene pipette onto the snake’s fang with the venom dropping into the pipette.

After drying, the venom crystals are carefully scraped from the beakers and pipettes for weighing and packaging. Trained staff, who work with the venom in its various stages of processing, work extremely carefully with the venom to ensure it is not contaminated.

Producing snake antivenom[]

Once the venomous snakes have been milked at the Australian Reptile Park, it is then freeze-dried and sent to Seqiris (formally bioCSL) in Melbourne to be made into antivenom.

The process at Seqiris starts with the snake venom being injected into Percheron horses. Over 250 horses take part in the antivenom program, all living the life of luxury. They undergo minimal stress during the inoculation and extraction processes. Inoculation is harmless for the horses and extraction is as simple as donating blood for humans.

The horses are given increasing doses of venom over a period of six-months (until they have built up sufficient antibodies to the venom). Blood is then drawn from the horse with the antibodies extracted from the blood, purified and reduced to a usable form – this becomes antivenom.

The antivenom taken from the horses is used to treat humans suffering from snake envenomation. Antivenom is injected into the human bloodstream, with the antibodies attacking the venom, neutralising its effects. The dose of antivenom given to a patient varies according to the species responsible for the bite and, when it can be ascertained, the amount of venom injected. The age and weight of the victim makes no difference to the dose of antivenom required in the treatment.

Funnel-web spider venom-milking program[]

Since the inception of the Australian Reptile Park’s funnel-web spider antivenom program in 1981, zero deaths have been recorded due to a bite from a funnel-web spider. The Australian Reptile Park has played a massive role in this with assistance in the inventing the funnel-web antivenom as well as playing an ongoing role in providing the raw venom to Seqiris for antivenom to be made. The Australian Reptile Park’s venom program houses over 2,000 spiders from baby spiderlings up to full grown adult male specimens; who are milked on a weekly schedule.

The Australian Reptile Park encourages the public to catch funnel-web spiders in their homes and backyards, if it is safe to do so, and bring the spiders to various drop-off locations in around the Central Coast, Sydney and Newcastle.^[16] These spiders will become part of the Park's funnel-web spider breeding and venom-milking programs.

Milking funnel-web spiders for venom[]

Spider keepers at the Australian Reptile Park must use steady hands and extreme focus to milk funnel-web spiders. Using a glass pipette on the end of a small vacuum, keepers encourage the funnel web spider to rear up in a defensive position and then gently suck the venom from the end of the spider’s fangs.

Once all spiders have been milked, the venom is then removed from the pipette and frozen until shipment to Seqiris, where the venom is made into antivenom.

Producing funnel-web spider antivenom[]

The process of turning venom into antivenom is long and tricky but not impossible. Once the funnel-web spiders have been milked at the Australian Reptile Park, the venom is frozen and sent to Seqiris in Melbourne, Victoria.

The Seqiris team inject very small amounts of the venom into rabbits, increasing slowly over a six-month period until the rabbit is able to withstand six-times the lethal dose. Blood is then drawn from the rabbit and the blood is spun in a centrifuge. The spinning separates the antibodies from the blood, and it is these antibodies that make antivenom.

Television[]

Bondi Vet[]

The Australian Reptile Park was a frequent feature on Australian factual television series Bondi Vet, from 2010 until the show's completion in 2016. The episodes usually involved Director Tim Faulkner calling Dr. Chris Brown to the park, or taking an animal either to Chris' clinic or the closer clinic owned by Dr. Peter Nosworthy. As of 2014, Tim became a part of the regular cast with a segment airing in every episode. When the series was revived in 2019 as Bondi Vet: Coast to Coast, Faulkner was once again part of the cast.

The Wild Life of Tim Faulkner[]

The Australian Reptile Park is also shown in the spin-off show The Wild Life of Tim Faulkner, which focused primarily on Tim Faulkner's animal-related activities. "The Wild Life of Tim Faulkner" was shown on Channel 9 and the National Geographic Channel.

See also[]

• Aussie Ark
•  Reptiles portal

Notes[]

Further reading[]

• Markwell, Kevin. (2010). Snake-bitten : Eric Worrell and the Australian Reptile Park. Sydney: University of New South Wales. ISBN 978-1-74224-543-0. OCLC 704284884 ^[1]

External links[]

• Media related to Australian Reptile Park at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website