| Alice Springs Desert Park | |
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 Alice Springs Desert Park logo | |
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| 23°42′23″S133°49′57″E / 23.7065°S 133.8325°E /-23.7065; 133.8325 | |
| Date opened | March 1997 |
| Location | Alice Springs,Northern Territory, Australia |
| Land area | 1,300 hectares (3,212 acres)[1] |
| No. of species | 120[2] |
| Annual visitors | 68,300 (2017)[3] |
| Memberships | Zoo and Aquarium Association,[5]Botanic Gardens Conservation International[6] |
| Major exhibits | Desert Rivers, Sand Country, Nocturnal House, Woodland |
| Owner | Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory[4] |
| Website | alicespringsdesertpark |
TheAlice Springs Desert Park is anenvironmental education facility andwildlife park inAlice Springs in theNorthern Territory of Australia.
It is sited on 1,300 hectares (3,212 acres), with a core area of 52 hectares (128 acres). It is an institutional member of theZoo and Aquarium Association andBotanic Gardens Conservation International.
The park contains native animals and plants representative ofCentral Australiandesert environments, and contributes to theirconservation through research programs as well as through public education. It offers people the opportunity to experience the variety of the deserts of central Australia, exploring the relationships between the plants, animals and people.
The area is culturally important to the localArrernte people. Much of the work of the park is under the auspices of their decision-makers and caretakers – people once known as the park'straditional owners.[7][8]
The park contains three separate walk-through desert habitat areas accessed through a 1.6-kilometre (1 mi) trail: Desert Rivers, Sand Country, and Woodland. In addition, it has a Nocturnal House and a nature theatre. The entrance area includes an exhibition centre, rest rooms, and café.[2][9]
In this habitat, visitors walk through dry river beds, and areas that have been flooded, and past swamps and water holes. The plants here include river red gums, coolibah trees, aquatic plants, and reeds. Animals in this habitat include finches, cockatoos, water birds, frogs, and fish. Demonstrations here show how the Aboriginal people use this habitat to harvest food and medicine.[10]
This exhibit is a re-creation of the sandy desert including clay, gypsum, and salt pans.[9]
The Nocturnal House is located between the Sand Country and Woodland habitats, and is home to many Central Australian reptiles, invertebrates, birds, and mammals that are active during the night. The collection includes some reptiles that may be active during the day but difficult to find in the desert.[9][11]
The Woodland habitat includes enclosures forkangaroos andemus.[9] Visitors can walk among the kangaroos in their exhibit area.[2]
Presentations at the Nature Theatre show visitors some of the animals that might be seen while walking through the park, including demonstrations with free-flying birds of prey.[12]
Presentations at the park, include information on Aboriginal survival one focusing on water gathering and another on food gathering. The food gathering presentation is particularly focused on the Arrernte people and includes information on sex roles, with the distinct jobs of men and women. Information on kinship focuses on Arrernteskin names and the rules for relationships built around the skin name groupings.[13]
Point of Sales.
Zoos of theNorthern Territory | |
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Authority control databases: Geographic |
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