Back in December 2022, Taronga Zoo scored two impossibly cute baby dingos – fluffier than all of our wildest dingo dreams. The opportunity to meet the pups was a huge hit at the zoo, and though the canine creatures are now a little bigger (and notably less fluffy), it's still fascinating to witness Australia's only native canid up close and personal.
Warada and Kep Kep were born on Dharug country in NSW, and Wathawurrung country in Victoria, respectively. Australian mammal keeper, Natalie Holdsworth described them as the “perfect pair”, with Kep Kep (whose name means sugar in Wathawurrung language) apparently extremely sweet, friendly and engaged with all the people around him. Warada (whose name means beautiful in Dharug language) is meant to be highly inquisitive and switched-on, with her focussed on surveying her territory and the world around her.
Visitors to Taronga Zoo are able to meet the dingos IRL, with the zoo putting on a special (and free) Dingo Keeper's talk, as well as a new ‘Dingo Encounter’ experience that lets you get up close to the canine cuties behind-the-scenes. Held at 1:30pm daily during school holidays and costing $69.95 per person, this interactive experience will allow you to sit ‘paw-to-paw’ with the pups as they get taken through a dingo enrichment program, where they will play right in front of you.
How’s that for some dingo delight?
