A hot and steamy Indonesian swamp forest habitat teeming with plant and animal life – including one of the world’s largest crocodilians, opens at Auckland Zoo this Saturday 22 October.

The innovative new animal habitat and visitor experience, created within a large climate-controlled tropical dome, completes the build of the Zoo’s South East Asia Jungle Track – the largest and most ambitious renewals project in the Zoo’s 100-year history.

“Like all of the habitats within this Track, the swamp forest enables us to provide the highest levels of animal care, and at an international level, places us at the forefront of what a good modern zoo is all about – for both animals and people,” says Auckland Zoo’s head of animal care and conservation, Richard Gibson.

Visitors are immediately transported to the tropics on entering the 28-degree, 70-90 percent humidity environment - currently home to threatened Sunda gharial crocodiles, 13 different fish species (including Asian arowana), and thousands of plants from more than a 100 species. #aucklandzoo #ponsonbynews