Video! Watch Leanne introduce a shingle-back lizard to zoo visitors. Leanne's Photo Album. Tour the Australia Zoo. Talk About the Crew. Meet Another Crew Member.

Leanne Yates is second in charge of the Australia Zoo's roving department. Born in 1964, Leanne moved with her family to the Gold Coast, where she grew up playing on the beach and swimming in Australia's best surf. As a child Leanne brought home every stray animal she could find, which proves her innate love of animals, along with a love of children (Leanne has two).

Although she always wanted to work with animals, Leanne has an interesting work history. She was a beach surveyor monitoring beach erosion, an activities coordinator at a Sheraton hotel, a flight attendant, a wildlife coordinator at a deer sanctuary, a stand-in for actress Linda Koslowski in Crocodile Dundee III and a stunt woman in The Lost World.

When Leanne visited Australia Zoo in late 2001 she was immediately impressed by its great forward planning. She started work there in January 2002. Leanne played representative touch football and was also a rep swimmer. She has a pet dog and fish. She would dearly love to work with gorillas, which the zoo hopes to acquire in the near future.