Kangaroos ...

Kangaroos are about as Australian as you get. The idea of roaming kangaroos, similar to rabbits or squirrels back home, was kind of scary yet I was disappointed when I was unable to find them roaming the streets of downtown. Not that that is what I was really expecting, but they were harder to track down than I thought.

Don't worry ... I found some. And then took a thousand pictures, kind of like I did with the koalas.

Kangaroos are the only large animal to use hopping as their primary means of getting around and because it's feet are so big they are unable to walk like normal. They use their tail for balance to help them move at slower speeds and then every once in a while it gets real crazy and moves into a kind of crawling position and moves on all fours.

So I was kind of in awe when I saw this kangaroo for the first time, especially after realizing that there was nothing more than a less than knee high fence providing my protection. But it seemed so far away, so I hit the record button and got a little footage ... and almost lost my footage in the process .... You'll have to watch to get it:

You'll have to click here to watch.

And then when it doesn't feel like moving anymore, they just lay down and max and relax. Although they're not as 'lazy' as koalas, this mob, or troop, whichever you prefer, wasn't very active. They did roll around a lot ... I definitely wouldn't want to sleep next to one:

My friend Bernie told me that in rural areas you can find road kill kangaroo similar to road kill deer or raccoons back home. Gross, huh? I also learned that if in fact you do hit a mother kangaroo on the road it is up to you to decide whether or not you will save the joey. Apparently the rule is that if the joey is already covered with hair it has a good chance of survival. You can choose to take care of it yourself and later donate it to a wildlife sanctuary when you are no longer able to provide proper care as domesticated joeys rarely are able to survive independently in the wild. That means you would have to go digging around in the pouch of a dead kangaroo to first find out whether or not there was a joey and then be willing to provide the proper care of milk and lots of cuddling. I'd probably do it. Especially when they're this cute:

Look at this adorable kangaroo family ...

Mom & dad are spooning:

They're in love:

And this is their baby ... I made up a whole story about them:

And then there were some wallabies, which are just a smaller species of kangaroo. These ones had stripped tails and were smaller than the other kangaroos I saw. They were still kind of cute though.

I think this one's giving me the evil eye:

My only disappointment was that I didn't get to see two kangaroos boxing. Trent's disappointment was that I didn't get kicked by one. He's such a nice guy. :)



much love

-tara-

xx

Koalas ...

What do you think of when you hear Australia? Besides the Aussie accent, koalas & kangaroos, duh. Well, let the truth be told, I took WAY too many pictures of the koalas but I couldn't help it!! They're adorable and even though, contrary to popular belief, they are not ALL over the place, you can find them here & there. I learned a lot about koalas at the Sydney Wildlife World so I won't have to copy and paste all of the information from Wikipedia this time around. :)


There are multiple koala sanctuaries all over the east coast of Australia (koalas don't inhabit the western side of the country) and, although the species is not considered threatened, many organizations and interest groups have dedicated themselves to 'saving' the koalas. Although koalas were once hunted, their leading threats today are, believe it or not, dog attacks and traffic accidents. Habitat loss as a result of urbanization is also a major concern for the future of the koala. But as of right now, there are lots of koalas and I was lucky enough to get to see my fair share.

Koalas have two thumbs to climbing trees. Weird, huh?:

Baby koalas are called joeys, who would've thought? Baby koalas are born without hair, ears, or vision. I'm going to assume they're not very cute. Considering koalas are marsupials, they have a pouch where they keep their newborn joeys for approximately six months. After that the babies tend to leave the pouch but stick around the same area as their mothers for up to about a year if they're a girl and for two to three years for the boys. They must be momma's boys. :)

They're so adorable:

Koalas are sleep and/or motionless for about 16-18 hours a day.

What a lame life, huh?:

They spend the rest of the day eating eucalyptus:

And then back to sleep:

Koalas have the strangest brains. Apparently, once upon a time, their ancestor's brains filled the entire cranial cavity but today's koalas aren't quite so smart. Something like 42% of their cranial cavity is filled with cerebral fluid and the size of their brain is compared to two shriveled walnuts. Poor things. Scientists consider the diminishing brain size to be somewhat of a mystery and haven't seen that same kind of degenerate evolution in any other species of animal.

AND ... koalas have fingerprints. How cool is that? Not many mammals do. Apparently they are eerily similar to human fingerprints, even under a microscope.
It's also true that koalas have been known to be quite violent when they feel threatened or are surprised. So, never sneak up on a koala. They have really sharp claws and the few teeth that they do have are also pretty sharp. I was able to see both their claws and teeth up close at the Wildlife World. Trust me, you don't want to mess with a koala.
While I was there the koalas were up and active and I was able to go into the sanctuary area and pet and feed them. It was really, really cool. There weren't many other people there and the lady that was caring for the koalas was exceptionally nice and let me hold one. But apparently it was against the rules, so shhh. :)

This is the little guy that I got to hold:

He was adorable and cuddly and I kind of wanted to take him home. At least those were my thoughts in the first 30 seconds ... then he got kind of heavy and I realized how sharp his claws were (especially since they were digging into my arm) and then he tried to bite me. Ok not really, he was more like kind of nuzzling my neck, but he was way too close for comfort. He had to go back to his tree & I lost all desire to have a pet koala.

much love
-tara-
xx

Sydney Wildlife World ...

Sydney Wildlife World opened in 2006 and is located on Darling Harbour right next to the Aquarium. There really isn't a whole lot to say about it other than that it was amazing. I got to hold all of these crazy things and feed weird insects and get up close and personal with the native wildlife. Pretty sweet stuff.

Praying Mantises are so strange:

Especially this one ... It was the the size of my forearm & exceptionally creepy.:
I realize that these are just ants, but they were huge.

And had this whole, enormous monster ant colony going on:

Just for Bobbi ... and Larry :)
And then there were the snakes ...
That I got to touch, but I couldn't bring myself to hold it.
These lizards were crazy & I fed them crickets:
I know Kylee would have loved this bird :)And then there were all of these Australian nocturnal rodents.

This one was called a bilby and was actually kind of cute. Actually, maybe it was really cute.

Some sort of Aussie mouse ... not cute.Yet another strange rodent ...
And then there was the butterfly house ...
These were all of the species:

Some of them were huge and some were tiny, but it was crazy walking in because they were everywhere. They would land on you & fly around ... It was a little weird, but kind of cool.
If you look close enough you can seriously find at least 50 of them.

Next up, koalas & kangaroos. :)

much love

-tara-

xx