The guide told us that the weather here is similar to where the animals would live in the Australasia. They had a few non-South Pacific animals like a donkey, a biting mini horse, a Peruvian spitting llama, and lemurs from Madagascar.
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| She was having a bad day - somedays you spit, somedays you kick |
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| I got an alpaca kiss |
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| Poor Jack - no babies to care for |
I was interested in the Emus and the facts learned. The female lays the eggs (duh) and the males do all the rest. They build the nest, Incubate for 8 weeks, and raise the chicks. We got to feed the two emus they had and heard the story about Mary and Jack, their 2 emus. Jack started building the nest, but Mary wasn't interested. Jack pulled rocks from his compound to the nest and Mary still wasn't interested. Jack brooded on the rocks - no luck ......ah, the problem was Mary was really a male and now named Marvin.
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| Well, wallaby moseying along |
I still don't know the difference between a kangaroo, a wallaby, or a wallaroo but the Outback had them all. Some liked to be fed pellets by hand others would just move away.
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| mom's napping - joey is restless |
Most fascinating was the mama with a "joey" baby in her pouch. This joey was about 4 months old. I was reminded of what I had heard about baby kangaroos: they are the size of a jelly bean when born and must crawl up to it's mother's pouch where they find a teat. They live in there for about 6 months. The mama is in charge of cleaning out the pouch while the baby is there. She keeps the opening of the pouch mostly closed until the joey is fully developed and getting ready to flee the pouch.
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| Those are long claws coming out of that pouch |
We were there on a day when the baby was sticking face, ear, and leg out. The pouch opening still isn't big enough for the baby to leave. We were told that it would be soon.
Also got a kick out of momma lolling on her back while napping.
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| The Outback Gang |
