Australia Zoo

The Australia Zoo is my favorite zoo! It really was amazing! The zoo itself was so beautiful it felt more like I was in a park verses a zoo, they really tried to simulated the outdoors. Many of the animals only stayed in the fenced in areas during zoo hours 9-4:30. After that time they were lead to roam freely in a different area. For examples at 4:30 the elephants were taken through a back gate at the exhibit and got to roam 30 acres of land until 9am the next morning. As you can imagine it was alot of walking!! My favorite part about the zoo was that it was very educational and hands on....I got to pet a koala, hold a koala, touch a huge python, pet kangaroos and feed a elephant. We didn't see all the animals because I was so wrapped up in the koalas and kangaroos. If I had to pick a favorite I would have to say it was petting the kangaroos. I had never seen one in person and I was about to burst having to wade our way through the zoo until we found them. There were 2 locations of HUGE fenced in areas were the kangaroos roamed freely. The fenced in areas were just beautiful and dreamy quiet with nature. It seemed almost surreal to be sitting in the middle of it petting a kangaroo. I really was amazing! Jeff and I both wished Ty would have been there he would have LOVED it (Ava probably not so much but definately Ty!) In theme of the zoos educational efforts, I will educate you about the animals we saw that were native to Australia:) If you don't want to read my SUPERLONG educating post then check out the videos at the end for a taste of the fun. Native Australian animals at the zoo we didn't have time to see (like I said we spent alot of time with the kangaroos, koalas, and crocs) were the dingos, Tasmanian Devils, Bettong (rat kangaroo). Koala. They are a tree-dwelling, herbivorous marsupial (which means that their young are born immature & they develop further in the safety of a pouch) which averages about 20lbs in weight. Its fur is thick and usually ash grey with a tinge of brown in places. The koala gets its name from an ancient Aboriginal word meaning "no drink" because it receives over 90% of its hydration from the Eucalyptus leaves it eats, and only drinks when ill or times when there is not enough moisture in the leaves.The koala is the only mammal, other than the Greater Glider and Ringtail Possum, which can survive on a diet of eucalyptus leaves.Koalas do not live in rainforests or desert areas. They live in the tall eucalypt forests and low eucalypt woodlands of mainland eastern Australia and on some islands off the southern and eastern coasts. Asian elephants (ok not native to Australia but what is a zoo without elephants) They had 3 of them Bimbo 49yrs (pictured above),Sabu 50 yrs, Siam 51 yrs Reticulated Python. Lily is the largest snake at Australia Zoo, at a length 23ft or and an estimated to weight of about 330lbs. She is huge! Reticulated Pythons are one of only two types of snakes in the world that are regarded to have the capability to eat people. (not a native to Australia but it I thought is was cool how big she is, this pictures doesn't do justice at how big she is and she's not done growing!) Koala populations only occur if suitable habitat is available and because Koala's are very fussy eaters and have strong preferences for different types of gumleaves, then the most important factor which make habitats suitable are the presence of tree species preferred by koalas (usually eucalypts, but also some non-eucalypts) growing in particular associations on suitable soils with adequate rainfall. Eucalyptus leaves are very fibrous and low in nutrition, and to most animals are extremely poisonous. To cope with such a diet, nature has equipped koalas with specialised adaptations. A very slow metabolic rate allows koalas to retain food within their digestive system for a relatively long period of time, maximising the amount of energy able to be extracted. The Echidna. It has a slender snout and long, flicking tongue. The Echidna also has distinctive sharp spines (quills) along its back and sides for protection against predators. When threatened, the Echidna will curl inwards, leaving only their sharp spines exposed. The echidna is classed as a monotreme - a mammal that lays eggs. The only other animal who belongs to the monotreme order is the platypus Me feeding the elephant. It was so amazing I did it 3 times so I could feed all of them. Two of them sucked up the fruit like a vaccum then used a pincher grasp with it's trunk then brought it to it's mouth to eat. While the baby one wraped it's truck around the fruit then ate it. Short Bio about Steve Irwin: Known for his trademark khaki shorts, happy-go-lucky manner and adding "Crikey!" and "Look at this beauty!" to everyday language, he was a wildlife warrior who never waivered in his opposition to the hunting of any animal, nor in his committment to educating people about wildlife. Steve Irwin was born in Essendon in Victoria, Australia, on February 22, 1962. In 1970, his parents founded the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park, later to become the Australia Zoo, on the country's Sunshine Coast. The park specialized in rehabilitating ill or injured baby kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and koalas, and Steve grew up surrounded by wildlife.When his father, Bob, decided to do something about the hunting which threatened to destroy Australia's crocodile population, Steve played his part, working for Australia's Crocodile Relocation Programme which captured and moved the reptiles to safer areas, often to their Australia Zoo. Despite his often light-hearted manner, Steve's commitment to protecting crocodiles was serious. "Every chance I get, I will put my life on the line to save crocs," he told one interviewer. A diehard conservationalist, Steve Irwin saw his mission in life was a to education people about animals. "If you can’t get wilds into people’s hearts", he said, "then we haven’t got a hope in heck of saving them — because people don’t want to save something they don’t know." He fulfilled his mission as an environmentalist by creating International Crocodile Rescue and the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation — which later became an independent charity and was renamed Wildlife Warriors Worldwide. Before going to the zoo I had a different thoughts about Steve Irwin. I thought he was entertaining and fun to watch (a little crazy) but mainly just a face on t.v. I didn't realize all that he has done and how truely gifted and intelligent he was about what he did. And how much a conservationist he really was. The zoo was truely his handly work (before I thought he just worked at the zoo not knowing that he owned it). The zoo itself was a testiment of how he wanted to educate people about wildlife, I loved getting up close and personal to the animals. After it I have respect for him and his lifes work that I never had before. He really was just one man with a dream that made a huge difference in Australia's wildlife and even the world. Behind the stadium that was rows of kakhi shirts (and other items drawings, poem, stuff toy crocs) where people had signed and left messages to the family honoring Steve and his lifes work. Kangaroos vary greatly in size, ranging in weight from 1 to 200 pounds. There are at least 69 different types of kangaroo. These species are found naturally in the wild only in Australia and New Guinea. Kangaroos of all sizes have one thing in common - powerful back legs with long feet. They are distinguished from other animals by the way they hop on these strong back legs. Hopping uses slightly less energy than four-footed running, but this advantage is lost at low speed. To move slowly, kangaroos balance on their front paws and tail, and then swing their hind legs forward in a pendulum motion. One of the many odd things about kangaroos is that, on land, they can only move their hind feet together but when swimming they can kick each leg independently. The comfortable hopping speed for Red Kangaroo is about 13–16 mph, but speeds of up to 44 mph can be attained over short distances. This fast and energy-efficient method of travel has evolved because of the need to regularly cover large distances in search of food and water, rather than the need to escape predators. The average life expectancy of a kangaroo is about 4–6 years. Kangaroos have adapted to the varied conditions across Australia in many ways. One of the most unusual, is the way females of some species can delay the progress of pregnancy. In this way the female is ready to give birth to a replacement for the young in her pouch if it dies early, or within a week of when it permanently leaves the pouch. This ability to delay births means that there can be up to 12 months between a mating and the birth of the young one resulting from that mating (when the normal gestation period is less than 35 days). It also means that the species can best respond to periods of drought and plenty. Species which have this unusual ability normally mate again soon after the female gives birth. At the Crocoseum show, the elephants made a entrance in the show a did a few tricks. As with all marsupials, the young are born at a very early stage of development – after a gestation of 31–36 days. At this stage, only the forelimbs are somewhat developed, to allow the newborn to climb to the pouch and attach to the mothers milk supply. During the early stages of pouch life the young is permanently attached to the teat, but as it matures and begins to grow hair it also develops the ability to release and reattach itself to the teat.In the late stages of pouch life, once it has a thin covering of fur, the young one begins to explore the outside world for increasing lengths of time until eventually it is old enough to be excluded permanently from the pouch. Complete weaning may take a number of months more after the young has permanently left the pouch. The Scarlet Macaw is the most well known of the macaw species. With its bright red plumage with blue and yellow wings this particular bird really stands out amongst a crowd. Scarlet Macaws are also highly intelligent birds with the learning capability of 5 to 7 year old child. For this reason alone, macaws do not generally make good pets. Combine this with a life expectancy of almost 70 years and you are looking at a lifetime of looking after the equivalent of a 5 year old child. At the Crocoseum the several species of birds did a flight show and the scarlet Macaws landed close to where we were sitting. The world's 10 most deadliest snakes are found in Australia...YIKES! They have 11 bengal tigers-5 of which were cubs. Here they are taking one of the cubs for a walk in a closed off part of the zoo. We were able to see the cub peeking through the fence of the kangaroo heaven. These tiger are BEAUTIFUL! Kangaroos are one of the only animals that are not able to move backwards easily, and this is why they are used on the Australian national emblem. The Koala is well suited to life in the trees. The koala has an excellent sense of balance and its body is lean and muscular and its quite long, strong limbs support its weight when climbing. The arms and legs are nearly equal in length and the koala's climbing strength comes from the thigh muscle joining the shin much lower than in other animals. Its paws are especially adapted for gripping and climbing with rough pads on the palms and soles helping it to grip tree trunks and branches. Both front and hind paws have long sharp claws and each paw has five digits. Koalas have a thick woolly fur which protects them from both high and low temperatures.It also acts like a 'raincoat' to repel moisture when it rains. The fur on the koala's bottom is densely packed to provide a 'cushion' for the hard branches it sits on, and has a 'speckled' appearance which makes koalas hard to spot from the ground. The Koala's nose is one of its most important features, and it has a very highly developed sense of smell. This is necessary to differentiate between types of gum leaves and to detect whether the leaves are poisonous or not. Koalas are mostly nocturnal animals and they are most active during the night and at dawn and dusk. This is because in the cooler hours they are less likely to lose precious moisture and energy than they would during the hotter daylight hours. An average of eighteen to twenty hours each day are spent resting and sleeping, and the remainder for feeding, moving around, grooming and social interaction. When a baby koala(joey) is born, it’s only about 2 centimetres long, is blind and furless and its ears are not yet developed. On its amazing journey to the pouch, it relies on its well-developed senses of smell and touch, its strong forelimbs and claws, and an inborn sense of direction. Once in the pouch, it attaches itself to one of the two teats which swells in its mouth, preventing it from being dislodged from its source of food.The joey stays in its mother’s pouch for about 6 or 7 months, drinking only milk. Before it can tolerate gumleaves, the joey must feed on a substance called pape which is a specialised form of the mother’s droppings that is soft and runny. This allows the mother to pass on to the joey special micro-organisms from her intestine which are necessary for it to be able to digest the gumleaves. It feeds on this for a period of up to a few weeks, just prior to it coming out of the pouch at about 6 or 7 months of age. After venturing out of the pouch, the joey rides on its mother’s abdomen or back, although it continues to return to her pouch for milk until it is too big to fit inside. The joey leaves its mother’s home range between 1 and 3 years old, depending on when the mother has her next joey. Male Eclectus Parrot. The amazing difference between male and female of the species: the overall bright green plumage of one sex and the basically red and blue plumage of the other sex. The really unusual factor, however, is the green bird is the male and the red-blue bird is the female. This lead to people initially expecting these were an entirely different species. Eclectus Parrots are rather noisy birds emitting a harsh, raucous call.Eclectus Parrots are closely associated with lowland tropical rainforest. In Australia they can be found in northern Queensland (the state/territory we are staying in.) They eat seeds, nuts, fruits, berries and nectar procured in the treetops. Kangaroos are herbivorous, eating a range of plants and, in some cases, fungi. Most are nocturnal but some are active in the early morning and late afternoon. Different kangaroo species live in a variety of habitats. Kangaroos of all sizes have one thing in common: powerful back legs with long feet. Most kangaroos live on the ground and are distinguished from other animals by the way they hop on their strong back legs. A kangaroo’s tail is used to balance while hopping and as a fifth limb when moving slowly. Kangaroos have good eyesight and excellent hearing and they use their large ears to pick up even the slightest sounds. Kangaroos live in social groups, called "mobs". Cuckoos birds live high in the treetops in eastern and south-western Australia. They have fine, straight, pointed beaks and feet with two toes facing forwards and two toes facing backwards. They call with a high-pitched whistle. (I hear them EVERYDAY..it's very unique and LOUD it sounds like someone it laughing in a high pitch voice). They do not build nests. They lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. The female lays up to 16 long, pale green to brown eggs. The eggs are laid one at a time in the nests of 16 other birds. The other birds do not notice that they are sitting on a stranger's egg. When the egg hatches the chick is helpless and without feathers. The foster parents feed the chick until it has feathers and is ready to fly in two to three weeks. The foster parents continue to feed the young cuckoo for several weeks after it leaves the nest. This particular species of Cuckoos (pictures above) can't fly! Wombats are Australian marsupial mammals that have very short muscular legs and are the closest relative to the Koala. They have a backwards facing pouch so that when they are nursing young in their pouch they can still dig burrows and not fill their pouch with soil! Wombats feed on grasses and roots and dig long extensive burrow systems with their powerful claws. In the wild, wombats are nocturnal and will rarely venture out during the day. They are generally slow movers however they can run quickly if required. Their best form of defence though is when they are in their burrow. Here if they are cornered they can crush their would be predator/attacker underground using a large solid plate in their backside against the roof of their burrow. Wombats have been known to suffocate intruding dogs and dingoes by squeezing the attacker’s head against the side of the burrow with their large, tough posterior.

Me feeding Siam the elephant
Ty's one request of us going to zoo was to make a video of the kangroos.
Clip of the WildLife Warrior show at the Crocoseum