10/07/04:

The Zoo!

The next day we made our way out to the Victoria Market and the Zoo. We got caught in the rain at the Zoo – luckily I’d bought a waterproof hat at the market, and Ellen had an umbrella. I could ramble on about the zoo, but I think I’ll stick to pictures.

Wombats! This was part of a warren display, and it was very dark; until I took the picture, I didn’t even know that the wombat in the upper right was there.

Wombat and Joey

Red Kangaroos!

A kangaroo walking on four legs, which seemed to be their preferred method of locomotion. I had no idea that they did this, but it was fascinating to see!

An echidna, one of Australia’s egg-laying mammals.

Barristers and judges, allowed to wander freely through this life-like reproduction of the Victoria County Court region.

Sadly, the camera battery ran out before we could get a picture of the Sidney Myer Platypusary, but we took a few pictures with a temporary camera. Thanks to keeper-in-training Liz, we were able to get some excellent pictures of Bossy and a platypus, so we’ll post those at some point in the future. Apparently, the platypus is the most expensive creature to maintain in the zoo, costing around $67,000/year, in part because it will only eat live food; a platypus locates its prey by sensing the electrical impulses of muscle activity, so it won’t eat anything that’s already dead. For those of you down on your platypus knowledge, not only do they locate prey with electroreceptors, the males have poisonous spurs in their back feet and the females lay eggs (though they are mammals)!

We didn’t see any dingoes; our best guess was that they were eaten by the ravenous and wily babies of Australia.

            Next: Food!

Back   Next

Australia Log Main Page