The koala

Of course, we wanted to go to Featherdale so we could hold onto the koala. It was very soft and smelled incredibly of cough drops. The reason they smell so much of cough drops is because of their diet. They have a diet of Eucalyptus leaves, of which the oil is used in cough drops. These eucalyptus oil is poisonous to most animals in the quantity that they ingest it! They spend up to 20 hours a day sleeping.

Their existence in Australia is threated. Due to hunting, fires, and diseases they now only leave in Eastern Australia. They are very prone to epidemics of Chlamidya, which can make them sterile.

The kangaroo

Very plentiful around here are kangaroos. The population in places is so huge in fact that many kangaroos are shot to keep the population down. However, certain species are threatened. On a trip to Katoomba one weekend, we saw a place were they were selling kangaroo skins as rugs, boots, slippers, etc.

According to a friend of mine here, kangaroos are "notoriously dumb animals." An Australian insult here is referring to someone as having "a kangaroo loose in the top paddock." Loosely translated in Canadian terms, this would be "one sandwich short of a picnic."

When they fight they kick each other with their feet. Their claws are sharp enough that if they decided to kick you, he could disembowel you. Of course if you gave a kangaroo a good reason to kick you, you probably deserve to be disemboweled.

The Tasmanian Devil

Hardly the guy I expected from the Bugs Bunny cartoons all those years. In fact, he was downright tired. No growling, spinning around, or destroying anything. I have to say I am shocked... TV actually lied to me.


Actually these little guys have very powerful jaws which can crush bones. They feed at night. They carry their young around in a pouch. As many as 4 young can be carried in the pouch for up to 3 years.

The dingo

A dingo stole my baby!

Sorry, it had to be said! Seriously though, these wild dogs hunt in packs and are excellent hunters. I have heard that they skin their prey when caught. They think dingos came over when man first arrived here about 40 000 years ago.

Q: What does a dingo call a baby in a carriage (or pram for you Aussies)
A: Meals on Wheels!

These dogs are truly beautiful. I wish I had a better picture of it. I was thinking if I ever got a dog here I would get a dingo since they are so good looking. A friend of mine told me that it is against the law to keep a dingo. They are considered to be wild animals still, and unpredictable. I'm sure if any babies in the neighbourhood went missing people would start pointing fingers at my dingo anyway.

The wombat

Like a giant badger, this wombat wanders around and is quite cute. This animal is also a marsupial. Apparently they can be tamed and become quite a playful pet. The ones pictured here were quite friendly and easy to pet. Their fur is quite coarse. Oh ya, there are lots of dead ones as roadkill when you drive outside of the city.

The wombat will hide in an opening and only leave his back/butt exposed. He has a very hard bony plate which protects him from danger. A wombat weighs as much as a sheep, but only eats 1/4 the amount of a sheep.

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