She might look cute and cuddly, but the Tasmanian devil is the worlds largest carnivorous marsupial! Just a bit larger than a really big cat, a Tasmanian devil can take down wallabies and other much larger animals. This one had a baby hanging out of her pouch, and was one of many native animals we saw on our trip to the Healesville Sanctuary this last weekend.
The weather is finally getting warm (although it has gotten cold again the last two days), and Bethany’s childhood friend Becky came all the way from Chicago (bearing Cubs paraphernalia) to visit us! We packed our bags, borrowed a car, and headed for the hills on Saturday. We spent the afternoon at the Healesville Sanctuary… from their website (http://www.zoo.org.au/HealesvilleSanctuary):
“Healesville Sanctuary is one of Australia’s most recognised attractions, showcasing more than 200 species of Australian wildlife, only one hour from Melbourne.
Get closer to Australia’s wildlife, featuring unique experiences with kangaroos, koalas and amazing birds of prey. Check on the progress of animals being cared for at the Australian Wildlife Health Centre. This is Australian flora and fauna at its best!”
We had a great time seeing all the wildlife, and enjoying the weather. We also saw this crazy “flying fox”, which was actually a huge bat (I think). Beth will hopefully provide more sound zoological information than I can provide.
On another note… as always, it has been forever since I have posted anything. Sorry for that. It seems like every day it is on my list of things to do, but it’s always at the bottom and with so much above it never gets done.
Daylight savings was pushed 3 weeks early this year, so now it is actually light out when I get home from work. That is awesome. The Australian dollar has lost almost 30 points in the last couple of months. Not so awesome.
Great pictures! Hope you post more. And some flora, too. Is that bat as huge as it looks, like a foot long? Glad you were able to get out on an excursion. Definitely getting colder here: killing frosts and leaves turning colors. I even put on my winter coat to go out this morning – 43 degrees. That’s about 11 C. Make sure Beth knows we are all disappointed about the Cubs. But we hope the bears never win another game.
Thanks for sending the photos and explaining. Although I’d heard the term, Tasmanian devil, I had no idea what it was. According to Wikipedia, they’re not very big; however, they have an offensive odor when stressed and make lots of noise. The Healesville Sanctuary is described in my Australia book. I’m glad you went there. I’m glad to hear about what you saw and did there.
Yup! Too bad about the Cubs. Such a good season….and then WHAM!
Haha.. like the time when I said, “Is it Moloch Horredous?”.. and it was. That was a good moment! I dont know the scientific name for the devil unfortunately. I can add that the Tasmanian devil used to be a predator on mainland Australia, but went extinct on the mainland after the arrival of the dingo (basically the dingo is a wild dog that arrived from Asia about 3-5 thousand years ago.. although they don’t have any idea how it got to Australia). So the devil (and the Tasmanian tiger for that matter) were out competed by the current predator, the dingo. The devil was also hunted in Tasmania by the white man, but luckily it didn’t go extinct like the Tassie tiger (which was hunted to extinction). However I believe the current population of the devil is not looking too good, and many are inbred which cause all sorts of problems (genetically more prone to disease, etc.). Thus they are running breeding programs at zoos and such.
The flying fox is a bat. It’s just got a cute foxy face!!! Other flying animals in Australia include a number of gliding possums. I guess maybe they glide, not fly.
Anyway, yeah too bad about the Cubs. It’s always like this!
8 Comments »
Comment by josh — October 7, 2008 @ 7:50 pm
She might look cute and cuddly, but the Tasmanian devil is the worlds largest carnivorous marsupial! Just a bit larger than a really big cat, a Tasmanian devil can take down wallabies and other much larger animals. This one had a baby hanging out of her pouch, and was one of many native animals we saw on our trip to the Healesville Sanctuary this last weekend.
The weather is finally getting warm (although it has gotten cold again the last two days), and Bethany’s childhood friend Becky came all the way from Chicago (bearing Cubs paraphernalia) to visit us! We packed our bags, borrowed a car, and headed for the hills on Saturday. We spent the afternoon at the Healesville Sanctuary… from their website (http://www.zoo.org.au/HealesvilleSanctuary):
“Healesville Sanctuary is one of Australia’s most recognised attractions, showcasing more than 200 species of Australian wildlife, only one hour from Melbourne.
Get closer to Australia’s wildlife, featuring unique experiences with kangaroos, koalas and amazing birds of prey. Check on the progress of animals being cared for at the Australian Wildlife Health Centre. This is Australian flora and fauna at its best!”
We had a great time seeing all the wildlife, and enjoying the weather. We also saw this crazy “flying fox”, which was actually a huge bat (I think). Beth will hopefully provide more sound zoological information than I can provide.
On another note… as always, it has been forever since I have posted anything. Sorry for that. It seems like every day it is on my list of things to do, but it’s always at the bottom and with so much above it never gets done.
Daylight savings was pushed 3 weeks early this year, so now it is actually light out when I get home from work. That is awesome. The Australian dollar has lost almost 30 points in the last couple of months. Not so awesome.
Comment by dadman — October 7, 2008 @ 11:12 pm
Great pictures! Hope you post more. And some flora, too. Is that bat as huge as it looks, like a foot long? Glad you were able to get out on an excursion. Definitely getting colder here: killing frosts and leaves turning colors. I even put on my winter coat to go out this morning – 43 degrees. That’s about 11 C. Make sure Beth knows we are all disappointed about the Cubs. But we hope the bears never win another game.
Comment by Clara — October 8, 2008 @ 7:51 am
Thanks for sending the photos and explaining. Although I’d heard the term, Tasmanian devil, I had no idea what it was. According to Wikipedia, they’re not very big; however, they have an offensive odor when stressed and make lots of noise. The Healesville Sanctuary is described in my Australia book. I’m glad you went there. I’m glad to hear about what you saw and did there.
Yup! Too bad about the Cubs. Such a good season….and then WHAM!
Comment by Robin — October 9, 2008 @ 5:43 am
did bethany shout out the scientific names of the animals when she saw them?=) “Its a Sitta pygmaea! You know, a Pygmy nuthatch!” – wink wink
Comment by Robin — October 9, 2008 @ 5:45 am
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Pygmy_Nuthatch_%28Sitta_pygmaea%29_at_a_feeder.jpg
Comment by josh — October 9, 2008 @ 12:28 pm
Robin… what is that picture?
Dad, yes that bat thing is as huge at it looks. Probably at least a foot long.
Comment by Robin — October 9, 2008 @ 11:12 pm
it’s an inside joke for bethany
Comment by beth — October 15, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
Haha.. like the time when I said, “Is it Moloch Horredous?”.. and it was.
That was a good moment! I dont know the scientific name for the devil unfortunately. I can add that the Tasmanian devil used to be a predator on mainland Australia, but went extinct on the mainland after the arrival of the dingo (basically the dingo is a wild dog that arrived from Asia about 3-5 thousand years ago.. although they don’t have any idea how it got to Australia). So the devil (and the Tasmanian tiger for that matter) were out competed by the current predator, the dingo. The devil was also hunted in Tasmania by the white man, but luckily it didn’t go extinct like the Tassie tiger (which was hunted to extinction). However I believe the current population of the devil is not looking too good, and many are inbred which cause all sorts of problems (genetically more prone to disease, etc.). Thus they are running breeding programs at zoos and such.
The flying fox is a bat. It’s just got a cute foxy face!!! Other flying animals in Australia include a number of gliding possums. I guess maybe they glide, not fly.
Anyway, yeah too bad about the Cubs. It’s always like this!
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