Unusual Wildlife Down Under

As you probably know, New Zealand and Australia have wildlife not seen elsewhere in the world. During our stay in Adelaide, our friends took us to the Cleland Wildlife Park, which is home to species indigenous to Australia. Of course, the first one that comes to mind is the kangaroo. Our friends, Dave and Liz, are avid golfers and said that it is not unusual to have kangaroos hopping on the course. The park had multiple herds of tame kangaroos that stood about 4 feet tall and would eat right out of our hands and even grab the whole bag of feed. Lots of restaurants offer kangaroo burgers or as pizza topping. Nooooooooo! How could anyone eat something so cute? I know, they are like deer in Wisconsin, but still.

There were also adorable koalas.

We understand that in the wild, koalas are very slow animals. Tragically, thousands were lost during the wildfires. The Wildlife Minster estimates up to 30% of the population is gone.

And wombats, dubbed “architects of the bush” due to their prolific digging networks of tunnels  This guy looked like a hairy pig to us.

We are not sure what this is.  It appears to be a cross between a rat and a rabbit. The signs said this is NOT a rat Yeah, right. We wouldn’t want to see one of those in the wild.

In addition to animals, Australia and New Zealand have plants and birds not found elsewhere. When entering both countries, the customs forms ask detailed questions about exposure to farms, animals, rivers and even dirt. The ecosystems could be affected by contaminants or the inadvertent import of predators. On various tours, we actually heard about plants and animals brought by early settlers. There is a massive trapping effort underway in New Zealand to wipe out opossum, rats and weasels populations by 2050. We saw some of the traps along some of our hikes.

People are also discouraged from interfering with various species’ natural eating habits.

The Kea is a species of large parrot found in the forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand

The Cindy is a type of human currently found traveling around the world seeking warm weather, wine and fun things to do. Both are rare and beautiful to behold.