Cute and cuddly, boys, cute and cuddly

Keepers at Australian zoos tend to describe anything that can't or won't kill you as "cute and cuddly," so this category is bigger than it might seem at first look. So I've expanded my definition as well. Cheetahs, for a start, although they are definitely not native cuddlies. Donna has been very active with Cheetah Conservation Fund after her stint in Namibia last year, so she was thrilled to be able to go into the cheetah enclosure at the National Zoo in Canberra to get some up-close time with their lovely female cheetah, and to visit with the cheetah keepers. At Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, she also had a chance to meet one of the keepers and have a pat with two of their strapping youngsters. WPZ has a very successful breeding program for cheetahs; thanks to such efforts, there is a chance these beautiful cats can escape extinction.




Of course, reptile keepers have a whole different take on "cute and cuddly". The reptile house at Australian Reptile Park, a private zoo, has an eclectic selection of things that slide about in the night, but even they draw the line at calling the Sydney Funnelweb Spider cuddly. It is the most venomous spider in the world. ARP has a venom collection program which provides anti-venom for many New South Wales health facilities. Currently they are hoping folks will bring in ticks. Shudder.







Hugo the tortoise, a young adult male, gets to come out of his enclosure every once in a while for a bath, which he obviously enjoys. Cuddly? His keeper thinks so; his keeper is quite fond of the big guy.








I am a pushover for bats, or flying foxes as they're called downunder. At the Bat House up near our place in Cairns, we met Pushkin the bat up close a few years ago and I am taken with their intelligence and antics.












Keeper talks at Australian zoos are very well done. The keepers, uniformly young and passionate about their work, do a great job as animal ambassadors. At ARP, the keeper asked for volunteers to come into the enclosure to hold some of the reptiles. This little mate volunteered and got to hold a blue-tongued lizard; the creature knew the ropes and was very calm. Proud parents looked on and were clicking away with photos.













The towel was supposed to wrap around the lizard, in case of scratches or , er, well, accidents at the back end. The lizard was amazingly patient with it all. Other volunteers had a python & a shingleback lizard. A big snake came out for photo ops and while the keeper walked around the enclosure sharing info about his cuddlies, the big python sort of slithered around unfettered.







Now, who wouldn't call the fairy penguins cute? They are so earnest, and is breeding season, so although they come out to eat and hang out in the shade, they really all wanted to head up to the nesting boxes for some serious work.














Ah, now to the more iconic of Australia's fabulous fauna. A lounging Eastern Gray kangaroo is indeed a master of relaxation.

















Koalas are definitely under stress in the wild due to habitat degradation, but because they are so well known, every zoo manages to keep a bunch happy and healthy. Their food requirements are very narrow, so if the right kind of eucalpyt isn't available, the poor little guys starve. This guy, however, is getting his appropriate measure of leaves.















Their fur looks as if it would be soft, but it is really spiky. The keepers say they are great when dry, but smell really strong when they are wet. Dry day, this one.












And, finally, one of my fave of the Aussie icons, the common wombat. The hairy-nosed wombat is more rare, and most zoos have a couple of the common guys. Incredible diggers, they are pretty solitary in the wild, not very fast movers. Their backsides, under the fur, are a solid cartiledge plate, so when they shuiffle into their burrows with backsides toward the door, predators can't get a good bite. Their worst enemies. of course, are cars and people. This guy was rescued as an orphan when his mum was killed by a car, and he's not up to full wombat health yet.














This little girl is also a rescued orphan and the folks at ARP hope that when the little boy is recovered, they will be a mated pair. She is awfully cute; how could he resist her? They are marsupials, that is mammals who keep their babies in a pouch until it's time for them to be on their own. But because they are such diggers, the opening on the pouch is toward the south end of the animal so baby doesn't get covered with dirt when mum is busy excavating.


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