Roos
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Wed 5 Nov 2014 23:47
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The Kangaroos We Met at
Waterways Wildlife Park
 We arrived at the Waterways Wildlife Park and began our bimble, after a
while a lady said she see us later for our five dollar admission and koala bear
snuggling session, oh the excitement........Meantime we saw a wild visitor
hopping about as he pleased, finally settling in the
shade behind a shed.
  In the first enclosure we saw a mum clearly exhausted and hot. All of a sudden her joey appeared.
 Joey looked
tired too.
   Ears
listening to every sound.
  Colours go
from very pale grey through red brown to very dark.
 The lady on the left holds a very casually loaded joey. The lady on the right is licking her paws to keep cool.
 Resting in
the ostrich house.
  From laying in the shade to up and off.
   Effortless
loping in perfect balance.
 Tucked up
in the emu enclosure.
 So
much has been written about these quite unique creatures so I have just put in a
little bit about their hopping and speed. Kangaroos are the only large animals
to use hopping as a means of locomotion. The
comfortable hopping speed for a red kangaroo is about thirteen to sixteen miles
per hour, but speeds of up to forty four can be attained over short distances,
while it can sustain a speed of twenty five mph for just over a
mile. This fast and
energy-efficient method of travel has evolved because of the need to regularly
cover long distances in search of food and water, rather than the need to escape
predators. At slow speeds,
it employs pentapedal locomotion, using its tail to form a
tripod with its two forelimbs while
bringing its hind feet forward. Kangaroos are adept swimmers, and often flee into waterways if threatened by a
predator. If pursued into the water, a kangaroo may use its forepaws to hold the
predator underwater so as to drown it.
 The Australian government estimated that thirty four
point three million kangaroos lived in Australia in 2011. Hitting
a seventy pound animal in a car doesn’t end well for either party…. Sadly, we
have seen several casualties along the way. For now we simply enjoyed seeing
them.
     ALL IN
ALL WHAT A TREAT
FABULOUS, NEARLY UP THERE WITH THE KOALA
BEARS |