Koalas! and Kangaroos!

G'day!

Hanging Rock - with cassowary and llama habitats at base

In my eagerness to see Australian animals, I went to the Nowra Wildlife Park.  The 16 acre park  is situated between the base of a cliff called Hanging Rock and the Shoalhaven River.  Many of the habitats use the cliff as at least one of their walls.  The park is small but had most of the animals I wanted to see.  They also featured shows so that we could learn more about some of the residents.

Tough, low nutrition gumtree leaves - yum!

Cute and cuddly  koala

My first stop was to see the koalas.  They are so cute and cuddly.  Actually, they really are!  I was able to get up close and pet several of them.  And smell one.  Their fur is supposed to smell citrusy and their armpits, like passionfruit.  Well, I stuck my nose into a koala's back and it smelled Eucalyptusy.  Not unpleasant and not strong.  I didn't smell his armpit though; I didn't want to get too familiar at our first meeting.

The kangaroos/humans are free to roam 

 Koalas have very strong arms; they can hang for hours by their rough, padded hands.  Speaking of hands, theirs have 2 thumbs opposed to 3 fingers on each.  And their feet only have 4 toes, all in a row.  Their big toe has a split claw for grooming.

Hopalong kanga

 Koalas are fussy about their food.  They primarily eat eucalyptus leaves.  But they are really fussy.  Out of about 800 species of Eucalypts, koalas only will eat 40-50 species, and usually only about 10 are preferred. Even in Australia, they only eat leaves from 1 - 2 species in any given region.


And they won't eat the leaves if the trees grow in a certain type of soil.  But there's a reason for that.  Eucalyptus have toxins in their leaves, are very fibrous and have low nutrition. Koalas' very slow metabolism makes them one of the very few animals that can digest the leaves.  Apparently trees that grow in less fertile soils have more toxins in them.  So being picky puts less of a load on their already overworked digestive system.   Each koala eats 200-500 grams (7 - 16 ounces) of Eucalyptus leaves per day. Their specialized diet is why koalas aren't found in many zoos.  They rest or sleep about 18 -20 hours a day.

Lazy and/or hot kangaroo

I visited the kangaroos.  Their habitat is bounded on one side by Hanging Rock cliff and on two sides by dense shrubbery.  The fourth side is the four foot high fence to keep the emu in their area.  Visitors have to pass through double gates on either end so that kangaroos can't leave with them.  We are able to go right up to the animals, although there are areas designated with small logs that are sanctuary areas.  These kangaroos were lazy.  Or maybe they were just hot, like me. (30*C, 86F, 70% humidity - yuck.)  Most of them were sprawled out  under trees and shrubs.

Albino common wallaby

When they do move, they can hop quickly, supposedly up to 70 kph although their normal speed is 20-25 kph (13-16 mph).   It's weird to see them move; they stand up on their tail and then hop onto their hind legs.  And they look dainty with the elbows tucked in and the wrists raised.   I also saw wallaroos, swamp wallabies, common wallabies and  2 albino wallabies.  Apparently, the main difference between kangaroos, walleroos and wallabies is size with kangas being the biggest and wallabies the smallest.

That's all for now.
Cyn

Swamp wallaby family