The Perth Zoo...Mark II

This is a Galapagos Island Tortoise, and was just cruising around in his enclosure when we all walked passed. The wooden fence seemed a bit flimsy, but I guess he ain't going nowhere! He was HUGE. Ok, I admit, I am not the tallest person around (5'4") but his shell would have made my hip without even trying!! He reminded me of one of those old school monks, calm and unfazed...His legs were very very thick and the ridges of his shell pointy. He was kind of scaly too. Not an absolute favorite, but indeed, a very interesting animal.

Of Course, Perth Zoo is also host to a variety of Australian mammals, including two species of Kangaroo, the Red and the Grey. Typically, the gray's are not always Grey, but are a reddish/brown, and the red's are not red but a greyish/brown. The guide said that the way he tells the difference is due to the shape of the head. The Grey has a smother shaped head, and a narrower nose with sharper, pointed ears. The Red has a larger jaw, box square nose and lager, rounder nose. The red is in the middle, the two gray's on either side. Another disturbing fact...the female Kangaroo is always pregnant and will often have a joey outside her pouch, a fetus growing inside her pouch and an fertilized embryo, just waiting for the fetus to become the joey. Lesson: you do not want to be a female Kangaroo! Unless you belong to the Zoo, who keeps you on contraception. You can walk around in this enclosure, and both the Kangaroo's and wallaby's they share with have the freedom. You, however, must stay on the path. Behind a rope that the Kangaroo's can just jump over. They have the right of way.

The Emu's on the other hand, have a much more appropriate breeding cycle. A pair will mate for a breedingg season (approximately twice a year, and will last about 5 months). The female will lay a whole bunch of eggs (up to 20, but usally around 10-12. Not all of these eggs will be by her breeding partner) and then the male will incubate them all by essentially laying on them and staving himself for about eight weeks. The female by this time is long gone, and will be ready for the next breeding cycle. The male will not breed while raising the chicks (this takes approximately 7-12 months.) Kind of makes sense - the female will mate with as many breeding partners and then leave them to be raised by a single male. Anyway, they are kind of creepy. And, really, so birds need to be this big? I don't think so. And they stare at you!

Apart from the complete awesomeness of the Wombats, Zeus and Cherub, that I mentioned in my last post, and the adorable cuteness of the Numbat, the Estuarine (Saltwater) Crocodile was excellent. Glad that there was a glass wall between us, but spent quite a lot of time hanging out with Simmo. He is massive. Lazy. He was lying at the bottom of his pond when I got there, and I think he spent the first 15 minutes there sleeping (they can survive approximately 40 minutes underwater without breathing), then drifted to the top to get some air. Knowing that they are very fast, large and have a preference for drowning animals as large as Cattle was not in least disconcerting on my side of the glass. Of course, until he opened his mouth! Really, Simmo is my second favorite. (Don't tell the Numbat!)

I became a member of the Zoo (which means I have a 12 month pass, essentially) and it was really so I could come back and see Zeus, Cherub and Simmo.