[PETS] A rare and special visitor to my property today.

Originally posted by Timely


I would hazard a guess that you are confusing " Kangaroo culling " with Koalas.

Kangaroos are often culled due to huge numbers competing with cash crops or other grazing ruminants.
It is also humane to keep the numbers reasonable, as we live in an often drought affected envoironment, with the upshot being many 'roos just end up dying of thirst.

They are also a staple of many or most working dogs in this country as well as a growingly popular source of lean protein for Human consumption. ( dont' eat it myself though )

Koalas are cuddly and cute and we do not eat them. ( not me anyway ... too scared of the drop bears! )

edit on 29-11-2012 by Timely because: (no reason given)

No no.. I don't know anything about that.. But maybe?

Just some dreams about Koalas being endangered and I had to save them.. This is 25 years ago and I had the dream a bunch of times.. It was sad too, because that one Koala had fur that was patchy.. It was an older Koala, and it was the only one..

Weird running from the cops in a dream about Koalas when you're like 3.. If I had been any older I may have realized saving the LAST Koala would have been pointless...

What exactly is a drop bear?? Are they a Bear that Drops down and attacks? Sounds like most other things in Australia, scary as *...

reply to post by Dustytoad


Drop bears are in the ' twilight zone '.

Yowies and Yeti's though, are a whole different kettle of fish !

reply to post by 74Templar

I couldn't make anything out of the first 2 pics, but that third one is gorgeous and worthy of a family Christmas card or something of that kind. What a privilege! Congratulations

I've had a loon, hare, racoons (clever little thieves!) and bullfrogs, and I enjoyed all of them. You don't want to see a skunk. Better to get lost as soon as you smell them.

Originally posted by Trustfund
Cool pics.

I wish I had Koalas in my backyard. They would be much more pleasant than skunks.

I like the skunks, myself. Ever watch one dig? So cute.....

OP, those pics are incredible. I want to hug a koala, they look so adorable, but I'm sure they're truly deadly animals (in keeping with the Aussie tradition).

S&F

That's awesome!

Don't Koala's sit in eucalyptus trees and get high off the leaves? Someone someplace told me that they are natures biggest drug addicts.

I've also heard they can drop down on unsuspecting people and attack them? They just look to cute to be mean!

reply to post by Timely


It's still a bit hit and miss, I have better luck with Tim Tams usually.

Vegemite is either one of those things you either love it or hate it, but nothing beats that mortified look and the "you eat your native animals?"

You make me so sad I live in Vancouver sometimes ATS...

I go outside and yeah there's a rainforest, mountains and ocean, but the extent of wildlife is limited to seagulls and squirrels, at night it's racoons. that's it.

not to mention the weather, you go outside, you get to wear shorts all the time.
I go outside and it's blowing rain sideways 4/7 days a week.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Skunks are cool little animals!! I live in rural losangeles and we have a family of skunks in the back yard

They are somewhat tame, I have actualy hand fed the adults, and the baby's will eat right in front of me

Skunks have very poor eyesight, if you don't move suddenly, or scare them they won't spray, I have even heard of people keeping them as pets, but you have to get the baby's realy young

I have kept squirrels as pets for quite a few years, first one for 8 and half years and the second one for 9 years!!

The vets here are amazed they usualy only live about 6 years

I would love to have a koala bear but don't have the room here to keep one
Better left to view in the wild!!

Be safe people

Cool, and I thought you guys had 5 or ten of these at every house.

I am also under the impression that there are kangaroos everywhere and giant spiders and snakes.

If the spiders and snakes thing is true, then lie to me. I don't want to skip a trip to Ausiland due to being a wimp.

reply to post by MystikMushroom
reply to post by Dustytoad


Just to clarify, and although it's something we Aussies loves teasing foreigners about, Drop Bears do not exist. Koalas generally don't drop out of trees and attack people, at least I've never heard of it happening, it's just something we make up to make people think this country is even more dangerous than it is.

reply to post by aboutface

You have to scroll the pics across through the trees to see him in the first couple. I was going to make them smaller to fit the page, but it was too hard to make him out. The funny thing is, when I was taking photos, I had to keep looking for him, because unless he moved, he just looked like a stuffed toy had been left up a tree. Then his head would move, and he'd blink or something, and that was how I would spot him.

reply to post by smyleegrl


I'm like you guys with skunks as you are with our wildlife. If I ever saw a skunk, I'd only have what I've seen in TV shows to go by. That they spray you and you can't get the stink off no matter what.

We do have a fair bit of dangerous stuff here in Aust, snakes, spiders, hell even a roo can gut you with it's claws if you get close enough, but I always look at the fact you guys have mountain lions and cougars, bears, rattlesnakes, skunks, etc, which to me are just as dangerous as anything we have here. Most times I've seen a snake or a spider it's usually doing it's best to get away.

reply to post by 74Templar


Ahhhhhhh......live teddy bears!...adorable!...

Your pictures made my day...thanks.

reply to post by network dude


Nope, first one I've ever seen that's not in a zoo or a wildlife park.

At the moment it's pretty early here, and there are about a half dozen kangaroos on my fenceline just hanging out, so we do see a few of them.

Basically the rule here is leave it alone, it'll leave you alone. Don't go shoving your hands into boxes without looking or walking in long grass on a hot day with no shoes. Some of the most dangerous things here aren't much bigger than the palm of your hand, and you generally don't see coming. The best bet is to just pay attention to your surroundings and you'll be right here.

That's wonderful to see and not in a zoo. I've seen a few while camping over the yrs, in the bush they tend to favour the young trees that don't seem big enough to hold their weight. Lucky you such a special visitor. Fantastic pics.

For all that may not know the koala it closely related to the kangaroo & wombat being a marsupial and are not a bear. But gees their so damn cute and do look like a cuddly teddy. Much better then the spiders and snakes that have been visiting me.

Awe what a cutie!! I always found Koala's to be just adorable.

I'm in America and I dont see anything this cute in my back yard. The only wild life i see are lizards and birds. I'd love to see something like this!

reply to post by mblahnikluver


Actually it's funny you said lizards, because this little guy was sitting by my garage this morning when I went out for a look to see if the Koala was still around.


I think it's a bearded dragon, but not too clued on lizards.

No koala though, it looks like he's moved onto greener trees.

reply to post by 74Templar


Yep, bearded dragon, you probably have blue tongues as well.

Where I live, we have lots of koalas,roos, black cockatoos ( noisy messy buggers ) blueys, parrots etc.
Iv'e also had a bearded dragon in my yard.

There are also some fairly scary looking 6ft.ish goannas to be found in the bush, as well as great whites to go surfing with ...

Funnel webs,Red backs and brown snakes are to be watched for and taken seriously.

Common sense and local knowledge go a long way towards making it a safe and awesome place to be.



ed; am i correct to assume your'e a banana bender ?

reply to post by Timely


Yeah, SE Queensland off the hinterland. Near to a particularly famous zoo...

I get plenty of roos but only at dawn and dusk. Rainbow Lorikeets, the occasional King Parrot or two, and grass finches. I see the red-tailed black cockatoos sometimes, but they only come around to wreck my trees and crap all over everything, then leave.

The funny thing was he didn't even flinch, I managed to get up pretty close with my phone to take a pic. I don't see many of them, but I did have a rather large Goanna scare the hell out of me once just after I'd moved here. He shot up a tree when I was about five metres from him, I've always been worried coz I thought they just climbed the nearest tall thing. Luckily he picked the tree over me.

Of course let's not forget the box jellyfish, the stonefish, the lion fish, the blue ringed octopus, stingrays, wolf spiders, taipans, red-bellied black snakes, king browns....

I'll stop there... No one from anywhere is ever going to visit at this rate....

Originally posted by 74Templar
reply to post by Trustfund

 

I usually get a lot of kangaroos at dawn and dusk, rabbits, foxes, etc. Too see this one it was a bit of a surprise, as I've never seen one before. Never seen a skunk though...

We usually smell skunks more than we see them. fffffPHEW!

reply to post by jiggerj


Actually just to show you ignorance comes in all forms, this is my extent of knowledge of skunks....

reply to post by 74Templar


Hahaha! they reckon if you see a big goanna running toward you, you should hit the deck!

We get the yellow tailed black cockatoos here ( mid nth. coast N.S.W.) they pick all the greenish pods off the banksias, half maul them, spit some out and drop the rest everywhere.
They make a hellava mess, not to mention it sounds like someone throwing rocks outside.

ed; I was in the US a few years back and made the one off mistake of stopping to check out a dead skunk.
Lucky I was in a convertible at the time, the smell lingered for days! Yuckkkky poooh !