The Australian Chronicles

By Mary Ann Kerzel

Healesville Sanctuary

Now that David has had a few days of driving practice going to and from work we decided to take a short excursion before we started our big adventure, 800 K drive to Sydney. Our choice was a 65 K trip to Healesville Sanctuary in the Yarra Valley northeast of Melbourne. David only turned the windshield wipers on twice the whole trip.

Healesville Sanctuary is a wonderful wildlife reserve with animals in their natural environment. There is a lot of research done here. I saw a documentary on platypus on Animal Planet the other night and realized it was in part shot there. It was the first place ever to successfully keep captive platypus alive and to reproduce in captivity. This year they were the first to have hatched twins. We didn’t get to see” the platypus brothers” because we didn’t have enough time.

The first thing I spotted on the beginning of the trail was a large bird that reminded me of a wood stork, then some ducks. Then all of a sudden I spotted in the tall grass three of the cutest little wallabies, a small kangaroo relative.

We saw all kinds of native birds, cockatoo, lorikeet, parrot, galah, birds of prey, water birds and the lyrebird. Some of the birds look like ones we have here in south Florida.

Everyone knows the character Taz, he’s nothing like his relatives except in temperament. A real Tasmanian Devil looks more like a grizzly bear cub with a dog like tail. It’s Australia’s largest carnivorous marsupial, which is now only found on Tasmania. Although capable of hunting it generally scavenges.

The kangaroo basically have the run of a large part of the sanctuary. Humans are herded through an area past the kangaroo for inspection. Several large groups of kangaroo were lying around resting or grooming. One actually got a little bouncy but didn’t hop very far. Mostly they just watched as we passed by them while others completely ignored us. I guess when you’ve seen one human you’ve seen them all. Maybe we all look alike to them!

“World of the Platypus”, I can feel the excitement building. David is already snapping off photos of the sign. We really couldn’t take any pictures because of the glass tank and the room was dark. David was disappointed but he got a picture of the sign and I bought him a stuffed platypus in the gift shop.

Platypus are really very interesting creatures. Darting around in the water with their eyes closed they have no problem locating and catching their prey, aquatic insects and yabbies (little crustaceans similar to crawfish). They are very fast and agile creatures in the water. It’s amazing how fast they are. Platypus have very soft wooly fur that keeps them warm and dry.

We got to see a group of lizards including the stumpy tailed lizard, which has a unique way of escaping being eaten. The tail is as fat as it’s front end so that it’s hard to tell which end is which, confusing the predator and buying time to get away.

We saw a variety of reptiles and amphibians including the strangest looking tree frog I’ve ever seen. It looked like a big fat yellow green “Jabba the Hut”.

We really enjoyed the pack of Dingo. It’s hard to think of those beautiful creatures as wild animals, they look like big orange dogs. The puppies were really cute. This particular species the Alpine Dingo are endangered. The Healesville Sanctuary has a breeding program to ensure the future of the Alpine Dingo.

“Oh boy we finally found the Koala section.” “Where are they?” “I can’t seem to locate one.”

“What do you mean you can’t find a Koala any where? I just passed three of them! Okay, let’s go back. Right there, there are two Koalas in this tree!”

“WHERE!”

“See that gray fur ball and that one there, those are Koalas curled up and sleeping.”

Now that you know what to look for they are easier to find. Six of the seven Koalas were doing what koalas do best, sleeping. Koalas spend about 19 hours a day sleeping. The seventh Koala was doing what Koalas spend the rest of their day doing, eating! Contrary to popular belief Koalas are not bears! They are marsupials.

Normally Koalas, like so many of Australia’s unique wildlife, are nocturnal animals. The keepers bring big gum tree branches for the Koalas’ lunch. With a bit of nudging the rest of the Koalas wake up slowly, stretching and scratching for a while before the eating begins. Because the leaves they eat contain a lot of water the Koalas rarely have to drink.

Koalas spend their whole life in trees, usually coming down only to change trees. Koalas were made for living in trees. Like cartoons Koalas have only four toes. At first glance you may think that they have five fingers on each hand like us, four fingers and a thumb for grasping, right. Look again very closely. They have two “thumbs”. No you are not hearing things. Koalas have two “thumbs” on each hand, one right next to the other! This ensures a very good grip and safeguards against falling out of the tree. Another unusual thing about Koalas is they have no tail! Thinking that they were bears I had always thought they had a little bear tail. Actually I think that Koalas are from outer space, they do resemble “Yodda”.

The next animal we got to see was a Wombat. A Wombat is the largest burrowing marsupial in Australia. It is the closest living relative to the Koala and has the best developed brain of all the marsupials. They resemble a bulky gray or black guinea pig with pointed ears, a flat nose and no tail. Wombats are gentle, mainly solitary creatures. They eat grass, roots and leaves.

I got to pet a Wombat! I got to pet a Wombat! The Wombat was lying on its back with its eyes closed and “Bugs Bunny” teeth sticking out. It looked like it was grinning. He acted like a big old cat getting a nice belly rub. You could tell it was enjoying the belly rub.

Last but not least we found several Echidnas on our last stop. Like a Platypus, an Echidna is a mammal that lays eggs. It is a spiny anteater, which looks like a hedgehog with a long nose to me. It eats ants and termites that stick to its long sticky tongue.