# Some Australian Animals for you... (pic heavy)



## Meysha (Mar 13, 2009)

I thought I'd share with you some photos of some Australian animals I saw at the zoo today.

I went to Australia Zoo - made famous by Steve Irwin, and I had the most amazing time there. It's the best zoo I've ever been to. The animals actually looked happy!

So let me start off my little show and tell with the more cuddly creatures:

Here are some Koalas. (and if I hear anyone call it a Koala Bear I will come over and slap you... it's just Koala)







Working the catwalk:










And now some cuddly kangaroos that we could hand feed.















Now here's a non-native - the Macaw:




You can see it wasn't very busy today at the zoo coz it was raining and it's a friday.

Here is a Black Cockatoo. These make a hell of a screetching sound. if you've never heard one look them up on you tube. They're quite amazing.





And here is one of my favourite birds, a Jabiru. It is huuuuge





Flying into the crocoseum:





Here's its head close up





Staying with the weird and wonderful birds. Here is another of my favourites - the slightly scary cassowary.




There's only about 1500 left in the wild unfortunately. Dogs attack them in the tropics unfortunately and there aren't many left. :-( They have been known to attack people too and they charge at them with their crazy helmet. I've actually seen these in the wild and they're amazing. They're about the size of an emu or ostrich.

I dunno what this bird is, but I thought it had pretty colours






ARHGGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGH! WTF Is that!!!




Honestly the ugliest head I've ever seen on a bird.

A red bellied black snake: ARGHGHGH!





And this is why they call it the crocoseum:




I thought this photo was sooooo funny. The croc kept missing the food he was throwing.

And a big crocodile just for fun.






And that my friends was just a smidgeon of my day at the zoo.

- Vicky


----------



## bigtwinky (Mar 13, 2009)

thanks for sharing!


----------



## stsinner (Mar 13, 2009)

Wow!  Your favorite bird's head is ugly as hell!!!   Captured nicely, though.  That last croc pic is amazing!  Nice detail on the body..  The McCaw is a good catch-fully extended..  Nice.

In the fist picture of the Koala Bears (LOL)  are their ears so hairy?  I don't think I've ever seen that, but then again, I think I've only seen them in cartoons....


----------



## Antarctican (Mar 13, 2009)

Meysha, long time no see!

What an enjoyable series.  The baby koala in 3 is just sooooo cute! The first shot, of the mom and baby, is sweet too. I love the headshot of the jabiru, the cassowary is just such a funky looking bird, and the unknown stork(?) shot is lovely too. Good work.


----------



## surfingfireman (Mar 13, 2009)

The unknown bird of #13 is a glossy ibis.  I could tell it was some kind of ibis and google photo'd ibis until something similar showed up. That's how I found the "glossy" part.

I was really bummed I didn't go to the Australia Zoo when I was in the area in 1998.  I am a big Steve Irvin (RIP) fan and didn't even know his zoo was there until I was well past it and it up in Cairns...

I didn't realize jabiru heads were so colourful, very nice.


----------



## KvnO (Mar 13, 2009)

I wanted to see some Wombats...  And, are they Kangaroos or Wallabies?  They look a mite small for 'roos unless they're young.    

Anyway, these were cool.  Thanks for sharing.

I also liked Steve Irwin.  It's nice to find people who _really love_ what they do as much as they love sharing it with the rest of us.


----------



## Meysha (Mar 13, 2009)

Thanks everyone.

The second roo shot is actually a wallaby. It has that different shaped head and is a lot smaller. The other kangaroos photos were of little baby kangaroos - probably about half or a quarter the size of a big kangaroo.

Surfingman, I thought it looked like an ibis too - but it's just too damn pretty for that. hehe. All the ibis we get here are horrible manky white ones digging around in rubbish bins.
Here it is all glossy and not ruffled:





...and just of course this morning was woken up by the screetching of a cockatoo and then the bok bokawwww of my chickens. ArghGHghgh!


----------



## EricD (Mar 15, 2009)

Great series of photos!! Nice job on all...but those little bears are so cute, nice work!!


----------



## Meysha (Mar 16, 2009)

Thanks everyone for your kind comments. 

I had such a fun time there.

And EricD they're actually Koalas, not bears. Luckily we don't have bears in australia. phew! otherwise I'd be terrified when i go camping. eeeek.


----------



## Big Mike (Mar 16, 2009)

Great shots, thanks for sharing.


----------



## dwol (Jun 8, 2009)

cool pics Meysha


----------



## Montana (Jun 8, 2009)

Great series.  I really like the last shot!


----------

