"The rainforest tour takes you to Rainforest Habitat, a park purpose-built to house rainforest creatures you would rarely be able to actually find on your own in the wild. They also keep and care for numerous animals found injured from one thing or another. It was actually quite impressive, and I did the 'pet the koala' schtick, which was really fun. When I send out copies of the photo of me doing that, I'll be sure to identify which furry animal is the bear and which me." - Larry the O mlog

Amazing Birds

I think of all the wildlife we saw in Australia, the most impressive in terms of profusion and variety were the beautiful birds. Top left: ducks; top center: Australian King Parrot. I'll try to identify the others in the future.

Bigger Birds and Beasts

Freshwater crocodiles (left), or "freshies," are smaller and less likely to go after humans than saltwater crocs. However, you still wouldn't want to get nipped by one. The emu, of course, is one of the largest birds on earth.

Cassowaries

Cassowaries are quite rare nowadays, which is particularly problematic because they play a key role in the rainforest ecology. For example, certain plants will not germinate unless they have gone through the cassowary's digestive system - and nothing else will suffice. The birds have a repuation for ill temper and are large enough to back it up.

Wallabies

Wallabies are like miniature kangaroos. These swamp wallabies were quite tame, and I petted one. They are incredibly sweet, and I imagine that in days of old, children might have tamed them for pets. That's a joey in the middle row, far right.

Koalas

Okay, go ahead and get it out of the way: awww! Koalas are cute, but the most typical pose is the sleeping Koala. The food they normally eat is not very nutritious, so they need to sleep a lot to conserve energy.

return to top