Koalas, Wallabies, and Kangaroos

On Saturday we went to Featherdale Wildlife Park which has over 300 species of Australian Wildlife. We got to touch a koala! And be almost nose-to-nose with one! (Only a licensed koala handler can hold a koala).

Did you know koalas are not actually bears? They are marsupials. Most marsupials have a front pouch. Only koalas and wombats have backward-opening pouches. A large population of koalas lives at Featherdale. We saw many workers coming through with carts of eucalyptus branches for them to munch on. Koalas are nocturnal and sleep 16-20 hours per day, so mostly they eat when they are awake. A couple of koalas, however, had climbed trees and were taking in the sights.  

Koalas' hands have two fingers (sort of like a double thumb) opposed to three fingers. Each foot has only one finger opposed to the other three. This is a powerful combination for clamping and grabbing.

And not only could we touch a koala, we could pet wallabies and kangaroos!

At Featherdale Park some of the kangaroos and wallabies hop around freely in enclosures that humans can walk through. The animals can also go, whenever they want, into areas where people are not allowed. Even though all the visitors were enjoying the animals, the experience of being inches away from a kangaroo was clearly not a novel one for many -- as you will see in this clip:

Both of the critters above are swamp wallabies.

And here's one of my favorite pictures:

See the little joey sticking it's nose and mouth out of its mom's pouch? 

It is so young it has no hair! We were incredibly lucky to see this. (This pair are also swamp wallabies).

And here's an older cutie-pie in a pouch. (I'm not actually sure if this is a kangaroo or a wallaby. Since they are free to roam, it can be difficult to figure it out). The pouches are loose and hang down when the mom hops around. After a while this joey popped back inside and turned around -- then only its tail hung out of the pouch!

Featherdale has an extensive captive breeding program, so we saw kangaroos and wallabies of all sizes. As part of the animals' planned diet, visitors can buy ice cream cone-shaped treats filled with what looked liked grass and feed them to any kangaroos or wallabies that are interested. However, you have to be on the look-out for emus because they are also on the loose and are quite aggressive.

It's not often in life you can feed a "toddler" wallaby or kangaroo.

This guy took a few bites and then snatched the cone from Sylvia's hand! But the others were content to nibble.

Quiet joy.

And, finally, some wallaby "eye-candy":

A yellow-footed rock wallaby. 

Yellow-footed rock wallabies live in the mountains and are rare and endangered. 

Needless to say, we did not get to interact with them. Isn't she beautiful?