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

Hey ATS,

Just thought I'd share these pics with you. Today I had a special visitor to my property, which even though is in Australia is still a rare sight. I have never seen one of these in the wild before, or outside of a wildlife park.

A koala decided to visit the trees by my front fenceline, and hung around for a few hours. I managed to get a few snaps of him, where he kinda sat there up one of the trees like some superior being just watching us.

After I returned home from work he was gone, but one of the neighbours said she saw him hiding up one of the gumtrees on her property.

This is him making a dash across the front yard;


A few of him sitting in the tree. I apologise for the size of the photos, but making them too small led to a lack of detail as I had limited zoom on my camera.




So there it is ATS, my brush with an Aussie native, a first for even me.

Cool pics.

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

reply to post by 74Templar


Awesome.. Wow.

I'm American but for some reason those guys always fascinated me.

I used to have a recurring dream. I was smuggling the last koala out of Australia.. It had been shot and I was holding it in the front seat, we were buckled together..

The governments wanted to kill all of them for some unknown reason...

Maybe my mom told me they were endangered or something like this when I was little?

Nice pictures. Looks almost Ewok ish...

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...

reply to post by 74Templar


Great photos

Looks like a young buck out sniffing around, good luck to him... unusual to see one up a conifer, makes the images all the more interesting.

reply to post by Dustytoad


Lol, I never considered the ewok side.

I'm not even sure if they are endangered here, but they usually spend most times up in eucalyptus trees, so even if they are up there you don't spot them. At first I thought it was someone's dog that had gotten into my yard, and as we've seen a few snakes already this year, I was worried it might get bitten. I wasn't expecting that, that's for sure.

reply to post by 74Templar


Cute little bugger! ( much nicer than cousin drop bear )

Hard to tell in your pics but it looks like he/she missed the mark and ended up in a pine tree ?

Ed: perhaps beat me to the punch.

reply to post by Perhaps


I thought that was a bit odd too. He was up one of the eucalpyts first but then decided on the pine trees for some reason, I thought maybe they had better coverage than where he was. I know when I first saw him the dog was going ape, then he just kinda took off across the yard and climbed up the pines.

I don't know if you can see him here, but he's up the gum tree in this one;

How cool is that, sweet little creatures, fun pictures...

Glad he has some gum trees in your yard cause I think that's all they eat? Hopefully he'll hang around and the dog will get used to him........

reply to post by MountainLaurel


I didn't see him when I came home, but it was just going on dusk, so he could still be hiding there somewhere. Next doors property has a lot more trees than mine, and the neighbour said she saw him sitting up one of the eucalypts just before I got home. If he's still around tomorrow I'll try to get some better shots of him.

I want one Cute little Bugger. S+F

Tony

Originally posted by Dustytoad
reply to post by 74Templar

 

Awesome.. Wow.

I'm American but for some reason those guys always fascinated me.

I used to have a recurring dream. I was smuggling the last koala out of Australia.. It had been shot and I was holding it in the front seat, we were buckled together..

The governments wanted to kill all of them for some unknown reason...

Maybe my mom told me they were endangered or something like this when I was little?

Nice pictures.

Looks almost Ewok ish...

edit on 11/29/2012 by Dustytoad because: (no reason given)

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! )

reply to post by Ferryman


Don't be fooled mate. They may look cute, but their claws are like razors, and they can be cantankerous little buggers. This one seemed quite content to look down his nose at me from his perch though, but if he was on the ground I would have given him a wide berth.

reply to post by Timely


What I find amusing is I reckon Australia is the only country I know of that eats both animals on its coat of arms.



Kangaroo meat is very bland on it's own, and emu kinda tastes like turkey, but grittier.

When in Rome...

Originally posted by 74Templar
reply to post by Ferryman

 

Don't be fooled mate. They may look cute, but their claws are like razors, and they can be cantankerous little buggers. This one seemed quite content to look down his nose at me from his perch though, but if he was on the ground I would have given him a wide berth.

Oh! i know enough about them to know they are Cantankerous little shytes. I was only joking about wanting one . i am unlikely to see one in the UK.

Originally posted by 74Templar
reply to post by Timely

 

What I find amusing is I reckon Australia is the only country I know of that eats both animals on its coat of arms.

Kangaroo meat is very bland on it's own, and emu kinda tastes like turkey, but grittier.

When in Rome...

Mate, thank goodness the Platypus is not on our coat of arms ( eaten' croc' too. sorta like gamier duck!? ) !!

reply to post by Timely


Croc was a little... odd tasting. A bit like chicken, a bit like pork. I dunno... odd.

I think I've just about tried every native we have in the menu from roo to witchety grubs to snake. It's a favourite trick of mine to allow friends from overseas that come here, especially the USAers to have a roo or emu steak, just to allow that fact to set in. I reckon it gets 'em better than the drop bears....

Aww. Thanks for sharing. As an American, that would be so much cuter to see than our opossum. I get thoughs all the time. Our Skunks are kind of cute, from a great distance. LOL

wow what a awesome friend to have come visit..!

hes lovely, great pics too dude

you never know he might come back to say hello again

s+f for giving me a smile

reply to post by 74Templar


How do you serve them their vegemite ? ( still native tucker I reckon.)