Koala Park

Tuesday, Feb 21

Laundry, email and re-packing.  Yay for down days.  I am a bit under the weather today, so I needed this.  I learned the school route and Gemma also showed me how to get to Manly beach, the nearest sandy paradise to our neighborhood.  It is calm and refreshing.  The beach is in a crescent shaped bay.  Inside the bay, there are cobblestone pathways and streets lining the authentic stores and picturesque eateries.  I am so excited to spend my time off during the days here!

We had dinner with the family and then I took a bus and train to the hotel.  Diane, my aunt from Pennsylvania, is visiting me here.  She comes in tomorrow and will be here over a week.  She owns and operates CSSI and has a client in Sydney, so she was able to combine work with pleasure on this venture across world.  I’m excited to explore Sydney with her.   We’re staying at the Courtyard Marriot.  The receptionist gave me a free upgrade to the room, so it’s dual level suite with a view of the city.  Pretty swanky.  We’ll be staying in the Sydney Harbor Hotel on the weekend- I can’t wait!

Wednesday, Feb 22

I really like our dual level suite.  I slept in and then pushed the button to raise the blinds that revealed our view.  Diane arrived around 11 and then we updated each other and took showers.  Then we went out to the Macqaurie shopping district and ate some Thai food.  It was great just to enjoy talking about everything I’ve been experiencing.  Then we headed in early for a movie at the hotel.  We had an interesting time connecting our laptop to the TV so we could watch a bootleg movie with a glass of cheap wine.  Living the dream, I tell you.  We had a few laughs as we waited for the movie to continue uploading.  Who wants to pay to see a movie in the theater when you can have this high-class experience for free?

Thursday, Feb 23

Diane and I went to the Koala Park today.When we walked up and saw them in the trees, they looked like they were dead or paralyzed in the trees, completely slumped over or squeezed between two branches.  They were so adorable yet silly in their comatose state. 

I had to figure out the train and bus we had to take to get there, but it was worth the effort.  We had the privilege of petting a koala up close.  For those of you back home, apparently, they are not called Koala Bears, simply Koalas.  Even though they look like bears, all the locals insist that you remember they are not bears.  Koalas are marsupials, or mammals that give birth to their young prematurely and then carry the young, in their pouch, kind of like an protective incubator and nursing station, until the young have fully matured. Other marsupials include Kangaroos, possums, sugar gliders, and squirrel gliders.

Koalas sleep around 18 hours a day.  They are so cute, but they do have very long nails so in the wild, it is not recommended to pet them.  But at this Koala park, they are tame, so we were able to pat the soft, fuzzy, thick fur of this adorable marsupial. 

When a koala first gives birth to its young, the baby is only about the size of a jellybean.  The baby koala, also known as a joey, is hairless, earless and blind.  At birth, the joey will climb down into its mother’s downward facing pouch and latch on to a teat.  The young koala will feed on milk and stay in the pouch for around 6 months.  Then for the next 6 months, the joey will start to venture out of the pouch, riding on the mothers back.  We didn’t see any joey Koalas, however, it would be hard to even know if one of the adult Koalas had a joey in her pouch, due to its size.

This is Tadpole, my friend, the Koala

Echidna

We also saw an Echidna, a monotreme native to Australia. Monotremes are like marsupials only they are egg-laying mammals. They lay their eggs and once hatched, the mother feeds the underdeveloped young and carries them until they are fully matured.

A platypus is another type of monotreme.  Upon his return to London, Captain Cook brought back a platypus skin to identify and introduce the newly discovered monotreme. The well-educated members of the Royal and scientific society thought this was a practical joke. Then, they concluded that Cook mixed several different types of animals together, to form the Platypus.  When proven wrong, they were shocked to find that such an animal does exist. 

Other interesting animals we passed include wombats, wallabies (smaller kangaroos), cockatoos, emus and sheep.  We were able to watch a demonstration of sheep sheering and sheep herding.  One of the sheep being sheered was so relaxed.  I was surprised he didn’t put up any struggle.  He even seemed relieved to be free of his heavy coat.

Lastly, we walked into a kangaroo-petting zone. Kangaroos are marsupials, just like Koalas.  They were everywhere- small ones, big ones and younger joeys.  After petting a few, we saw a mother and her joey!

Here is a mother Kangaroo with her joey in her pouch.  You can only see his big foot sticking out of the pouch.  Talk about uncomfortable for the mama! The things mother’s do for their children.

Kangaroos can have up to 3 joeys at a time.  The reproduction of Kangaroos is similar to opossums.  The egg drops from the ovary into the uterus.  When fertilized, it develops into a neonate.  After only 33 days, it emerges, hairless, blind and earless, with only stumps as hind legs.  The neonate uses its forearms to climb across the abdomen of its mother to reach the pouch and attach to one of the four teats to feed. Can you believe the neonate instinctively knows to crawl to the pouch, at such a small size?  I’m surprised he doesn’t get lost in the fur or fall off.  (This could be an argument against abortions in humans, by recognizing that even in animals, the embryo is full of life, a baby, only after 33 days, because it has the wherewithal to crawl to a pouch and further develop.  Something to consider.) 

Diane making friends

I'm petting where the joey is sleeping
inside the mother's pouch.  You can see his foot
and tale sticking out :)

Once the tiny, growing neonate begins to feed, another egg descends into the ovary.  Once the next egg is fertilized, its development is temporarily halted, until there is room for him to make his way to the pouch.  Then the first neonate “incubates” in the pouch for 190 days until it matures into a joey, complete with ears, hind legs, fur and opened eyes.  The joey will poke his head out of the pouch and venture outside, starting to eat grass.  The mother’s four teats are for the various types of milk for the different stages of the neonate or joey. 

To the left is a picture I found showing a neonate sucking on a teat in its mother’s pouch, ready to develop into a joey.  You can see the other teats as well.  Look at how tiny he is! (only a few centimeters) 

This is how a Kangaroo can have 3 joeys at a time: one neonate, latched on one teat with high nutritional value, one joey attached to an alternative teat with a different type milk, and another joey outside of her pouch that stays nearby until ready to live on its own.  I am so fascinated with the reproduction and life of kangaroos and other marsupials.  God was extra innovative with these little guys.