Australia Zoo

Crikey! What a great day yesterday! Here's what happened the second half of the day at the zoo:

- 9-week-old Sumatran Tiger cub Nelson
- Alpine Dingoes Archie, Eve (photo), and Jira
- Croc show starring Acco
- I met Pip the Binturong, a 15-year-old male, and his sister. They smell like popcorn (it's the pee). Their closest relative is the civet, you know, the cat that poops really expensive coffee beans. While feeding Pip, a little water dragon came scrounging for dropped fruit as he does every day. He was standing on my foot, so I reached down and pet him.
- The otter show starring Daisy and Percy
- I finished the day feeding kangaroos and wallabies.

I left the zoo right at closing (17:00) to walk to the hotel about 1.5 kilometers down the street. I checked in, pre-ordered breakfast, and had Indian delivered. Yummy.

After an okay sleep in a nice room, I was up for brekky, then walking to the zoo by 07:45 to arrive before 08:10 for my first animal encounter of the day...Tiger!

I met Scout, a 3-year-old, 140-kilogram Sumatran tiger born and handraised here at the zoo. He's the half-brother of the new cub Nelson (same mother). We met him in the orchard where he can spy on the zebra, which he really enjoys, as you can probably imagine. He's pretty much a teenager and he likes to push the keepers. After trying several times to get him to walk back towards the Southeast Asia part of the park and after he responded by flopping in the ground and rolling on his back as if to say, no, I'm not getting out of bed, they called the truck to give him a ride back to his enclosure. He was very vocal, making several different sounds, from huffing sounds to rumbly growls. It was pretty funny, but incredibly jaw dropping. His paws were at least as big as my face. Words can't describe how incredible this animal was.

- Wetland birds, including Brolga and Jabirus
- Koalas!
- Rainforest aviary with a male Eclectus and several different types of doves
- Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombats
- Herpetarium with most of Aussie's deadly snakes, a King Cobra, a Gila Monster, a Green Python, and a couple of Eastern Diamondbacks, to name a few
- Wedge-Tailed Eagle, Aussie's largest bird of prey
- Nelson the Sumatran tiger cub on his walk (Nelaon's going to be in trouble with the groundskeeper for killing his shrubs)
- Giraffes: 6-year-old female Skye, female Kabibi, and female calf Sophie

Now I'm in the Crocoseum where I'm about to see the main show. It's just starting now!

So long [for now] and thanks for all the fish. ✌️

P.S.: After the noon show, I ran out of steam, so here's what happened during the rest of my zoo adventure:

- Main Show:
-- Archie and Eve Dingoes saying hello
-- Keeto, Blue and Gold Macaw, showing us how to recycle
-- Lots of macaws, lots of snakes
-- Male Jabiru
-- A Great and Pied Cormorant, the latter of which did not want to go home
-- Yellow-tailed black cocky, red-tail black cockys, lady mitchel (white cocky), rainbow lorakeets
-- Star: Weeper, a 15-foot male Salty

- Cassowary!
- Shinglebacks nicknamed Pine Cone Lizard, related to blue-tongue skinks
- A sleeping Tasmanian Devil
- American alligators
- And finishing with a rhino!

DJ is a 17-year-old male Southern White Rhinoceros born and raised in captivity. He was brought from Melbourne as part of the breeding program, and he has three local girlfriends. He also has a new calf at this zoo, his fifth one in total. He weighs about 2 tons and his head alone weighs around 225 kilograms. At 17 he's middle-aged; the oldest male in captivity recently died at age 45. There are about 20,000 Southern White rhinos in the wild, and the Black Rhino is worse shape. Unfortunately, the last male Northern White rhino just died leaving two females, a mom and her daughter, who are the last of the species. You and I will see the extinction of this magnificent animal because of poaching. Rhino horn is still a huge commodity on the black market, with Vietnam and China being the worst offenders. Powdered horn is worth more than gold or even cocaine. It I becoming so rare now that people are breaking into museums to steal horns and are even poaching rhinos living in zoos. I am so fortunate to have seen this gentle giant up close.Read more