Beautiful Animals

Speaking of marsupials I just adore koala bears. Well, that is until I heard what they sound like. If you click on the link below and go to the middle of that page there is a link to click on to hear a koala bear. Really blew my mind.



They just don't sound as adorable as they look!


http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/koalas.htm

Yup, Arella Mae, koalas are mighty cute. Glad I don't have to hear listen to them.

Striped skunk:





Purple jellyfish:

An echidna, or spiny anteater. Only found in Oz.




They are a subset of the marsupials, known as the monotremes.

There are only two monotremes in the world, both native to Australia. They are the echidna and the platypus.

They are the only mammals which lay eggs. I showed you a picture of the egg in the echidna's pouch, and also of the baby developing there, where it eats milk.


They are fabulous animals.....incredibly tough diggers. If you find one in the wild, they tend to dig straight down, until they are very firmly anchored in the ground. I think it would take a back-hoe to shift them!!! It's great to see them ambling about.

Wolverine (not related to wolves):





Whale shark (the biggest fish). I chose a photo with a person in it to provide a sense of scale. These fish can grow to be 60 feet long.

Thanks, Dlowan. They look handy as household cleaning devices..

Collared lizard:





Weasel:

Just noticed that this thread hit 50,000 views today.

Olive warbler:





Black-footed ferret:

Superb Fairy-Wren:




Brolga (known for their courting dance)








Grass parrots:





Red rumped parrot




Superb Grass Parrot

Hey Deb, Love dem boids. Never saw a brolga before. Wonderful. And parrots. There can never be too many parrots.


King parrot (denizen of Oz):





Scarlet macaws:





Sun conure:

Honduran milk snake:





Spiny puffer fish all puffed up:

On our visit to a village school outside of Xian (where we spent the day and night hosted by locals), we mingled with the children during art class, and this was a gift from a girl in one of the classes we visited.

c.i., Now I have to go the the What Made You Smile Today thread and say that a post from c.i. made me smile. Thanks for sharing. Absolutely charming.

Mimic octopus mimicking a sea star:





White lion cub with parents:

The numbat:



is quite small:




Spotted-tailed quoll:



Quoll









Eastern Quoll





Northern Quoll





Quoll teeth:

Hopping mice dream of being kangaroos....


Spinifex hopping mouse:








Long-tailed hopping mouse:




Dusky hopping mouse:

Deb, Thanks for the numbat, quoll, and hopping mouse. The quoll is new to me. You Aussies have some wonderful wildlife.


Sunflower sea star:





Antelope squirrel:

Wedge-tailed eagle:

SPECtacular eagle. It probably would be at least as happy to see the numbat, quoll, and hopping mouse as I was. Magnificent bird, Deb. Thanks.

I'm now eagle-inspired.

Steppe eagle coming in for a landing:





Golden eagles

Chick:





On the ground:





And flying:




Bald eagle:

Reminds me of timber. Thank you for that.