Animal Post #2: Kangaroos, koalas, cassowaries, crocodiles, etc.

As promised, we are posting for you some photos of Australian animals. We went to the Melbourne Zoo yesterday. There were lots of animals at the zoo and we had great guides (thanks to Greg and Zachary!).


I suppose a kangaroo in a zoo isn't proof that we're in Australia. But for now, it'll have to do. This is a female red kangaroo (which are grey-ish - the males are red, though). It's amazing to watch them move.


You might not have recognized it, but this is a koala. As they spend most of their time sleeping, it was no surprise that is what all the koalas were doing when we saw them. They seemed peaceful.

Not all the animals were native to Australia. Some were flashy, and seemed a little fake. Speaking of which, this one reminded us of Donald Trump:

Really, it looked like a fancy gold toupee.

These birds, though, are native to Australia. We can't remember all of their names:


And this is a cassowary, seen from above. The zoo had an amazing aviary, with a raised walkway that went through several landscapes. Cassowaries live in the rainforests of northern Australia. They're big - almost as big as an emu (and just as flightless). Their heads are very colorful, though - not only blue, but also bright orange, with a weird thing on top of their heads. We've heard that they can be kind of dangerous if provoked...


And, speaking of dangerous:

There are many very dangerous snakes in Australia. This one is called a "death adder." It lies partially hidden, making its tail to look like a caterpillar to lure in prey.

And here is a very little freshwater crocodile.


We didn't have space for all of our pictures. Some of the other highlights we saw included a beautiful butterfly house, dangerous spiders, wombats, a lion feeding, giraffes and zebras, elephants, and a free-roaming peacock.