G'day from Down Under

[sleeping koala]

Hello,
I have been lurking for a while now and finally decided to join up.
As you probably know, Australia does not have any squirrels which are native to our country. There is a zoo in Perth (Western Australia ) that has Indian palm squirrels. i read that nearby residents have been told to look out for any that escape from the zoo.
It was from my friend in Philadelphia that i got interested in squirrels.
It was late last year that my friend started to tell me how this squirrel would come inside her house.
It appears that her and her mum had been putting food out for the yard squirrels and one of them had taken it upon himself to become more friendly.
We named him Woody, after a my English friend's hamster - whom she had named after her favourite member of the 1970's Scotish band - the Bay City Rollers (Woody).
In the last few months another squirrel had been following Woody's lead and started to come friendly - this one we named Chupra - which is short for Chupacabra.
Also I have Sammys mum to thank for finding this wonderful page, i started to watch and share her vids on youtube with my friend. One of the comments mentioned the TSB pillow - i googled TSB and found this website.
I come by every morning and night to read the latest postings.
There have been many wonderful postings which I have shared with my friend - to name a few - Squirrelsinsingapore and the wonderful Enzo ones for starters. SIS - hope you got one of those jobs you had interviews for. ! :).
I better close for now - am hoping my friend will join up and share her pics of her & her mum's boys (Woody & Chupra). - she knows how much you love your squirrel pics ! ;)

[JakesLittlePrincess]

Hello & :Welcome

[gs1]

:D :thumbsup :Welcome

i bet tsb would just adore pictures of possums, koalas, goannas, and the kangaroos, birds......oh!!! and dingos.... ofcourse...

welcome....

which part of australia?

i'm in canada but i grew up in brisbane....

:)

(and we'd love pictures of scenery and flowers too.... ):D :D :D

[stosh2010]

WELCOME to TSB...I live in Costa Rica..I believe you are our FIRST Aussie...Ya-Hoooo !!!
I have a Tri Color Variegated Tree squirrel named
Rama Rota. He is 21 months old now.
Please share photos of your country and critters...
Hope you enjoy all the Squirrel Stories....Rama's is a L--O--N--G one...but then again he is The KING...Ha!

[island rehabber]

:Welcome Glad you decided to come out of lurking! :Welcome
For many years, I wanted to emigrate to Australia or New Zealand. Then I discovered that NZ really doesn't like anyone emigrating there and makes it REALLY hard to do :shakehead, and, well, Australia has *gulp* NO SQUIRRELS! So here I am, still in The Bronx NY :rotfl:rotfl:sanp3.
Seriously, this is a wonderful place and, as gs1 already posted, we would love to see pix of your area and the wildlife you have there.

BTW I remember the Bay City Rollers -- my cousin was a devoted fan.

[Jackie in Tampa]

:Welcome :wave123

[astra]

:wave123 :Welcome Welcome! And yes, as gs1 said, please share photos of all those critters.
I love koalas! I wish they were in North America.
How ubiquitous are they where you are?... can one see them in parks and neighborhoods as people see squirrels here, or are they found only in less populated areas?... just wondering if it is possible to befriend a couple of koalas in one's backyard, as people do here with squirrels.:thinking :)

[Kelly Brady]

:Welcome Please do post photos. We LOVE photos.

Welcome to TSB.

[sleeping koala]

Thanks for the great welcome.:)
I am in Canberra the Nation's capital - also we like to think of our selves as being a bush capital. One drawback is threat of bushfires as which happened in 2003.
With the koalas being friendly like squirrels , not sure that would happen. They just like to hang out in trees sleeping. There are places where you can get to hold koalas.
Also you not likely to find koalas in the suburbs as they have not adopted too well to living with humans like possums or squirrels have. They also only eat certain gum leaves and most people do not have them in their yards.
We have ring tail possums who are more likely to come friendly like squirrels and you are able to feed them.
My work backs onto a nature reserve which has kangaroos on it - only problem if you ever saw a tv show about a kangaroo called Skippy - the wild ones are not as friendly nor should you approach them.
I will try to take some photos but I don't have a proper camera and the possums are not around that much of late.

[Skul]

I remember the year of fires.
Was in Toowoomba visiting a friend for ANZAC.
Smokey air made it all the way up there.
I've only seen one bear in all theyears I've been down.
Several Wallabys, possums and snakes of course.
The Toowoomba flood was quite the deal.
Most of the damage had been repaired by ANZAC.

[stosh2010]

ANZAC Day – 25 April – is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

What does ANZAC stand for?
ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they took in that name endures to this day.

In case anyone was wondering...

[Chickenlegs]

WELCOME!!!!! You have POSSUMS! Guess not like our possums. I love possums--wonderful little guys--and marsupials like some of your most famous animals. My Sis lives in New Zealand. I do love hearing about all the wildlife in her neck of the woods. Can't wait to hear about (and SEE) your critters.

[Skul]

Yes, CL, they have possums down there.

This one is known as the Brush-tailed Possum.
146830

146831

For the sleeping KB. ANZAC in Toowoomba.
146832

[sleeping koala]

Thanks for adding the pics Skul.
I tried to but ended up not working and had to get IR to delete the message for me.
I have another pic I will try to upload again.
Not sure if the problem is I am using FF with no script add on or not.

[stosh2010]

I checked out your link...sorry to hear that your Devils are in such grim conditions....

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%

Devil numbers continue to declineDevil numbers across Tasmania have declined by an average of 84%, annual spotlighting figures for 2010/11 have indicated.
Published: 18/08/2011

Unlocking the secrets behind the spread of DFTDThe secret behind the spread of the Devil Facial Tumour Disease is due to more than just a lack of genetic diversity within the species, revealed research published by scientists working with the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program in July 2011.

[Skul]

Devils are having a bit of a go, down there.
Invasive species, mostly.
Same with NZ, and their wildlife.

[FireWood]

Welcome! Glad you are enjoying Enzo's thread!

I once made it as far as NZ, but did not have time to visit Austrailia. I hope to get back to that side of the world one day!

Now that you're a registered member, make sure you find your way into the breed specific threads and find Skul's flying squirrel threads, the Jeffrey thread, Meemor, Quami..... etc etc etc. Great stuff!

I just started the Rama Rota thread myself. :thumbsup

Dan

[sleeping koala]

Hi,
Besides the Tassie Devil, there used to be a Tasmanian Tiger.

"The Tasmanian Tiger (also known as the Thylacine or Tasmanian Wolf) was originally native to Australia and New Guinea"

It was hunted to near extinction and finally in 1936 the last known remainng Tiger died in a zoo.
It is this reason that people are so concerned about saving the Tassie Devil.
There have been stories of people having seen the Tassie tiger over the years.

[Skul]

I've seen a few old movies of the Tiger.
Sad to see that critter come to an end.
Many of the Aussie and Kiwi critters are being pushed to extinction by introduced animals.
You guys had the rabbit problem, and now the Cane Toads.
Irritates me to death.

[sleeping koala]

Australia is prime example of what happens when you introduce a species into place or country where they are not native.
The cane toad's problem is the poison that glands secrete- no predators in Australia are immune to it so they die from eating them.

http://www.savethebilbyfund.com/
If you watch the introduction, it is basically a shame list - all the little critters which have gone for ever and nearly all since white man first settled Australia.

[sleeping koala]

Had a couple of interesting items in todays local paper (The Canberra Times) dated 1/9/2011.
Gillard government (current Prime Minister is Julia Gillard) to consider an application to import foxes from the USA.
Wonder if I could put an application in to import red squirrels - heaps of Enzos running around the country ! :D


http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/crazy-like-an-imported-fox/2277435.aspx

Secondly a report has been released to prove that the Tasmanian Tiger were not as responsible for the deaths of sheep as first thought - was this reason they were hunted.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/tasmanian-tigers-bark-worse-than-its-bite/2278122.aspx

[Skul]

Just what you guys need, another non-native species to further reduce the unique animals of Oz.
Application should be torn up and discarded, without debate.
(no offense to Enzo, of course.):D

[sleeping koala]

Here is a picture of one of my friend's boys - woody.
Here he is , doing his Oliver Twist impersonation ! :)
Sure Stosh would love to add a caption to pic ! ;)
The pic quality is not the best.

[gs1]

he's adorable... :D love that sad, poor hungry little me face.... they're so smart!!! and his colouring and tail are beautiful .....

as for the foxes ... they don't make good pets ...it's a ridiculous thing for any country to consider but the australian government has learned this lesson so well already that i can't imagine the stupidity of even having this discussion....

Brisbane is now over run with cane toads... (which we didn't have 20 years ago) .... the rabbits (which i love) should never have been set wild.... the cattle and the sheep are destroying the soil ...omg...

i would have thought that they wouldn't allow any animals into australia ...ever again.... it's just common sense....

another nightmare is if they start allowing burmese pythons into australia.... (they've taken over the florida everglades)


http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/florida/howwework/stopping-a-burmese-python-invasion.xml

In December 2010, 38 patrollers and responders were trained in South Florida to stop the spread of pythons into lands beyond Everglades National Park—infested with a population that some estimate at more than 30,000 snakes. The Everglades problem started more than a dozen years ago because of released pets.

[sleeping koala]

GS1 - as i often tell my friend, Woody has her and her mum wrapped around his little claw (finger) :)
Also forgot to mention that this summer (American) , the squirrels in my friend's yard had a baby which up to till now we had refered to as the diddy one - diddy being English slang for little/small.
My friend decided that we name it Teddy in honour of our favourite donkey at the donkey sanctuary in England.

You can read about the cheeky Teddy here and see two vids of him.
http://drupal.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/node/1730

[sleeping koala]

I was outside and one of the local birds was sitting on the fence so took his photo.
It is a male Magpie - the females have a dirty white neck as opposed to the clean white neck of the males.

[island rehabber]

I LOVE magpies! Have always wanted one as a pet. :) I love their coloring -- great pic!

[sleeping koala]

IR,
Only problems with magpies are
1 - have to watch out for them in Spring (August/September) as it is nesting time and they can swoop people who they think are too close to their nest.
Also they hate people on bikes - even more if the biker riders are wearing helmets.
If you feed the local magpies they will not attack you ! :)
2 - They are very demanding when comes to food - will come up to the door or sit outside the window singing till you come feed them ! :)

Cheers
SK

[astra]

IR,
Only problems with magpies are
1 - have to watch out for them in Spring (August/September) as it is nesting time and they can swoop people who they think are too close to their nest.
Also they hate people on bikes - even more if the biker riders are wearing helmets.
If you feed the local magpies they will not attack you ! :)
2 - They are very demanding when comes to food - will come up to the door or sit outside the window singing till you come feed them ! :)

Cheers
SKsounds very familiar... except squirrels do not sing (thank Goodness ;-))

[Fireweed]

That magpie is gorgeous! Magpies are, in general. I like them a lot, too, IR. Smart devils. But MEAN. Yikes. They are called a "GANG" of magpies, and boy, I know why. I was walking through a park once and I saw a circle--a perfect circle--of about 12 magpies. In the middle were two magpies who were fighting. One was being completely pummelled by the other. I had to watch for a bit to figure out what was going on...I just couldn't believe it. The magpies in the circle surrounding the fighters were actually jumping up and down and squawking! Like they were cheering at a fight-club or something! Horror!
I did break it up. Gangs have no place in a quiet neighbourhood. :tilt

Also, magpies eat baby squirrels. I have to shoo them away from our yard constantly in the spring because they swoop around looking for nests and pups. :shakehead

Anyway, I don't think I said :Welcome, SK. So, :Welcome. :D

[sleeping koala]

Fireweed,
Couple of weekends ago I heard all this comotion from out the front.
There was a group of magpies in a cirlcle and in the the middle was a magpie fighting with a currawong.
Currawongs are related to magpies but not as well liked as the good old maggie !.
This is the species of Currawongs we have around here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Currawong

Cheers
SK

[Sweet Simon's Mommy]

sounds very familiar... except squirrels do not sing (thank Goodness ;-))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etCuCyLFEk8&feature=related:jump

[Fireweed]

Fireweed,
Couple of weekends ago I heard all this comotion from out the front.
There was a group of magpies in a cirlcle and in the the middle was a magpie fighting with a currawong.
Currawongs are related to magpies but not as well liked as the good old maggie !.
This is the species of Currawongs we have around here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Currawong
:eek: You, too, eh? So I wasn't just imagining that. They actually DO 'gang up'! :shakehead
The currawong is beautiful, too. :)