— My Alphabe-Thursday (2nd), the letter "K" / Thursday Two Questions —

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New Zealand and Australia; more of our most recent cruise pictures
Here we have some pictures to honor Alphabe-Thursday letter "K"

 

"K" is for the word Kangaroo.  This blog post will be about the kangaroos and other animals that we saw when we visited the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary in Brighton, Tasmania (more).  The entire island of Tamania, directly south of the mainland Australia, makes up the state of Tasmania, Australia (map) (Google, Tasmania).

   

 

We were encouraged to feed the Kangaroos from a handful of food that the park guides had ready for us.  Mrs. Jim fed a hungry kangaroo for my picture.  They seemed to be fairly hungry. 

 

We were told that they like to have their necks stroked and their tummies scratched.  Unlike a horse, they did not appreciate pats or stroking to their heads or ears.

 

  

The Koala bears (also a "K" word animal) here sleep about 20 hours a day.  You might like to read further about them in an article that I found.  "The Koala bear is a marsupial that gets its name from the aboriginal word meaning ‘no drink’. This curious word denotes how the Koala bear gets its water supply – from the eucalyptus leaves. It drinks water only when ill or when water supply from the leaves is not enough. The Koala bear is often mistakenly believed to be related to the bear..." (from Aquatic Community, link).

   

 

I believe the bird on the left is a Little Pied Cormorant (Wikipedia link).  At first I thought it was a type of eagle but it just wouldn't fit any of those I found common to Australia.  The morphing colors, black on top, white on the bottom, include even their heads.  I would have liked to have a nicer picture but he/she wouldn't cooperate.

 

On the right is the famous Tasmanian Devil.  You can Google that.  They remind me of a pig.  You can't see it here, but the ones we saw all had a white spot on their backs just above their tails.  Can pigs climb trees?  No, but the Tasmanian devil sure can.

 

Devils in the wild are being plagued by a contagious eye disease that is spreading rapidly.  About 80% now have Devil facial tumour disease and extinction of the wild ones is predicted.  A plan is being made to repopulate after the disease has died away.

 

     

 

Here Mrs. Jim is 'helping' to hold a young Wombat, at least that's what we decided it is.  The wombat is the largest burrowing mammal and the early settlers called them badgers (more, Australian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water, and Environment; Native Plants & Animals). 

 

Finally and last here, is the White Cockatoo (Google search).  Many of these are kept for pets.  Not me, I really don't like to be around birds.

 

==> You can see other "K" letter posts by visiting Jenny's blog post, Alphabe- Thursday. My letter "K" portion of this post will be critiqued by Head Mistress Jenny. I always hope for a good grade.

 

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Now for my Thursday Two Questions.

My last post last week was about a "J" word couple.  "J" was for Junk mail.  

I believe that most readers identified with me about that topic.

 

My Two Questions for this week (you can answer just one if you wish):.

1.  What are you feelings about petting wild animals in captivity such as my Kangaroo find?

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2. How much government money do you feel should be used in support of keeping our wild animals from becoming extinct?
The Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary here is private.  I feel that in the U.S. it would receive tax free charitable status.  I do not know about Australia. 

Bonus Question: What is your favorite "K" word?
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==> My Thursday Two Questions post is for Amanda at her blog, Self Sagacity.

Oh yes, we could have bought a 'blow up' Kangaroo to bring home from this little sidewalk stand by the ship's entrance but we declined.

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