How to emulate an emu

It’s easy. Just look really, really happy about something. 

Photo from aardvaark’s Flickr photostream.

Echidnas!

I’m a big fan of echidnas, with their funny noses and rolling lizardy gait, bumbling myopically through the world. They’re not traditionally cute, but they have their own unique brand of appeal. 

This one was photographed by Ian Michael Thomas. Visit his Flickr photostream for more beautiful photographs of a whole range of Aussie wildlife.

Back from the dead

This is a brown lemuroid ringtail possum – a highly endangered little animal with a very long name. The population in the Daintree National Park in Cape York was thought to have become extinct as a result of climate change, but three living possums have just been discovered. This is good news, but they are not out of the woods by any means. 

With Earth Hour just having dominated the headlines around the world, let’s hope that we will start to see meaningful action on climate change. The survival of our wildlife, and ourselves, depends on it.

Hey sleepyhead

This is a bush stone curlew, Burhinus grallarius. A long-legged ground-dwelling bird the size of a large chicken, the bush stone curlew relies on its cryptic colouring to conceal itself during the day. At night, it feeds on insects, seeds, reptiles and occasionally small mammals. It has become much less common in much of its range as a result of habitat loss and predation by introduced predators. 

Image courtesy of ianmichaelthomas.

The wuvvable wombat

Meet Nigel the orphaned baby wombat who’s just beginning to get his fur. I love his chirpy expression in this shot below – he looks so pleased with himself and life in general:

Thanks for some fabulous wombat cutitude, koalawrangler!

Haaallllp

Mfff…you’re squashing me…

A brushtailed possum and her joey visit a feeding tray in a suburban garden.

Thanks to Judi Lowell for some great shots.

Run, run like the wind

Tasmanian Devils generally aren’t cute, not in the conventional sense of the word. But this one, caught at full gallop like a racehorse, has a certain je ne sais quoi:

Thanks again to Stewart Macdonald for the photo.