Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Today was my second day of training at Kanyana, and we got to clean out the Bilby enclosures.  They are really comical looking animals, with huge ears and big hind feet.  Some were tame enough to pet, while others (males of course) were grumpy and hissed at us.  Bilbies are endangered so the sanctuary has set up a captive breeding program, with nearly 100 babies born so far and returned to the wild.  You have to weigh and measure their food everyday, and very precise records are kept.  We also learned how to pick up and handle bobtails, which are very large lizards, with short, fat tails.  They're much heavier than they look, and two of them had just had babies.  Several were in isolation for the flu, and they exhibit symptoms just like humans with the flu.  We learned how to handle birds, and how hopefully not to get bitten.  I'm going to have to get used to feeding baby mice to the Kookaburras and the Tawny Frogmouths.  They are the strangest looking birds, their feathers look just like tree bark, and during the day they sit so still on the branches, you could walk right by and never see them.  I will have to remember to take my camera with me next time to get some pics of all these strange critters.