Month: October 2016

more about Hypsies

Christina

We do enjoy  watching the Musky Rat-kangaroos  (Hypsiprimnodon moschatus) in our garden, and sometimes we tease them with a very tempting morsel:

Musky Rat-kangaroos are mainly fruit-eaters (although they were quite keen on a dead White-tailed Rat, and one musky actually managed to drag the cadaver off into the forest), and they absolutely love avocado.

The seed is big and slippery, of course, so they cannot grab it with their teeth. No matter, from which side it tries to grab the seed, it just cannot get a hold of it:

Rainforest Babies

Christina
Here in Kuranda, this latest addition to our mob of Red-legged Pademelons has left its mother’s pouch for the first time (and the dominant male, quite possibly its dad, was there for the occasion, too).
baby-pademelon
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The little Red-legged Pademelon is hardly bigger than our smallest kangaroos, the Musky Rat-kangaroo.
        https://youtu.be/iWojTdpKR-g
 Most of the Musky Rat-kangaroo females have full pouches at this time of the year.
full-load_1
heavy-load
They normally have twins, and as you can see, it is getting crowded in the pouch.  I managed to get a few glimpses of babies shortly before mum left them behind in the nest, which she built from leaves on the ground in the forest.
fist-fights-in-the-pouch_1
whats-that-in-the-pouch_1

Cassowary update:

Dad and Socks are still mating (4 months now!), and leaving skid marks on the lawn:
mating-skid-marks
A few days ago, she made inviting moves towards him, he took the next opportunity to sit down behind a big rock , as if he wanted to hide from her. She certainly looked perplexed to me as she stood there on the lawn, waiting, for about 5 minutes! No mating  this time.
where-did-he-go_1