Cleland Wildlife Park, Adelaide

Our host took us on a day trip to Cleland Park!  It was sweltering hot, but awesome nonetheless!

On our way there we stopped by Hahndorf, a historical town that was settled by German immigrants.

We made it to Cleland!  They usually let visitors hold the koalas, but because of the extreme heat, koala holding was canceled.  Apparently they get stressed by the heat and can get sick or aggressive.  Still super cute though!!!

Here's one who's given up on life at the moment.

They also had potoroos you can feed!  They were so friendly and adorable!

Mmmmm grass pellets!

We also saw a few dingos.  They are in danger of becoming extinct, mainly because of cross beading with domestic dogs.  It is estimated that as much as 75% of dingos have some domestic dog genes.  There has also been a large problem with dingos and farmers.  Dingos were originally brought over by island people probably thousands of years ago, but when white settlers brought over sheep and rabbits, the dingo population skyrocketed.  Of course, the farmers did not want the dingos to eat their sheep, so they started putting up fences to keep them out.  By 1934 there was almost 50,000 km of dingo fence in South Australia.  In 1946, the South Australian Parliament passed the Dog Fence Act, authorizing a single fence to be built.  This fence now spans across 3 states and measures 5,320 km.  It restricts dingo access to the sheep rich south east corner of Australia.

The difference between a dog and a dingo skull - the dingo (left) has a longer muzzle, longer teeth, larger eardrum for better hearing, and a large skull for a bigger, smarter brain.

In another part of the park we came across this friendly bird - she was traveling with 3 nearly full grown chicks.  She came right up to us and demanded some grass pellets; she would eat a few and feed the rest to her kids.  So cute!  (The park rangers assured us the pellets were safe to feed to all birds and free roaming animals).

Some more interesting birds.

Crazy legs!

Bath time!

Wallabies like pellets, too!

The emu was by far the scariest animal - it would devour all pellets in one large gulp.  Usually pinched my fingers at the same time.  Friendly fellow though!

Ah, Steve!  The largest kangaroo we could find.  When we first approached his group he was sleeping.  Caryl thought it would be funny to put some pellets on his back - he quickly learned disturbing a sleeping 'roo is not a good idea!  Steve jumped up and made a barking noise while lunging in Caryl's direction!  Thankfully he was super friendly - as soon as he fully woke up, he saw me with pellets, quickly forgot about Caryl, and approached me for an after nap snack.  We became fast friends.

Wombats - passed out in their burrows, on their backs, trying to cool off.

We left the park to have a picnic lunch, then came back for one more walk through.  I made a special stop at Steve's tree; he was very happy to see me again!

Sexy Steve!

When we left Caryl has a few more pellets; happy potoroos!