Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary

For the first two stops in Australia, we did a city tour and a country tour (and wineries!).  For this third port of call, to do something a bit different, we visited the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary that focuses on those animals native to Tasmania, or Tazy natives, as they called them. I admit, my dream was to see a Tasmanian Devil in Tasmania.  Jeff told me not to get my hopes up too high, as they are nocturnal critters.  Still, hope sprang eternal! 

“Bonorong” is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning “native companion”.  It is on land originally owned by the Mumirimina people, who did not survive the early colonization of Tasmania.  It’s currently owned by the Palawa, today’s Tasmanian Aboriginal Community, and is used with their blessing.  However, nobody told the kangaroos that – they seem to feel it’s totally their space, and they are very welcoming to guests, albeit at time curious as to what else we’re checking out in their “home”!

The sanctuary is set up with several wooden boxes of “Roo Food”, free for the taking.  We were encouraged to feed the kangaroos, and were assured they would always be “up for food”!  The food seemed to be dried corn kernels, or something similar, and all we had to do was hold our hands out with the kernels, and the ‘roo’s came around.  Jeff quickly became a two-fisted feeder!  I had my hand at feeding them as well, and they were very gentle as they took the food from our hands.  I also petted a kangaroo – the place they love to be petted/scratched is at the base of their throat, just above their chest.  They are in kangaroo heaven when you scratch them there!  Petting them on the head or back just tells them to back off and leave you alone, so it accomplishes exactly the opposite of what one would be trying to do!

There were a couple of things I noticed about kangaroos – one was their claws!!  They are incredibly long and seemed really thick.  I have heard of people being killed by kangaroos, when the kangaroos felt threatened and used their back feet to lash out.  Can you imagine the damage getting kicked with those back feet?  Thank goodness, these kangaroos know they are safe and don’t feel threatened in any way.  The other curious thing is how they drink – if I were to try to drink from a pond (not that I would do that), I’d tumble in in about a minute…..or less!

I decided to include this image just because I really like the reflection of the kangaroo in the manmade pond in their home area.

Isn’t this little guy just the cutest thing?  Regardless of how we’re supposed to scratch them, it was all I could do to stop myself from trying to hug this little guy!

Jeff got some food and went up to the little guy to see if he wanted to eat, and of course, he did.  Check out how small this little guy really was!  And, Jeff said when he was feeding him, the little guy kept patting his hand, as if to tell him he was doing a good job!  So cute!

The kangaroos weren’t the only animals to see, tho!  If we looked up, we could see some very colorful wild parrots!  There weren’t any in the sanctuary, but abundant in Australia, are white cockatoos!  They are all over the place – almost like pigeons back in Chicago!

Here are the next two animals that we came across – the emu, which I’d heard of before, and the Tawny Frogmouth, which I’d never heard of before!  Turns out, the tawny frogmouth is only found in Australia, and is somewhat related to owls.  They are carnivores, and are considered pest control birds, as they eat moths, spiders, bugs, etc.

And, get a load of this little cutie pie!!   Koalas generally are asleep most of the time - about 19 hours per day, which leaves only 5 hours per day for eating and everything else.  But, this little one woke up long enough to say hi to everyone!

And, I got my wish!!  We did see some Tasmanian Devils!!  I was getting really disappointed, as we’d been thru almost the entire sanctuary, and didn’t see any.  The enclosures we expected them to be in were very quiet, with them in hiding there.  However, there was another set of enclosures, closer to the top, and the ranger was in one of those and the Devils were out!  For reference, they are about the size of a not-overweight pot-bellied pig.  I would say it might come up to my mid-calf in height.

And, contrary to the old Bugs Bunny cartoons, they are not really mean, vicious critters.  In fact, they are quite shy, and frequently will hide if humans are around.  Even if we had come across them in the wild, odds are we wouldn’t have seen them, as they would have seen us first and ran and hid.  This little one was barely peeking out from her hiding place, a hollowed out log.

And, altho they are considered nocturnal animals, the ranger said that they also love to lay in the sun.  And, if you’re wondering how such a sweet looking little thing came to be called a Devil, the ranger said it was due to 2 things.  The first is that if they lay in the sun, sometimes their ears will appear to glow red, and they sort of look like the horns of a devil.  The other reason they are called Devils are that they are known for making an absolutely horrible, screeching, guttural type of noise.  But, they don’t do that all the time – only when they are angry, afraid or having sex (hmmm….let’s not go there…).  And, when that happens, their ears take on that red glow, as the increased blood flow changes the color of the inside of their ears. But, during this visit, there was no sex, so Celina was a  safe and happy little Devil!

The last animals that we visited were Toby & Millie, the wombats.  Toby was with his friend, the ranger, and was quite shy, hiding his face in the ranger’s arm.  And, Millie was a little baby wombat and was wrapped up in an appropriately pink blanket and held by a volunteer.  That’s why I was able to get such a close-up of her sweet face.  I wanted to pet her, but that’s not really acceptable, so once again, I had to restrain myself!  Millie was fairly new to the sanctuary, and was still getting adjusted to living there and feeling safe.  By the way, all the animals (not birds) in the sanctuary are considered marsupials.  A marsupial is an animal that carries their young in a pouch or on their backs, etc. until they are old enough to be on their own.

Enjoy!