Wild Facts

Photo by Noodle snacks (www.noodlesnacks.com)

Well, I just had another amazing day snowmobiling around the Yukon Territory.  No matter how cold it may get this is definitely a beautiful country I live in.  But again, the fresh air is messing with my energy levels.  Believe it or not I actually fell asleep at my desk while I was waiting for my computer to reboot.  I promise to finish this fact before I head to bed (or better yet, get my second wind and wrap some Christmas presents).  Today we are heading to Australia to study a small marsupial called the Pademelon.  The Kangaroo, Wallaby and Pademelon are all similar is appearance but vary in size.  In fact the Wallaby was originally referred to as large and small wallabies but eventually they changed the small version to Pademelon to differentiate between them.

The Pademelon isn’t just a smaller wallaby as they also have shorter, thicker and sparsely haired tails.  Different species of Pademelon can be found throughout Queensland, New Guinea and of course Tasmania.  We are just going to look at the general characteristics of the Pademelon.  As you may have guessed this smaller version of the Wallaby is also a marsupial, meaning the females have a pouch on her belly designed especially for her young.

Photo from Wikimedia

During the day the Pademelon will usually spend its time resting and waiting for the darker and cooler night time.  Once the sun sets this little marsupial will go off on its own to look for some yummy dinner.  What is delicious for a Pademelon?  Well, they enjoy eating a variety of things including berries, leaves, grasses, herbs and other vegetation they find in the dense jungle forests where they live.  Personally, I can handle the berries and the herbs but eating grasses and leaves would just get tiring after awhile.

Lucky for the Pademelon, in most areas they live there are not a lot of predators.  In these areas, habitat loss is the only thing they need to fear.  In other areas though they have to be on the lookout for dingos, tasmanian devils, snakes and naturally the flying predators such as Eagles.  Obviously, the Tasmanian Devil is only a predator for the species of Pademelon that live in Tasmania.  I would think that would be a huge asset to living somewhere else such as New Guinea.   Heck, even northern Canada would be better since you wouldn’t have to deal with those vicious Devils.

That does it for our trip to the sunny south.  I hope you enjoyed yourself and I will see you back here tomorrow for the last fact of the week.

I guess I wasn’t able to convince anyone to appreciate the earwig last week.  Personally, I still think they are pretty cool but what can I say, I am a Wildlife Biologist, so I like all animals. I feel bad that I ended the week with such an “icky” Wild Fact so I thought I would make it up to all of you today with a cute, fuzzy animal.  There is something seriously wrong with you if you don’t like the Tree Kangaroo!!

As you can imagine the tree kangaroo is a relative of the regular kangaroo but it prefers to live in trees.  They can be found in the rain forests of New Guinea and Northeastern Queensland.  The tree kangaroo is similar to a turtle.  No, I don’t mean genetically! I mean in the sense that they are awkward, slow and clumsy on land but the minute you put them into their preferred environment (i.e. trees) they become nimble, agile and swift.  I am pretty impressed that I was just able to make a comparison between a kangaroo and a turtle!

So how did these kangaroos get to the trees? It is believed they evolved from animals similar to kangaroos and wallabies since they have retained the large legs. In order to survive in the trees though, they developed strong fore-limbs for climbing and incredibly long tails for balance.  Unlike, kangaroos which have long, narrow feet, which allow them to move quickly on the plains, the tree kangaroo has shorter and wider feet used for climbing.  These feet are even more adapted for life in the trees with their long claws and rubber soles.  Yes, they have rubbery soled feet which obviously provides them with better grip.  It is like they carry that anti-slip bathtub mat with them at all times!

If you have a bit of time then I recommend checking out the following video from National Geographic.  It explains how researchers are using “Critter Cams” to learn more about these mysterious animals.

So there is your cute and cuddly fact to start the week.  Have a good one!