Crow Jane Crafts

Indy

• Affectionate
• Playful and energetic
• Mr Fluffy Pantaloons
• Cuddlebunny
• RSPCA adoption
• trusting and forgiving
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Greedy
• My shadow and bff
• Boofhead
• Ambassador for felines

This is the brushtail possum family that lives in my backyard. When baby possums get too big for their mum’s pouch but not big enough to leave home, their mum carries the youngster around on her back. I personally think that junior is pushing her luck and might be a bit too big to be carted around all the time. They are funny, intelligent and sweet little animals and I greatly enjoy sharing my living space with them.

I adopted Indiana at the beginning of April from the RSPCA. He is an 18 month old Balinese X who was abused and neglected by his previous owners. Eventually, Indy found his way to the RSPCA Fairfield shelter were I do volunteer work in the call centre. A couple of people were interested in him and one even had him on hold but he contracted cat-flu from the shelter (no matter how strict the RSPCA is with hygiene, these sorts of diseases flourish in shelters and pounds because most of the animals that find their way into the shelters and pounds are not vaccinated and are not well-looked after). Suddenly nobody wanted him again. Except for me.

You see, when I adopted a different at the beginning of last year, she was an undiagnosed cat-flu cat. I had no idea she had cat-flu as she was not sneezing, her eyes weren’t weepy, her nose wasn’t runny, no mouth ulcers. I brought her home were she passed on cat-flu to my fully vaccinated Rupert.

So from now on, I should only ever adopt cat-flu kitties for fear of one of my cats passing on the disease to a healthy kitty. Which brings me back to Indy. I had my eye on him from the start because a cat like him stands out in a shelter full of moggies (which I also love). But, alas, as he was perfectly healthy, I could not adopt him. But in a twist of fate, he caught cat-flu and became mine.

The RSPCA insists on property checks and interviews before allowing someone to adopt an animal that is known to have suffered abuse and/or neglect. So after my interview I had to wait a day before I got my property check - I passed both with flying colours. Now, without any further ado, allow me to introduce my wonderful, funny, energetic, boof-headed, beautiful blue-eyed boy, Indy.

Today’s feathery friend is the beautiful Brolga.

• The brolga is a type of crane who live in the wetlands of Australia, a part of New Guinea and can even sometimes be found in New Zealand
• The average height of an adult brolga is 1.3 metres
• Adult brolgas are silvery-grey with bright scarlet heads
• Brolgas stay with the same mate for their entire life
• It is thought that brolgas have a lifespan of about 7 years in the wild
• Brolgas are reknowned for their intricate and involved courtship dance

• Brolgas build nests that are large mounds or platforms in the wetlands that they live in and these nests can be up to 1.5 metres in diameter, with both parent helping to construct it
• The female lays a clutch of 2 eggs which both parents help to incubate
• Brolgas do not migrate but they do relocate in accordance to the rain 
• Whilst not endangered, brolga numbers are dwindling due to loss of habitat and climate change

Dreamtime Brolga

There are many different cultural variations on how the brolga was created, but all have a similar theme. Here is one of them:

Brolga was once a beautiful girl who loved to dance and she was the most graceful and elegant dancer that had ever lived. One day she danced away from the safety of her tribe and an evil spirit saw her. The evil spirit wanted her for himself so he turned himself into a willywilly (whirlwind) and engulfed Brolga and swept her up. Brolga’s tribe had noticed her missing and had come looking for her. They follwed the track of the willywilly for many days until they finally came across the evil spirit holding Brolga captive. Brolga’s tribespeople rushed to attack the spirit and free her and the evil spirit quickly realised Brolga’s tribe would overpower him and take Brolga from him. He was angry and jealous and decided that if he could not have Brolga all to  himself then noone could have her ever. The evil spirit swept Brolga up in another willywilly so that her tribe could no longer see her. The tribe watched the willywilly rush off into the distance and noticed that where Brolga had been there was now a lovely, tall grey crane. The crane started to dance and Brolga’s tribe knew that the crane was Brolga.

Links:
Australia Zoo: Brolgas
abc science: brolgas

For more Dreamtime stories and beautiful artwork -  Dreamtime Kullilla Art

I really like animals. In fact, I love ‘em. Even the ones I am scared of. But there are a few animals that have really captured a very special place in my heart (fruit bats, red pandas, quolls, cheetahs etc). This absolutely fantastic creature is one of them:

Dugong (pronounced dew-gong)

• Dugongs are marine mammals that live only in tropical coastal waters, never venturing into freshwater
• Dugongs are related to manatees but their closest relation, Stellar’s Sea Cow was hunted into extinction
• The dugong’s habitat includes both the Indian and Pacific oceans
• Australia has the world’s highest dugong population
• Dugongs diet almost exclusively on seagrass which grows in shallow, tropical marine waters (seagrass can only grow in shallow water because it needs lots of sunlight to photosynthesize and sunlight can only penetrate water down to a certain depth)

• Dugongs become sexually reproductive between the ages of 9 -17, have a gestation period of over a year and have 1 calf every 3 -7 years
• Dugongs can live up to 70 years
• I wish I was a dugong
• Dugongs are slow swimmers and have poor eyesight but they posess excellent hearing and sense of smell
• Dugongs have a fluked tail, like whales and dolphins
• It is thought their natural predators (excluding humans) are large sharks, saltwater crocodiles and orcas
• Dugongs are harmless (unless you are a piece of seagrass)

Dugong Conservation

• Dugongs are classified as endangered 
• Loss of habitat, fishing and shark nets, pollution (especially oil spills) and over-hunting are huge threats to the dugong’s survival
• Dugong’s used be sighted in large herds, over 100 strong, but are now rarely seen in groups larger than 6
• Because of their tendency to live in shallow water dugongs are in danger of being struck by boats
• The dugong’s low reproductive rate means that it takes a very long time for dugong population to grow, even in ideal and supportive conditions
• For more information on the wonderful and beautiful dugong please go to:

Austalian Department of the Environment and Heritage: Marine Species
Sirenian International 
Humane Society International: Australian Division – Dugongs

And for a fun, silly and not quite factually incorrect (dugongs are NOT also known as manatees) dugong song go here

Today’s furry friend is the Tasmanian Devil.

• Devils are only found in Tasmania
• Devils used be found on mainland Australia
• Devils are the world’s largest surviving marsupial carnivore
• Devils give birth to more young than they can feed – with only 4 teats, the first 4 babies that can attach themselves to a teat in their mother’s pouch will be the ones who have a chance of reaching adulthood
• Devils are nocturnal and are shy and timid
• Devils have a variety of loud screeches, growls and other noises including a “sneeze” during fighting with other devils
• Due to their powerful jaws and large teeth Devils use these intimidating vocalisations to bluff and bluster their way out of fights rather than risk combat and serious injury and to establish dominance during feeding
• Devils are harmless to humans (but please don’t try and pick one up)
• Males are bigger than females
• The pouch faces backwards so that when the mothers dig their pouch is not filled with dirt

My mum thinks I’m cute.

Devil Mythbusting

• They do not run around the bush like a tornado despite what the cartoons tell us
• The characteristic “yawn” to not a sign of aggression, but rather intimidation

Despite being nocturnal, Devils don’t mind a bit of sun-baking

Tasmanian Devil Conservation

• Early European settlers hunted and killed Tasmanian Devils to the point of extinction
• Devils became a fully protected species by law in June 1941
• In the mid/late nineties a facial tumor disease was first observed afflicting wild adult Devils (the disease is officially known as Devil Facial Tumour Disease)

• The Devil Facial Tumour Disease has 100% mortality rate in areas of High Devil population density
• Devils are listed as vulnerable
• There is no cure for the Devil Facial Tumour Disease
• As Devils are very important to the ecology of Tasmania this disease may have far reaching consequences
• For more Devil information including a short video and a sound recording please visit The Tasmanian Devil page of the Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania
• For more information on the Devil Facial Tumour Disease and to read about what you can do to help please visit Disease Affecting Tasmanian Devils

From now on Fridays will include a post highlighting an animal (I won’t always stick to fur n feathers – Australia has too many reptiles, insects, fish and amphibians for us to ignore) of one kind or another.

Today’s furry friend is the Koala.

• Koalas are marsupials, meaning their young are born tiny and live in their mother’s pouch drinking her milk until they are big enough to come out.
• There are three different subspecies of koalas.
• Their habitat ranges from northern Queensland to South Australia.
• Southern koalas are bigger than their northern relatives.
• The koalas’ closest relative is the wombat.
• Different species of eucalyptus grow in different parts of Australia, so a koala in Victoria would have a very different diet from one in Queensland.
• Koalas sleep for 18 hours a day due to the low nutritional value of their diet (primarily eucalyptus leaves) and their very slow metabolic rate.
• Koalas are very cute.
• Koalas are harmless to humans (unless you try to pick a wild one up).
• Koala babies are known as “joeys”, just like the kangaroo.
• Koalas are born pink, virtually hairless and the size of a jellybean.
• Koalas are quite particular about what trees they will use for shelter, socialising and most importantly feeding.
• Koalas have opposable digits on their front paws, just like humans.

Koala in my parents’ backyard on 6th October 2006.

Cute koala, evil eyes.

Koala Myth Busting:

• Koalas are NOT bears. They never have been bears. They never will be bears. The term koala bear is rarely used by Australians.
• Koalas do occasionally drink water, particularly during times of drought, despite their name which means “no drink” in several indigenous dialects.
• Gum leaves do not make koalas drunk. They are as sober as popes (assuming the pope hasn’t been hooking into the blood of christ).

Save The Koala

• Koalas are listed as vulnerable.
• Dogs, cars and most importantly, loss of habitat through tree lopping and deforestation are the koalas’ biggest threats. All of these factors are directly linked to humans.
• The above kill an estimated 4000 koalas a year.
• Since European settlement in Australia an estimated 80% of all eucalypt forest has been destroyed.
• For more info go to www.savethekoala.com

Next Friday: The Terrifically Temperamental Tasmanian Devil

Rupert is 10 years old and I have been lucky enough to have him since he was a tiny baby. I bought him at a horrible petshop for $2 where he was suffering from malnutrition, full of worms, anemic from being covered with fleas and just a little bub, far too young to be taken from his mother. This baby photo was taken the day I bought him; he is all wet and gremlin-like because the first thing I did was give him a flea bath (the water ran red with blood from his flea bites). I had to teach him how to use a kitty litter and how to eat from a bowl. Now he is a great sooky cat who loves having his belly rubbed and climbing under the covers with me and warming his freezing cold paws on me. He has the best unimpressed expression I have ever known in an animal, feline or otherwise and dribbles when he purrs. I am undoubtedly his human which is high praise indeed considering how sparingly he gives out his love.