May 18, 2013

Adelaide Zoo

Meerkat at the Adelaide Zoo

I took the twins to Adelaide Zoo today. It was my first visit there and my first to a zoo since Melbourne in April 2009.

James had been to Adelaide Zoo previously on a school trip, but today was Maggie’s fist time.

Unfortunately the weather was ordinary, with regular showers sweeping through. It wasn’t too cold though for the first day of July.

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European wasp menace

European wasp

The European wasp is a scourge on the Australian landscape.

Native to Europe, North Africa and temperate Asia, but not Australia, the stinging pest made its way to Tasmania in 1959. It reached Melbourne in 1977 and the first nest destroyed in South Australia was in Port Adelaide in 1978.

The European wasp can be serious pests. They aggressively defend their nest, swarming out to attack if disturbed.

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Mouse half trapped

Trapped mouse

A mouse just got caught in a trap in our bedroom at 1.37am, but didn’t die instantly; instead clattering about on timber floorboards and woke us up. What’s the correct response? Not sure of the ethics, but in a sleep haze I wanted to impale the mouse and hang a sign around it’s neck to [...]

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Southern Brown Bandicoot

Southern Brown Bandicoot

The Southern Brown Bandicoot is a medium-sized ground-dwelling marsupial found on mainland Australia from the Mt Lofty Ranges in South Australia to Sydney, generally within 50km of the coast. The furry marsupial is listed as nationally endangered. We saw this little fellow today at the Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens. We were enjoying a picnic when Maggie suddenly shouted “mouse”! He’s a lot bigger than a mouse. Southern Brown Bandicoots are about the same size as small rabbits with a long, pointed snout, small eyes, rounded ears, a compact body, large rump and short, thin tail.

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Two little kittens

We’ve inherited two kittens who basically adopted us. We don’t know what to do. Originally we thought they belonged to the people next door. Great, our kids can play with kittens, minus any responsibility. Wrong. The kittens are both black. We’ve seen the mother a few times, which we assumed wrongly was next door’s cat.

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