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| Young numbat |
Reaching Perth the first place I visited
was Perth zoo. In particular I wanted to see the numbat breeding program. Perth
is the only place breeding numbats and they released them into the wild at
Yookamurra and at Scottia. When I was at Scottia the second time it was to see
a group of these numbats. My job was to monitor the numbats that had been
released. A number of them had radio-tracking collars and I would drive around
each day locating these individuals.
At the zoo I talked to the numbat keeper,
Dani, and she showed me where the numbats were bred. At present they had a
batch of young numbats just being weaned from their mothers in preparation for
their release, this time at Yookamurra. It was good to see how the program
operated and to hear about the anti-predator training that they gave the young
numbats. I was able to get some good photographs of the young numbats and of
the female numbat on public display.
I also visited the African Painted Dogs
which I have a soft spot for after working with them in South Africa. The Perth
zoo was well laid out and there were a good number of people there. I had hoped
also to see the squirrels which live in the trees around the zoo. These are the
only squirrel colony in Australia and probably came from individuals that have
escaped from the zoo. However very few of these have been seen in recent years
and their population may have died out or at least is very reduced in numbers.
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| Dani, one of the keepers |
