Hard to believe it has taken me this long to make my next post, but the week has been somewhat crazed.
Wednesday may very well have been one of the best days of my life. I went out to Taronga Zoo in the morning to meet with the Manager of Reptiles about my proposed research project. He was running a bit behind so I got to spend time with the Reptile Division supervisor, Michael. He took me behind-the-scenes, straight back to the tuatara enclosure, popped in, pulled one of them out and let me hold her! For those of you who don’t know this about me, working with tuataras has been a fantasy of mine for better than six years (click here for info on the tuatara). So, not to be cliché, but the moment I was handed that animal was literally a dream come true. I really have wanted to work with tuataras pretty much since the first moment that I found out about their existence. The fact that I am now getting to do it is almost emotional overload…in a good way:
How’d you get that scratch on your arm Liz?
Tuatara claw.
How’d you get that dirt on your flannel Liz?
Tuatara was digging before I picked her up.
Awesome.
Also, I got my question from the other day answered. Yes, Australians who are animal lovers do get excited about American animals we consider somewhat run-of-the-mill. This information came from Michael, the Supervisor of the Reptile Division at Taronga. It turns out he was in Michigan and Ohio about a year ago (we even know a few of the same people from when he visited the Detroit Zoo) and did some herping in the wild (Herping, from the verb to herp: to search for reptiles and amphibians in the wild. It comes from Herpetology, the study of reptiles and amphibians. No, it has nothing to do with Herpes…yes, people have asked me that multiple times. Sigh.). Michael said that, as an Australian in the States, finding garter snakes and eastern fox snakes was quite exciting (for those who don’t know, both species are fairly common in Michigan).
In other news, I have my first cold. It started last week as nausea and lowgrade fever which, thankfully, were short-lived, making way for stuffy nose, cough and sore-throat, yea. I actually held out for a fair amount of time considering that everybody at IH has been sick. And at this point, I don’t really care because I held a flippin’ Tuatara.
Trying to buy cold medicine was interesting though because they don’t have any of the same brands, not even the same chemicals. Paracetamol is the pain killer and Phenylephrine Hydrochloride is the decongestant. Fortunately, the pharmacist must deal with a lot of internationals because he didn’t mind at all explaining to me which was which and what things not to mix. Now that it has been about a week the sore throat is finally going away, ironic because I finally decided to make a doctor’s appointment that is a few days away still. By then I will probably be healthy again.
Wild animal sightings of the week include more flying foxes (one that was in a low branch right in front of me and which I didn’t see until I startled it into flying out of the tree and up into a higher branch. One of my great ambitions is to try to get a look at one when it’s not flying so I can finally see its face.), and my first possum, I think it was a brush-tail or “brushie.” I have also seen a ton of feral cats in the campus area, apparently some woman feeds and looks after them. One of my friends said she saw the woman literally trying to herd cats by clapping her hands and saying “come on , let’s go.” Good luck lady.
The big challenge of the week was getting my first paper finished, an opinion piece responding to the Archbishop of Sydney’s declaration that Western countries are in danger of many social problems due to our decreased birth rates. Because apparently the responsible thing to do now that we have a world population between 6 and 7 billion is to chuck family planning out the window. Heaven forbid that the divorce rate increase now that fewer people stay together for the sake of their 12 kids. Good thinkin’ Cardinal, really top drawer.
Sorry … I just have strong feelings when it comes to overpopulation … can you tell?
At any rate, this week should be loads of fun because we are spending Thursday and Friday at Cowan field station to learn safe trapping and handling of wallabies and kangaroos (as I told Mom, don’t worry, tranquilizer darts will be involved. And, even if they weren’t, I have been practicing my boxing). Many of us will be staying at Cowan in tents overnight so I picked up a cheap sleeping bag which ought to come in handy later on as well. In other travel news, I am spending Saturday up at Royal National Park with a few friends on a trip that International Student Services organized. There will be canoeing, hiking, swimming, and a BBQ. All in all, it should be a very outdoorsy week. If I come back with good pictures, you’re sure to see some. So, stay tuned.
Same Tuatara time, same Tuatara channel.
