Australiana 2! If you thought the wombat was weird..... Check out this dude!

Oh yes, anything different is weirdo but I find ET sweet as well. That depends on how we look at it. I find both most melancholic with their so appealing expression. I will await for your next one, James. Want to ear more on kangaroos - the most harmless, sweet creature on earth, kiwi and other species which we do not know much about. May be we do not care much! That would be shocking! your posts will definitely hit at our morale and hopefully we will open our eyes from the shameful slumber. Kudos...

The kiwi is from New Zealand mimpi! It would be very un-Australian of me to put a New Zealand bird on here! ET is an interesting example to share I must say! lol. I wonder what he's up to these days? I am happy that these pictures are broadening the horizons of some people and I will definitely post the last installment tomorrow when I get the chance. And just for you, here is a kangaroo!

Well now ya do mimpi! I will share the second type of monotreme in a new discussion tomorrow to keep the Australian theme going! I am really enjoying showing everyone these unique animals because they just can't be found anywhere else. The platypus is not on the endangered list thankfully, but their habitat is becoming affected by pollution and if they don't make efforts to slow this aspect down they may just well be sooner rather than later. This would be an awful shame of course and I am confident that the necessary steps are being taken to prevent this. To me they are cute too, but I can understand if people think they are a tad weird because they are so different! Thanks for the response.

Yes Mimpi, Philately Three countries : namely England , Australia and of course India. And another theme : Birds (of the feathered kind of course) Well look for your scrapbook. It should be great to go through again.

Philately!? I was big time into it and scrapbooking! That reminds me, I must go check for my scrap books....my most enviable possession

To my understanding you need a special permit to actually keep one as a pet. The Australian authorities are very tough on things like this and it would only be under exceptional circumstances that they would allow it I think. I used to collect stamps too alok and had some wonderful sets. I have no idea where they are stored today though as I have been away from home for so long. If you wish to take a trip down memory lane and dig out the stamps and fire some questions at me then I will certainly do my best to answer them! I don't mind one bit my friend. Thanks for the response.

Thye live in freshwater creeks (small rivers) and use their beak to sift through the bottom of the creeks to find food! Their feet are webbed also to help them swim. Not many people would have heard of a monotreme before and this platypus and four species of echidna's are the only monotremes that exist in the world. I would love to see one of these in the wild but I haven't had the chance yet. Thanks for the response Daffodil.

This would have been an unbelievable experience grandpa_lash! You are very lucky and I am sure that you are one of a small percentage that have witnessed something like this. Forget just foreigners too as even a majority of Aussies would never have had this experience! The only real platypus I have seen were in a mock habitat at the Perth Zoo and they were in the nocturnal section I think. I was checking more info on them on Wikipedia and it seems that even though pollution is causing some issues with their habitats, they are not threatened severely. I hope to God that it remains this way because they are an incredible animal. Thanks for the response.

That was really lucky getting to see one in the wild.

I agree hildas! From what I have read, they can be very difficult to spot, even when they are floating on top of the water. Lash is very lucky indeed!

So where's a picture of the new puppy then? Any animal that resembles a panda has gotta be as cute as a button, so I am happy to hear your excitement regarding this new addition to your family. Great name too! I am sure that there are many people that have never seen a platypus or even a picture of one before so I am enjoying the chance to share it here with everyone! Thanks for the response sheena and enjoy Gigli!

My usb is busted so I can't transfer her picture but I will as soon as I can. Just got her tonight. She's just about a month old. I was kinda waiting for your response because I know you always do. heheheh. By the way it's nice to know you're from Australia. I love the Aussie accent. I can never imitate it. I can only go as far as the American accent. I learned it from my previous job and from studying. I can say, "good day, mite" hehehhehe. Just kidding.

Hahaha. Well my accent is not the thick Australian accent you may be thinking of as I was born in Hong Kong and my mother is British. I arrived in Australia when I was around 5 years old with a British accent and I still have a bit of a British accent to my voice. Most people when they meet me think I am English at first, even though I do have a slight Australian accent as well. When you get your USB fixed, make sure you post a pic then so we can see the puppy! Cya mate!

Thnak you for this perspective Lash. One important factor that many people may not consider is that the Australian Aborigines were basically forced to embrace rapid modernization in just a little over 200 years! As an Anthropologist, I am sure you would agree that to take a race of people that have existed in a certain way for thousands of years and then make them have to adjust so quickly to such changes is bound to create significant challenges; and not just culturally but physically as well. I agree with your point about it not being viable to turn back the clock to encourage a nomadic hunter/gatherer mentality again and the issue has been and always will be the creation of mutually viable integration strategies. I too hope that there will be sympathetic and conscientiously dedicated people in high places that will do what needs to be done to force change in this regards. Rudd making an apology as one of his first tasks as PM was a good start I think. But these are just words and it is actions that will obviously make all the difference. As per usual, time will tell!

I am sad to say that what you have just stated is right raven. There is a strong possibility that in 100 years or so from now, the pure blood indigenous people of Australia will be but a memory; and this is obviously a shameful thing to acknowledge. Canada, USA..... The focus on preserving the true heritage of many a nation from a humanitarian and originating race perspective seems to fall foul of other directives. We can only hope that as time progresses, so will the conscience of the mainstream and they will work towards the preservation of their native peoples as fervently as they embrace the protection of their flora and fauna. Thank you for your comments raven and for putting things into a fresh perspective.

This subject is a big sidebar to the discussion them, but I will chime in. Before I do, keep in mind that I am part aboriginal myself. I am also an anthropologist, and have studied the work of fellow anthropologists on our indigenous population. There seems to be a fairly rigid evolutionary path from nomadic hunter-gatherers to semi-nomadic herdsmen/agriculturalists to sedentary herdsmen/peasant agriculturalists to urbam dwellers to modern industrial culture, and the aboriginals belong to the earliest phase and are trying to live in a culture from the latest stage. There is almost no common ground. Assimilation has been a litany of disasters, and destroys the culture in any case if we're talking in terms of "protecting" indigenous peoples in the way we protect fauna. But it is impossible to return them to their roots in an industrial nation, if only because most of them will not fancy going bak to the hardships of nomadic hunter-gathering. This is especially so since the knowledge base of their grandparents is now mostly missing. And there is also a problem, I beleive, in the entire concept of "protection" in this context. It smells of paternalism and condescension. I don't have an answer, but perhaps, if we were prepared to fund such a project properly and staff it with sympathetic people, it might be possible to create a half-way position where both traditional and modern skills are taught, and people be allowed to make up their own minds as to which path they wish to take. This would require considerable special support for a considerable time period, an issue which raises the ire of the redneck/racist and conservative elements in white society and causes political problems for any governemnt which suggests it. It's hard to see such a project being acceptable to most of the agencies involved in dealing with the issues. Lash

They used to be hunted for their fur actually! Thankfully though they managed to put a stop to that otherwise they would have been wiped out. Yes, the poisonous spur doesn't sound nice at all! I don't remember ever reading about anyone being poisoned before though? Thanks for the response deebomb and I hope you do get to visit Australia one day for it is indeed a very unique and vast continent!

i meant you will have to think twice about cuddling anyone.this platypus or wombat or watever it is called,maybe better.

lol. I have definitely come across many people in my life that don't deserve a cuddle anywhere near as much as a wombat might!

I would definitely think twice about cuddling one too riya. Just giving it a pat might be wiser I think! lol. Thanks for the response.

It does sound pretty nasty but I am not sure how often they actually use it. I was watching Steve Irwin's daighter Bindi-Sue on cable TV here and she was talking to the camera while holding and playing with one and she had it for the entire show. Based on this, it does seem that they are not vicious or anything, but I think I would prefer to err on the side of caution anyways! Thanks for the response sharra.

Hi metschica. I have always been fascinated by animals too and used to read everything I could about them when I was a little boy. I even used my pocket money for a weekly subscription to an animal encyclopedia and would receive a new chapter every Saturday. What is funny though is that they stopped distributing these chapters when they got to "S" so I knew very little at the time about any animals that started with the letters T through Z! Thanks for the response and I am happy to hear how much you love my countries animals. They are certainly unique!

Sometimes I do miss it terribly hildas; but thankfully most of the time I soldier on with many other new sights and sounds to keep me occupied. Being in many different countries is a great experience but of course there's no place like home! There are so many things we get to see and learn about on mylot and I am really happy to have so many people take an interest in these wonderful and unique Australian animals! The spiders by the way aren't so bad but we do have some big ones! lol. Thanks for the response and I hope you get to see Australia one day. You will never forget your time there I can assure you!

They do have a venemous spur on their hind legs but from what I understand it is not poisonous enough to actually kill a person. It would be very painful though if we were to get stuck by it! Thanks for the response alyssa.