Healsville Wildlife Sanctuary

Healsville Wildlife Sanctuary is a bit of a drive from Melbourne but well worth the trip if you like animals. It is one of the best small sanctuaries I have seen in my travels. It is even better because it features all indigenous animals, plants and birds.

I had been insistent about seeing a platypus and finally got to see some at Healsville. Here is one playing in an indoor habitat. They are nocturnal and extremely had to see in the wild unless you find a constructed viewing area to spy on them without intruding on them. I have always been fascinated by this mammal. They build burrows up under the river banks and can grow to about 2 ft in length. The males have poison spurs on their hind legs. This is a youngish platypus and was only about a foot long.

We also got to see dingos. The keepers walk them through the park so you can see them up close. Here is a picture of one settling down in the shade after his walk.

I found an interesting site for the Dingo sanctuary (a separate effort from Healsville), which is dedicated to helping to perpetuate pure dingo bloodlines and perpetuate the species.

Of course no visit to Australia would be complete without koalas and kangaroos. I got to see some wild koalas at Daisy Hill Koala Sanctuary near Brisbane (see the Daisy Hill post) but never did see a kangaroo in the wild despite that everyone swore up and down that they were as common as pigeons are in the USA.

Some of the visitors were feeding the kangaroos so we were able to get very close to them. I got to pet one on the head. They have very soft fur. I expected it to be coarse to the touch.

I never did find out if the males have pouches too or just the females. I am not sure why they would but hey ya never know. I guess I will have to look that up on the web and find out.



Here is a koala up close. We were about 6 feet from this one at Healsville. They were all having an afternoon snack and blissing out on eucalyptus leaves. I guess that is mostly what they do. There are many other organizations working to save wild Koalas in addition to Daisy Hill which I was lucky enough to visit Save the Koala is very active and worth visiting their web page if you love these furry wonders.

To the right is an echidna. Very cool little animal that looks a bit like a hedgehog. He is a little hard to see. They had food in the stump and the top cut off and screened over so you could watch them eat.