Animal Diaries Archive

Backyard Blitz, Mammals Style

31 March 2006

As a keeper at Australia Zoo, you not only become an expert in the field of the species you care for, but you will also acquire many other talents as well. Contrary to what most people think, our job is not just about animals - a lot of it is to do with the environment in which the animals are living. We have all learned a lot about landscaping and renovating, despite having no background in those fields at all. The last few weeks we have been sweating it out to get all of our little gardening chores done.

It all started with a huge load of turf to go into our Red Kangaroo paddock. It took us all day but we were very determined to finish. The new addition not only looks lovely, but it will also provide more area for the kangaroos to graze. Of course, then we had to follow it up with a bit of work in the Grey Kangaroo paddock.

Claudia, Stacey and Glen built a retaining wall and topped it off with a beautiful garden in front. It certainly looks good, but unfortunately the roos think it's a pretty good place to hang out at as well. As long as they’re having fun!

We couldn't, of course, let the kangaroo keepers steal all the limelight, so we followed that up with some landscaping for otters and devils. Our two little otters needed some more plants in their enclosure after they ran amok and redecorated the enclosure themselves. Bonnie and Maria love to make their bed and they will use anything they can get their hands on – including our lomandras. We don't mind at all though, because it's fascinating to watch and it keeps us in stitches. For now it looks good in there, but we are sure that we will be back in there planting again soon.

Lastly, the Tasmanian Devils; we are currently in the middle of sprucing up our surrounding gardens for this exhibit. There is a lot of sawing, digging and planting going on and we are hoping to finish sometime soon. We will have to be off the job tomorrow though, as we will be mulching the floor of the devil enclosure. It is one of the biggest jobs that we do in the Native Mammals Department, but it sure does look spectacular when it is finished.

After all this work, all we can do is stand back and admire it all – and we hope that you all will too!