royal mail strike

Interesting blog post on the reasons why postal workers are striking in England.

Devils at Tasmania Zoo

At last, I'm posting this short video of Tasmanian Devils at the Tasmania Zoo feeding on roo. Apologies for the shaky footage - it was taken on my mobile phone.

My nephew throws the first chunk of dead meat in and you can hear my sister Rachel asking questions and my niece telling me she wants to tickle me.

I love Tasmanian Devils. Funny fact: immature Tassie Devils are called Imps. Devils are carnivorous scavengers, so they don't kill their food, they find it. They're highly aggressive, have incredibly strong jaws and, unfortunately, are endangered due to a facial tumour epidemic sweeping throughout their population. For some reason I feel more strongly about Tasmanian creatures in danger of extinction.

My other favourite animals at the zoo were the macaw, the rooster, the wombat and the wedge-tailed eagles. I never thought of myself as a bird kind of person, but there you have it.

The freakiest creatures there were the macaques. I could see one reaching for a weed just beyond its grasp so I thought I'd help it by picking the weed and throwing it it. The macaque grabbed the stem and then climbed up the fence and made a funny face at me rather agitatedly. I'm not an animal psychologist but I didn't think it was a grimace of gratitude.