Roo

05 Mar 2006

For some reason I can't remember, we were hanging out with N, and happened to be in the vicinity of her parent's place. No great interest to me really, not being a family person and all. But, as we were chatting it came out that her parents had on their small bit of land a menagerie of sorts. Ahhh, critters! And the most recent addition was a baby 'roo, taken in from some bloke her dad met at the pub (as you do!) - Family or not, critters are worth visiting, so in we screeched (literally, it was a bit of a hidden drive-way, I was driving a tad fast, and N's last minute "turn right HERE" was a little unexpected).

Sure enough, they had a baby, or rather a young 'roo slowly hoppety-hopping around a fairly big fenced-in area. Being used to people he was slightly curious and came over to check us out. Since he was captive he was fairly well-fed, but still indulged a little from my handful of grass while I petted him. - It was funny, he'd nibble on the grass, I'd reach out and gently stroke his fur, which he'd tolerate for a few seconds before absent-mindedly scratching with his paw the same spot I had been stroking, all the while chomping away on the grass. He didn't seem to mind the petting, but it was hot so I guess it made him scratch. His fur was a little soft, and a little dry plus a touch mottled/ratty (do roos have juvenile fur that gets replaced by adult fur?). I could feel his ribs just under the skin, and couldn't help but notice the expanse of his rib-cage, even for a small roo. And his tail was both meaty and muscley, almost another limb. - All in all, roos are interesting animals and the fully grown adults can be pretty damn big!

When he'd had enough of a snack and the attention he slowly strode off as kangaroos do (one step a tripod of front paws and meaty tail as the body crunches up a little while the hind feet reach forward, next step the two huge hind feet rest on the ground while the body reaches forward before leaning down to the tripod crunch.)

N's folks also had various small birds, chickens (apparently her dad is pretty big in the chook world!), peacocks, a miniature cow, normal sized goat etc. I tell ya, they should almost charge admission!

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