Heya, I volunteered at Lone Pine on my Gap year in November, and recall some of the Koalas being in a different part of the main enclosure due to illness. I'm coming up to the interview stage for Vet Science now and I thought it would be a good thing to talk about at interview. However, I can't for the life of me remember what the illness they had was, was it possibly colds? If I could get some info on this it would be greatly sppreciated! :D Kindest Regards, Amy Lewis (UK)

Hi   I think I witnessed something quiet unique and was wondering if this has been recorded before. I noticed one of our local kookaburras here in Hobart hitting something on the groung and imgined it to be some small prey however it appeared to be a currawong feather, I shrugged this off and now have noticed the same behaviour some days later, what it appears to me is that the kookaburra is picking up a currawong feather and bashing it into the turf and making a hole which it then pulls out a large worm, I find this truely remarkable and was wondering is this normal

Looking forward for detailed information about Halloween special event. Help is invited.

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[Eva 2010-03-15 19:10:42]: Hello Lone Pine Staff: I am taking the Mirimar Cruise to Lone Pine on either the 27th or 28th of August. The cruise will allow passengers to explore the park from 11:30 to 1:30. I noticed on your schedule that the croc photos are at 11:00, and the snake/croc photos are at 1:45, which means that I'm going to miss both! I was wondering how strict you are with your times. Would you allow a croc picture at 11:30, and a snake picture at 1:15? I would even be willing to pre-pay for the photos. Thank you, and I can't wait to see you!:) Eva Pieper Grants Pass, Oregon USA

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Sometimes it is necessary to hand-raise if we are to have a happy and well adjusted show bird. One of our raptor team, Tanja, tells us all about hand-raising barn owl Milo.

"When I first met Milo, it was fair to say she had a face only a mother could love! She looks very different now. She is actually 4 years old, but I’ve known her since she was just 2 weeks old when she and her brother Smudgee were first brought to Lone Pine from another zoo to be hand- raised. You might be wondering why we would want to hand-raise them. We wanted to have these owls to be comfortable / happy around people so that our visitors could have the opportunity to get up close and personal with them, and to have them as part of our free-flight bird of prey show.

In order for that to happen it is really important that they are socialised with people from quite a young age, so this means they had to go home with a keeper and be part of their family.  Milo liked to join in with everything we did, like watching TV, but she didn’t always understand that we needed to sleep at night, particularly when she was all geared up to play.

It also became apparent very quickly that Milo had a strong personality of her own. For instance, she liked to sleep in her nest box on her side with her long legs stretched out and with her head propped up on something like we do with a pillow. Not the usual position for a chick in the nest! She was, and still is, very playful, pouncing on anything that moves or looks interesting, including people’s feet or even Christmas decorations. Once, she took all of the decorations off our Christmas tree.

Of course, if she was a wild bird that would all be good practice for catching her prey, which would mainly be mice. In fact, they are fantastic mouse catchers and those long legs of hers would be especially useful for catching mice in long grass or in snow. Luckily Milo doesn’t have to worry about having to catch her own food, so instead, she pounces on and collects small rocks from the ground and puts them in her nest box. Perhaps she’s pretending they are mice and she wants to impress me with her hunting skills.

Feeding a baby barn owl is interesting too, because of course they don’t eat fruit and vegies - they are carnivores. It isn’t enough to feed them chopped up pieces of meat or mince, as they wouldn’t get all the nutrients that they need. It is important to feed them whole food that is as close to their natural diet as possible. They require all of their prey, including the fur, bones and organs, for them to be healthy.

When they are small it means that mice have to be chopped up into bite-size pieces. This can be very messy and a bit gruesome for other members of the the family who aren’t used to it, and can be quite disturbing for visitors who accidentally pull out a packet of frozen mice from the freezer where the ice cubes are usually kept!

Of course, there came the day when Milo discovered she had wings. Birds have to learn to fly just like we have to learn to walk, and this process does not always come naturally. I still have scratches in my floorboards where Milo used my nice wooden floors as a runway to learn how to take off and land. After a weekend of fishing her out from behind cabinets from inside fish tanks, we decided it was time for Milo to return to Lone Pine with her brother Smudgee. She is now a part of our free flight team, and shows people from all around the world the grace and beauty of this wonderful species".

Congratulations to the Lone Pine Team for coordinating the Halloween Special Event. We had a ball as a family solving clues and learning more about the animals at the sanctuary. 'Trick or treating' and the jumping castle were an added bonus! Thanks for a fabulous, fun-filled afternoon.

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Hi there!

We have a couple of options that might suit you- one is our 2 hr 'platinum tour', and the other is our 'keeper for a day'.

The platinum tour is an all access tour. We like to work it around what you are particularly interested in, so if you want to spend your 2 hours in with the koalas and nothing else, well that is OK with us! We can take you into their enclosures for great photos and pats. You can learn all about each one and their individual personalities, how we take care of them and what it's really like to work with them.

The keeper for a day is a bit different. It is much more hands on, and you will be participating in some of the duties that we keepers do on a daily basis. This will include a range of duties in a range of sections. This option gives you a great insight into what it is like to be a keeper. Again though, if you want this option but still want to spend more time with the koalas than any other animal, we can certainly do that for you.

We may be a little biased, but we do like to think we are the best place to go if you are into koalas.. we have around 130 of them and we are the largest koala sanctuary in the world. We know alot about koalas!

Just a little tip.. if you like the idea of seeing our joeys, the best time to visit is late March to early October.

My husband is terminally ill and has always wanted to pet a koala.  We live in the US and I want to plan a trip for his birthday next year.  Is your facility the best place to go in Australia to pet a koala? If we came, what tour would give him the most time with the koalas? Keeper for the day? He has plenty of physical energy and can do anything right now.  Your insight would be great- thanks!

Miss Max,   I am having the similar problem. Have you found an answer yet?

Do foreign students count as full-time students for concession prices? Thanks!

Do foreign students count as full-time students for concession prices? Thanks!

Our little Nankeen (or Australian) kestrel, Rocket, is making great progress in her training to become part of our general free flight show. She made her debut last week in a few special private shows we conducted, and the success of that means she will hopefully be ready to fly for us in one of our main shows very soon.

As with any new addition to our team, Rocket had to go through a series of steps to get her up to the stage where she is now. When we design a training plan for a new bird, we need to take many things into consideration. We look at the species itself - the flying style, hunting techniques and other natural behaviors - then we consider how the bird was raised, how old it is, and its individual personality.

Being a falcon, Rocket is well suited for training using a lure (for a rundown on the idea behind lure training, see my previous blog 'Flying start to 2011). Rocket came to us as young, untrained, and hand raised. This is ideal, as it meant she was already comfortable with people, and her training could begin fresh, without the influences of any previous and unknown training techniques.

The first step we take with a new bird is socialising or 'manning'. Basically, this means that we spend time with the bird to allow them to get know us and us to know them. We soon discovered that Rocket is very confident and very food focussed, a great combination for a show bird! During this phase we also taught Rocket to come to the glove for a food reward, so she will confidentently step up to our glove when required. The next step was to tie a piece of food to her lure and introduce it to her.

At first, she just needed to sit on the lure and eat her food - what we try to achieve here is to teach her to associate the lure with food. Once she did that, we could get her to start actively coming to the lure for food. At first, this was done with small hops, and as she progressed this became long hops, then small flights, and then longer flights to a lure dragged along the ground.

Once we were sure she was confident in doing this, we introduced the swinging lure to her routine. This is where we swing the lure around and the bird must try and catch it. As she approaches, the lure is passed out to meet her and then snatched away. She will miss and then come around and try again. The amount of times she will miss the lure before we allow her to catch it will vary. That way, she will always think she has a chance and will try hard to catch it.

Rocket is now at the stage where is is performing her lure training well enough to be included in the shows, but first we have to get her used to the audience. It is a bit daunting for a young bird to be suddenly faced with a whole group of people watching her when previously there were none! For this reason, we have started easing her in with some smaller crowds. We are hoping in the next few weeks that Rocket will be confident enought to be one of the stars of our show!

I see the photo comp closed a year ago (!), but thought I'd just post this piccy from yesterday (Sunday 19th June).   I like it, hope you do too.

170mm f5.6, 1/320s EOS 500D with 70-300L

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I visited Lone Pine today with Brisbane International Student Ambassadors

Here are a few shots

More here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150611030705046.676631.514885045&l=23c7fd617a

I visited the sanctuary about a week ago, just as my trip in Australia was coming to a close. It is definitely one of the most beautiful I have seen. The animals look very comfortable and well taken care of. The fact that I was able to hold a cuddly Koala and take a picture with her was incredible. That is something that not many people can say they have done. The experience I had at the sanctuary was fabulous and I would gladly go back any day! I would highly recommend it to anyone I know traveling to Australia.

If you visit Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary on Friday May 20^th 2011, don’t be surprised to see the staff wearing something other than the usual khaki!  We will be celebrating Black and White Day which was established to highlight the dangers facing Tasmanian devils in the wild and to help raise much needed funds to save this amazing Australian marsupial from extinction.

For those of you who aren’t aware, yes, Tasmanian devils are marsupials.  This means that like koalas and kangaroos, devils give birth to extremely undeveloped young which then complete most of their development inside their mother’s pouch.  Devils give birth to as many as 40 tiny joeys but with only 4 teats inside the pouch, most will not survive.

Tasmanian devils have a quite a fierce reputation which is somewhat undeserved.  Anyone fortunate enough to have worked with devils will tell you that they are really quite shy animals but their noisy feeding habits combined with a powerful set of jaws that are capable of crushing bone can make this difficult to believe!

Devils mostly feed on carrion and while this is advantageous in ridding the forests of animal carcasses, it can increase the risk of them being hit by cars as they feed on unfortunate wildlife which has already met this fate.

In recent times the numbers of wild devil populations have plummeted following the outbreak of a highly contagious disease known as Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD).  DFTD is 100% fatal and has caused the status of the devil (as listed in the IUCN Red List) to drop from “common” to “endangered” and with the numbers still decreasing, it is very likely this disease could lead to the extinction of Tasmanian devils in the wild.  But there is still hope!  A lot of research is being done to learn more about this puzzling disease and breeding populations have been established in zoos on mainland Australia where (so far) they are safe from DFTD.  Sanctuaries have also been set up in Tasmania for disease free devils to try and prevent the complete loss of this remarkable animal.

So when you visit Lone Pine’s gorgeous females “Stripey” and “Sparky” on Friday May 20^th spare a thought for the wild devils and do what you can to help save this truly unique and intriguing Australian animal.

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Only recently has the guessing game to determine the colour of feathered dinosaurs like those in Jurassic Park come to an end. Recent research has found that fossil feathers have preserved colour-pigment sacs (known as melanosomes), which are able to determine the colour of fossilised dinosaur or prehistoric bird specimens. In the past two decades, archaeologists have found dozens of well-preserved feathers, particularly in China. Now, scientists are able to determine the original colours and patterns of these creatures that roamed the earth up to 200 million years earlier.

Archaeopteryx

A significant study further identifies the DNA of cockatoos, in which the magnificent Palm Cockatoo has been deemed close relative of the Gang-gang Cockatoo and Galah, but not the oldest common ancestor of cockatoos. The Palm Cockatoo was found to cluster on the family tree with the white cockatoos, indicating that you might not necessarily judge a bird's relationship by its colour. The results of recent work by Nicole White of Murdoch University, might help lessen the illegal trade in parrots and their eggs by establishing a DNA profiling database, which can determine if a bird was bred in captivity or smuggled from the wild.

[Miss Max 2011-03-15 15:17:04]: Hi I had a picture taken on the 27th Feb, I am now back home and was trying to access the pics. I have simply keyed in http://i.koala.net/ the number of my picture. What am I doing wrong? Please can you help as I would love the picture electronically! Many thanks MissMax

As those of you who live around Brisbane will know, this time of year can still bring some pretty hot days. But it's not just us who feel the effects of those sweltering temperatures. Spare a thought for our hardworking show birds, who come out and perform for us, at a time when most of the other animals around the sanctuary are snoozing under the shade of the trees.

So what do we, as their keepers, do to help our birds cope in the heat? We give them showers!

Just like many other birds like to bathe, raptors are no different. In fact, some of our birds love water so much we even give them their own little swimming pools. Species that are often found around water areas, like the white-bellied sea-eagle, osprey and brahminy kite, really enjoy getting into the water and having a splash around.

For many others, we simply turn the hose onto a nice mist and let our birds soak under it for awhile. It's always entertaining to watch, especially our barking owls who always put on a show of opening up their wings and fluffing out their feathers.

Besides giving the birds a chance to cool down, bathing is also important for feather maintenance. The water softens the feathers, and the bird will then preen by running the feathers through the beak, helping to straighten them out. This action also helps to repair any split barbs that can occur in the feather. Many barbules (which are like tiny hooks) latch the barbs together, but when barbules detach, a split appears. Birds realign these during preening. If you spend any time observing birds, this behaviour can be easily identified, as the bird carefully nibbles its way from the base of the feather toward the tip, reattaching the barbules and mending splits.

Preening also helps to waterproof and condition feathers. Raptors (and indeed most other birds as well) have a preen gland, or uropygial gland, at the base of the tail. This gland produces a waxy substance, and the bird will squeeze the preen gland with the beak, and then distribute the oil by rubbing the beak over the feathers. It’s thought that the oil from the preen gland also helps to make the feathers supple and strong and prevents them from drying out.

So as you can see, giving our birds the opportuntity to bathe and preen is actually a very important part of our job. Next time you admire the birds for the beautiful condition of the feathers, bear in mind all the work that they (and us!) put into keeping them that way.

Check out the photo below of Baileys enjoying one of her daily showers!

The beginning of the new year has seen a much anticipated new addition to the raptor team, 'Rocket' the Nankeen (or Australian) Kestrel. These little birds are the smallest Australian Falcon, and at usually no more than 180 grams in weight, this puts Rocket as the smallest member of our team.

The addition of Rocket means that we will be able to showcase the different kind of hunting techniques that falcons typically display in the wild. Falcons are known for their speed and agility, and are able to take fast moving prey straight from the air (a technique we refer to as 'on the wing'). Training a kestrel means we can employ the use of a lure, which is traditionally a pair of bird wings attached to an object which is swung around on a cord for the falcon to chase. Often these days, we use a piece of leather shaped like a small bird, with a food reward attached. After the falcon has chased the lure around, she is allowed to catch it and collects her reward. The use of the lure as a training tool goes back to medieval times, when hawking (or falconry) was considered a noble pursuit. In fact, the sport of falconry was so much appreciated that a nobleman or his lady never appeared in public without a falcon or hawk on the wrist as a mark of dignity. It was also a mark of the rank, not everyone could afford the high cost of falcons! In Australia, the lure is used mainly for rehabilitation work. It is a effective tool for building up fitness after a wild raptor has been in captivity recovering from illness or injury. These birds rely on their hunting skills and are required to be in peak fitness and health to function efficiently on a daily basis.

Another natural behavior that we will be able to demonstrate with Rocket is her ability to hover. In fact, kestrels are most easily distinguished by a typical hunting pattern, which is to hover at a height of around 10–20 meters over open country and swoop down on prey, usually small mammals, lizards or large insects. Due to their small size, kestrels lack the speed of the larger falcons and therefore tend to be more adaptable in their hunting techniques, often employing a number of different ways to catch their prey. At the moment, Rocket is still in quarantine, but we are hoping to begin her training soon. Being hand-raised, we anticipate that she will respond readily to training. She is already comfortable with receiving her food from people, and our next step will be teaching her to come to the glove for a food reward. The process of training a raptor involves building up alot of trust between the handlers and our birds, which means alot of time invested before she will be ready to free fly for us. During training in the early stages, we use a creance, or training line, which we can attach to the bird to ensure that she can not be lost. When we are sure that the trust is there and that she knows her routine and performs it confidently, the training line can be removed.

If you're planning to come to Lone Pine in the coming months, you might just be lucky enough to catch us on one of our morning training sessions with Rocket in the Nature Kingdom. Be sure to come back to keep track of her progress!

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Did you know....

koalas are NOT bears? They are marsupials which means that they have pouches like kangaroos, possums and wombats.

koala babies are called joeys?

a koala's staple diet is eucalyptus (or gum) leaves? Their very efficient digestive system is specially designed to cope with the toxins contained within eucalyptus leaves and extract all the nutrients they need to survive.

koalas do sometimes drink water? Most of the water a koala needs is obtained from the leaves that they eat but in times of drought (when leaves are dry) or in extreme heat, koalas will come down to get a drink if they need to. Many of you may have seen pictures being circulated during the heat waves in southern Australia a couple of years ago of koalas accepting water from people or seeking it out in backyards. It's not a common occurrence but it does happen.

koalas spend 18-20 hours a day resting and sleeping? The most popular explanation of their inactive lifestyle is that eucalyptus has a drugging effect on them so they effectively spend their lives "stoned" or "drunk" but this is purely a myth! The real reason is that they receive very little energy from their food so they need to conserve the small amount of energy they do receive.

koalas have 2 "thumbs" and 3 "fingers" on their front paws? This is so they can grip the branches more effectively than they would with just one thumb and 4 fingers.

a koala's gestation period (or pregnancy) is only 33-35 days?

at birth, a koala joey is less than 1/2 gram in weight and is less than 2cm long?

a koala joey spends (approximately) the first 6 months of it's life inside it's mother's pouch feeding only on it's mother's milk?

wild koalas can live approximately 8-10 years (on average) but they tend to live longer in captivity (on average 12-15 years)? The longest lived captive koala on record "Sarah" lived at Lone Pine and made it into the Guiness Book of World Records when she passed away in 2001 aged 23 years.

koalas in the wild are under threat? Habitat destruction, cars and dogs are the biggest threats koalas face today so please do whatever you can to help conserve this gorgeous, fascinating and lovable animal for future generations. This list of facts only scratches the surface regarding all the amazing things that are not commonly known about koalas. They are incredible animals and an absolute joy to work with. The attached photos might give you an idea of why we enjoy spending time with these guys!

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