Her spirit did however prove to be such that
she would overcome her unfortunate situation, and she forged ahead
in care. Her eyes opened after 28 days in care, and her color under
the skin started to show after 45 days, fur coming through after
70 days. She is seen here after 1 week in care, her eyes are not
yet open, she is progressing well in care. She is fed every 4 hours
around the clock.
Another Swamp wallaby arrived a week after
Christina. He is seen here shortly after arrival, not feeling at
all well .
How he became orphaned I unfortunately do
not know, as he was brought in with little explanation. He was cold,
had signs of a head injury, bruising and small cuts like that of
gravel rash to the head.
It is interesting how different they can
be. The male wallaby is older than the female Christina, the development
of the male is further along, as you can see the color of fur under
the skin is visible, but his size and weight is much less than that
of Christina.
This will make little difference in time,
as he should catch up as he grows, but just as humans can be different,
so can animals have differences, in size, behavior and temperament.
January
2006
Christina has progressed well in care, she
is seen here 12 weeks after arrival, now coming out of her pouch
after feeding for short hops around the nursery pen.
The little male swamp wallaby has done equally
well, and both are now coming out for short hops around the nursery
pen after each feed. They are bottle fed 5 times a day, and learning
social behavior from older wallabies in care.
The importance of having more than one wallaby
in care at one time, is clearly seen once they emerge from the pouch,
and even before that. The older wallabies in care, help the younger
ones settle in by interacting in such a gentle manner, sticking
their heads in the pouch, giving the young ones a gentle nudge.
As the younger ones emerge from the pouch, taking short hops, the
older ones will watch, and it is almost like they are encouraging
the little ones.
As they grow, they are taught what is acceptable
in their world, and what is not. There is never any sign of aggression,
only gentle signs that only they understand, but is visible to us,
by their changed behavior. They may vocalise when upset at each
other, grab at each other, or kick with their strong back legs.
All is however done without malice, and I have never witnessed any
joey getting hurt by this behavior, it seems their way of teaching
each other how to fight, interact, and show affection.
It is indeed a privilege to be able to watch
this intimate world, usually hidden from human kind.
February
2006
It is with sadness that I have to say that
we lost Christina late at night on the 10th of February.
There had been no indication that Christina
was in trouble, she was behaving normally earlier in the evening,
but when I came out late at night to give them the last bottle of
the day, she was in her pouch, her breathing very fast, and in obvious
distress. She died 1 hour later in my arms.
We know this can happen, and it does happen
on occasion, it is however distressing, I must admit that when it
does, it feel a bit like having been through a wringer.You are left
feeling empty, wondering why. We are not in a situation to have
autopsies done unless there is suspicion of disease, in this case
there is no question of that. Most likely something had been wrong
from the accident, not visible till now.
One wonders will we ever have the resources
to pay for answers.
