Lyre birds

After visiting Mason's falls in Kinglake and seeing an actual lyrebird in the wild (I have only seen them in captivity), I have been researching about lyrebirds and have learnt quite a bit about them. I already knew that they mimic other bird calls and sounds around them but I didn't know how well they could mimic. 

I can see why they're significant enough to be on the 10c coin. Lyre birds can mimic chainsaw sounds, camera clicks and even human voice!

If you listen close enough you can hear; 
0:58 "C'mere chook, chook"
1:05 "What are you doing?"
1:46 "Hey don't touch that"

Australia has some very unique animals and we should be grateful that these animals aren't extinct. 

Also, I hope to write a post about my trip but we took over 3000 photos on the trip so I will have a series of posts in the future. 

Kooalala clothing

Happy New Year everyone! (Even though it's the end of January.) 

Lately, I've been on Kickstarter reading about new projects people have been trying to 'kick-start'. I came across a couple of them that I want to support, but I decided to share one that I think I shouldn't just keep to myself. 

It's Kooalala (pronounced koo-ah-lah-lah) clothing, a fashion line inspired by endangered animals on the IUCN red list of threatened species. The company is named after the koala which was 'near threatened' but became 'least concern' in 2008, which means there is hope for threatened species. 

Check out their clothing on Kickstarter. 

Here's some of the animals they were inspired by are:

The wood turtle
Image by Jerry Oldenettel

Tigers
Image by @Doug88888

Arabian Oryx
Image by Danny McL

There are rewards for those who support them on kickstarter, for example if you donate:

(For shipping outside the U.S., they request that you'll pay an additional $10) :(

- $20 or more, they'll send you a plain Kooalala t-shirt with the colour of your choose. 

- $30 or more, they'll send you a Wild Tiger T-Shirt (Men's).

- $40 or more, they'll send you a Blessed Poison Frog shirt (Women's) or a Cloud Copper Butterfly shirt (Women's).

And if you donate $1000 you will receive 5 Kooalala duo packages and a Kooalala medal of honour which allows you to pick the next animal for their collection from the IUCN red list of threatened species.

Also, the fashion line gives some of its proceed to nature preservation and the endangered animals. 

Links: 
Kooalala Kickstarter (images of their products + a video). 
Kooalala Website
Like them on FaceBook Kooalala FaceBook
Follow them on Twitter Kooalala Twitter
IUCN red list of threatened species

Also remember to like my FaceBook page and I'll keep you updated with what I'm doing. :)

10 Cute Animal Facts: Photo Blog

#1 Sea Otters hold hands when sleeping together. I guess they didn't want to wake up to find, one's in Japan and the other in Alaska. :)

Photo by Sarah Kim

#2 Nose-to-nose touching, following social grooming is a common greeting between two cats.

Photo by Whitney Gallien-Hedges

#3 Each dog has an individual nose print.

Photo by Jen Waller

#4 A young rabbit is called a kitten, like cats.

Photo by Debi Cohen

#5 When happy, guinea pigs may perform little hops in the air. This is called 'popcorning'.

Photo by joffreylacour

#6 The King Quail is the smallest 'true quail'. 

Tambako The Jaguar

#7 Cats purr at 26 cycles per second. The same frequency as an idling diesel engine, so it is fair to say that cats have their 'motor' running. 

Photo b Monica

#8 Butterflies can only see red, green and yellow. 

Photo by Emmett Tullos

#9 Bumblebees have hair on their eyes, also known as: hairy vision. 

Photo by Dave Young

#10 'Jaws' is the most popular name for a goldfish.

Photo by josullican.59

Mali in the City Auction - Photo Blog

En français      En Español

Two months ago, the Melbourne Zoo placed elephants that resemble Mali, their new baby elephant around Melbourne City. You can read about it here. 

After a couple months of street exhibitions, the Zoo Committee auctioned 50 elephants to Mali supporters, interested parties affiliated with the Zoo. This was a great night and here is my experience of it:

Mali's Self-Portrait

Gabriel

Eltham Copper Butterfly Story

Elephantasy

Bromley Two

Mali paintings

Paintings of the Mali elephants

I met Pippa Makgill, the artist who painted
the Spooky Possum Mali 

Spooky Possum Mali

The cutest picture of a koala I've seen

Pippa's Spooky Possum Mali will be on display at Luna Park, Melbourne along with Kevin Presley Mali. 
If you want to see more of Pippa's art, go to these links below:

Spooky Possum Mali
Pippa Makgill's website
Pippa Makgill's blog

What on earth is humuhumnukunukuapua'a?

I was reading about facts about Hawaii when I found out it's state fish is a very long h-word, humuhumunukunukuapua'a. It means 'fish who grunts like a pig' and it's English name is 'Reef Triggerfish'.

It is a common belief that humhumunukunukuapua'a (pronounced who-moo-who-moo-noo-koo-noo-koo-a-poo-a-a) is be the longest Hawaiian name for a fish.

Image by Dan Carter

Image by Steve Mohundro
"The name is longer than the fish"

Image by 'Nemo's great uncle'
"A humunuku-what?"

Also, the lauwiliwilinukunuku'oi'oi (Longnose Butterflyfish) meaning 'long snorted fish shaped like a wiliwili leaf' is the longest name for a fish in Hawaiian. It's pronounced 'lao-willy-willy-noo-koo-noo-koo-oy-oy'. 

Image by Derek Keats

Image by Ross Thomson

Elephant safari in Melbourne - Mali in the City

To celebrate the Melbourne Zoo's 150th anniversary, many artists painted fibre-glass statues of elephants (50 in total) to exhibit around the city. I decided to spend this afternoon taking photos in the city.

Ming Vase Elephant,
Queen Victoria Market entrance

Patch,
Queen Victoria Market

Mali is Listening to the Earth,
Cnr Peel & William Sts near Flagstaff Gardens

Frank Realities,
The University of Melbourne - Medical School Building

Lotus,
Gordon Reserve

Ranee,
Old Treasury Building - Treasury Reserve

Spot,
Centre of Treasury Gardens

Mali's Crimson Song,
Fitzroy Gardens

Harmony,
Melbourne Marriot Hotel Entrance

Rusty Mali,
Chinatown, Cohen Plaza

Interesting fact: an upright elephant trunk is good Feng Shui

Baroque Baby,
Bourke Street Mall

I think this is Jimbo,
but I didn't come out of the car to check
(It was getting dark, freezing cold and raining)

Yes, I did spend 3 and a half hours taking photos of elephants in Melbourne's busy traffic. I did get some strange looks for stopping to take a photo. 

Overall, going on an urban safari was worth the traffic and strange looks by others to find and capture 11/50 elephants.

Well Done Melbourne Zoo.

Mali in the City

Vote for your favourite elephant and win a trip to Thailand (Melbournians only, sorry)

Maps and info about Mali in the City (I printed out the info to find them)

Adopt an Asian elephant (Zoos Victoria)