On the ninth day of Christmas My true love sent to me Nine wombats working, Eight dingoes digging, Seven possums playing, Six brolgas dancing, Five Kangaroos, Four koalas cuddling, Three kookaburras laughing, Two pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree.

They are so cute! A mummy wombats pouch opens up backwards so when she is digging her burrow the baby doesn't get sand all over it. The baby wombats stay with their mum for two years. They are covered in soft thick fur, which makes them look very cuddly, but they have strong legs and claws to help with digging. They are shy. To keep themselves clean they have a dust bath. They lie on their side and scoop sand over themselves. They can also swim, so why they clean themselves in dirt is beyond me. Their teeth grow continuously, so if they break a tooth it just re-grows. Their poo is called 'scrats' and it helps them find their own burrow and tell other animals if the burrow is occupied because they leave them at the door.
Baby wombat

On the tenth day of Christmas My true love sent to me Ten lizards leaping, Nine wombats working, Eight dingoes digging, Seven possums playing, Six brolgas dancing, Five Kangaroos, Four koalas cuddling, Three kookaburras laughing, Two pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree.

They say Australia has the most breeds of lizards in the world, whether it is true or not... Anyway, I have two favorite kinds of lizards the Aussie Goanna (Monitor) and the Aussie Skink. Out of all the kinds of Skinks, (common blue tongue and eastern three-lined skin being ones I've personally seen) my favorite is actually the Shingleback which is closer to the appearance of the blue tongue. The Shingleback is a slow moving stocky lizard with short logs, short stumpy tail and blue tongue. The stumpy tail looks like its head which throws off predators. Shingle-back lizards seek out the same partner year after year. Because they move so slowly they often get hit on the road, if they get hit and their mate doesn't the mate will often stick around nudging them. *NAWWW* My favorite Goanna is the Lace Monitor/Goanna. Lace Monitors or Goannas are one of Australia's largest lizards. They have strong claws and powerful legs. They are dark grey to black in colour with cream or yellow scales forming bands and blotches. There are usually black bars across the snout, throat and chin. The tongue is long and forked like a snake . Monitors are the only lizards that have a forked tongue. The head and body length grows to about 55cm long with tail about 140cm long. I find them rather cute for their size.

.
/* */
Although the other lizard appears to be eating it, when a mate is courting the other they bite, lick and nudge each other, the shingleback mate will stay with the other even if it is dead for sometime.

On the eleventh day of Christmas My true love sent to me Eleven numbats nagging, Ten lizards leaping, Nine wombats working, Eight dingoes digging, Seven possums playing, Six brolgas dancing,
Five Kangaroos, Four koalas cuddling, Three kookaburras laughing, Two pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree.

Numbats live in woodlands in Western Australia, so I've never seen one. Numbats eat only termites (white ants). They are also called 'the banded anteater'. They have long sticky tongues to catch termites. Numbats have reddish-brown fur. The numbat's body is about 24 cm long, and it has a brushy tail about 17 cm long. Its fur is reddish-brown, with white stripes across its back. These stripes, and its diet, have given it the name 'banded anteater'. The numbat has a narrow head with a pointy muzzle. It has a long thin sticky tongue that it flicks into holes where termites are. The numbat is unusual because it is a marsupial without a pouch. The numbat is one of the few marsupials that is active during the day. It sleeps in hollow fallen logs, and sometimes may dig a burrow. The numbat is rare and endangered. Its numbers have been reduced by habitat loss and by foxes, which are introduced animals. Males and females mate around December. Being marusupials, the females are pregnant for just a few days, and the young are born at a very early stage of development. Fourteen days after mating, female numbats give birth to up to 4 young. Each tiny young attaches itself to one of four teats on the outside of the mother's belly, unprotected by a pouch, and stays attached for about 5 months. Young are then moved to a nest in a burrow until spring, when they start to come out and play. By late spring they are ready to move away and find their own territory.

On the twelfth day of Christmas My true love sent to me Twelve parrots prattling, Eleven numbats nagging, Ten lizards leaping, Nine wombats working, Eight dingoes digging, Seven possums playing,
Six brolgas dancing, Five Kangaroos, Four koalas cuddling, Three kookaburras laughing, Two pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree.

So there are around 300 species of the parrot family recorded throughout the world, extending from the tropics to the subtropical and colder parts of the Southern Hemisphere. 56 species are found in Australia, and only five of these are found elsewhere in the world. The parrot family includes cockatoos, lorikeets, rosellas, ringnecks and budgerigars. And they are hell noisy and loud. I've been swooped by multiple because they do not watch where they are flying. They are very pretty though and air headed. They like eating bottle brush. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo has to be the coolest though, I have the most time for him.

.
/* */
Every time I think about these Australian animals, I think of the movie Nepoleon, which was a 1995 Australian movie about a house puppy who wanted to be 'wild' it was my favorite movie as a child and I still find something to laugh at now. Often I will quote it.

http://www.reelzchannel.com/movie/2177 46/napoleon