Kangaroos are Cute (for Americans)

In Australia, Kangaroos are a barometer of otherness.  To locals, kangaroos are like cows.  Why on earth do people get excited about cows?

To tourists, kangaroos are unique, exceptional, rare, cute and photogenic.

To be fair, both views are valid.  When taken in a global context, marsupials - even big stupid common ones - are pretty 'rare', but in Australia they are as likely to take you out as a white-tailed deer on the interstate.  Why photograph a deer in the distance?

Still, this week Mum took her Australian-American tourist family to the Rainforest Habitat Center in Port Douglas to enjoy some bonding with local fauna and we found that we, along with the other tourists, love kangaroos - particularly the cute little reddish wallaroos and wallabies.

Aside from their general appeal as large furry mammals that eat from your hand, some of them bore a more-than-passing resemblance to our dog, Beezle.

Sweet baby kangaroo with sharp claws.

I told Frost not to rub his hair on the kangaroos but he
just wanted to snuggle them.  If we have some weird outbreak of
Kangaroo Flea in Seattle, you will know who to blame.

the Big One gulped an entire handful of kangaroo food
in one mouthful causing Wren some alarm.

This one was a perfect size for Wren to feed.  It was also
persistent.

The boys fought over the chance to "feed the teeny one" while the ducks
fought to gather the scraps.

Pademelon or wallaby?  Not really sure.

Wren loves this Beezle wallaby and wants to kiss it.  Yes, really.  

We really MISS Beezle and have started seeing his face in shades on our toast, in patterns on the beach-sand, in the hanging faces of spectacled fruit bats and in the wallabies in the 'zoo'.

You will see what I mean.