Maru Koala & Animal Park

As the days warm up little Nova is starting to spend more and more time out of the pouch! 🌞 Keep your eyes peeled for the sweet 7 month old joey as you stroll along our koala boardwalk 🐨

Covering her eyes to the threat of extinction! ❌️ 😱

Today marks exactly 88 years since the Tasmanian Tiger was declared extinct. This is a fate that we must protect our threatened species from.

Niquoll the Tiger Quoll is a member of one of those threatened species. It is estimated that less than 10,000 wild individuals exist, a number caused primarily through habitat destruction and fragmentation.

To find out about the threatened species in your area, and to see what else you can be doing to help, head over to https://wwf.org.au/what-we-do/species/national-threatened-species-day/ to learn more.

📸 - Niquoll the Tiger Quoll

Golden hour for a golden boy 🌞 Banjo the 10 year old alpine dingo loves a midweek sunbake 😎

Its save a Koala Month 🐨

Its important we are acknowledging and taking steps towards protecting these unique and incredible animal's.
Tune into Maru's Socials this month to learn how to help.

📷- Coral and her beautiful baby girl Nova

Happy Father's Day 💙

Today we celebrate father figures everywhere blood-related, chosen, or found.
Happy Father’s Day!

📷- Fernando our Male Common Wombat

Gotta eat those greens 🍃

Eat your greens to get big and strong 💪 like Milo

📷- Milo our Male Western Grey Kangaroo

In yesterday's post, we asked why koalas have frontwards facing eyes despite being prey animals - they seem to go against the general rule of 'eyes the side, run and hide / eyes to the front, go and hunt'! 👀 🐨

The reason for their forward facing eyes is for better depth perception! This helps them navigate life up high in the treetops! 🌳 Or, in the case of little Nova pictured here, helps her find the cosiest spot on mum's belly 😴

BOMBASTIC 👀

Bubble the Bearded Dragon is showing off an important feature of many prey animals; the side eye! 👁 Generally speaking, predators have front facing eyes to gauge distance more accurately. Prey animals typically have side facing eyes to detect predator coming from most angles.

That just leaves one question... why do Koalas have front facing eyes? 🐨
Let us know what you think and we will let you know the answer tomorrow!

📸 - Bubble the Bearded Dragon 🐉

Despite the strong winds today, Jarrah the 6 year old koala is quite content sitting up high in his tree! 🌳

Using a special plate of cartilage across their rumps, koalas are able to wedge themselves in the forks of trees to keep themselves well-balanced and comfy! You might even notice that Jarrah doesnt need to hold on with his front legs, as his bum is doing all the work!

With whiskers like these, it's no wonder quolls were previously refered to as 'Native Cats'! 🐈
Despite this old nickname, quolls are not related to cats and are actually cousins of the Tasmanian Devil!

Banjo soaking up the sun 🌞 in the golden hour ✨️
We think he looks so handsome 😍

📷- Banjo our Alpine Dingo

Can you pull off a Mohawk ??

Jalbil sure can,
Coming into Boyd's Forest Dragon breeding season,
His girlfriend Yipi finds him especially handsome 😏

Peek a boo !!

Nova sticking her head out of mums pouch to say hello 👋
Be sure to pop on down to Maru to get a glimpse of this little cutie 💓

📷- Coral and her joey Nova

Our Tasmanian Devil, Uncle Fester, is loving this warm, sunny weather! Drop by Maru this weekend to spot this devilishly handsome boy sun baking in his habitat 🌞

Are you enjoying this sunny weather as much as our animals are? Or are you already missing winter!

It's that time of year! 🦚

From early spring to summer, our peacocks will be trying their best to impress the peahens! Revealing a beautiful tail of about 200 feathers 🪶
Come to Maru and look out for this gorgeous courtship behaviour amongst our peafowl! 💑

📸 - Male peafowl displaying his tail with a female peafowl nearby.

Let's celebrate World Lizard Day! 🦎
These unique and varied creatures make up some of our favourite critters here at Maru!
Lizards are all protected in Australia; it is illegal to harm them. However they do face many harms with habitat destruction, which is causing food and shelter to become scarcer for them!
Help us spread this important conservation message and protect not just Lizards but all of our native wildlife.
📸 - Ed the Shingleback Lizard

We are thrilled to introduce our newest little girl who is the joey of koala Coral. We have named her 'Nova' after the Eucalypt species Eucalyptus nova-anglica that is a type of peppermint gum leaf. As the weather is now warming up you may be able to get a glimpse of Nova emerging from her mothers pouch when visiting Maru.

Has Monday already got you yawning like Jarrah here? 🥱😴

Did you know Koalas have 30 teeth! Sharp incisors at the front snip leaves off branches, while molars at the back help cut the leaves up for digestion 😋 The gap you can see between Jarrahs front and back teeth in this photo is called a diastema - this helps koalas to effectively move leaves around in their mouth using their tongue! 👅 🍃

Talk about a face full of food!

Fernando, the bare-nosed Wombat is head-first into some fresh grass. This low-energy diet is perfectly suited to the low-energy lifestyle of the Wombat, sleeping 16 hours per day! 😴 At nighttime they take their paws to work, and can dig a single tunnel up to 30 metres long. ❤️

Today we celebrated Gomez the sheep’s 1st birthday! 🎉

He celebrated by sharing a platter of yummy treats with his mum, Taco 😋

So... you come here often? 🦎

Mo, our Bells Phase Lace Monitor is seen peeking his head out through his favourite log. Rarely seen moving throughout winter, Mo is one of the hardest animals to spot in his habitat here at Maru!

Come down and see Mo at Maru!

Koala 🐨 Golden 🌞 Hour 📸

We think Ash is looking very handsome in this light, growing into such a big Koala like his Dad, Jarrah! 🐨

📸 - Ash the 1 year old Koala eating some of his favourite gum leaf 🍃

Want to get up close and learn more about the incredible animals that call Australia home? 🤔 ❓Our Wildlife Presentation held at 2pm on weekends, public and school holidays allows you to do just that! 🎉🐨🐍🐕🦎

📸-Keepers Dylan and Jess with Murray the Inland Carpet Python and Kya the Koala

We’ve discovered the key to a 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘸-tiful weekend: ☕️🦘⛳️

After venturing around the park and conquering Pirate Pete’s mini golf, head into Maru’s Homestead Bistro to indulge in one of our top 𝘬𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘢-ty coffees! We’re sure you’ll love it a 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦 😉 ☕️

Even though Molly is an alpine dingo and is well suited for the cold weather; she is loving the sunshine we’ve been having! ☀️ With amazing weather continuing over the weekend, be sure to head to Maru to see our animals soaking in the sun!

Wherefore art thou Romeo? 🎭

Easily recognised by his large scent gland, Romeo is one of our 3 male Squirrel Gliders here at Maru!
They are closely related to Sugar Gliders but are much larger and have a longer, bushier tail and longer face. Their fur is mostly grey, with a dark stripe down the middle of the head and cream patches near their ears and on their bellies.

📸 - Romeo the Squirrel Glider

National Tree Day 2024 🌳

The National Tree Day program has seen Australian communities plant almost 27 million trees since 1996. These trees have been supplied through fundraising and campaigns at a local level.
To find out more about how you can help, head to https://treeday.planetark.org/ 🌳

Never too cold for an Ice-Cream!🍦

A sweet treat you won't have to worry about melting in this weather. 😛
Come into Maru and choose one (or more 👀) of our 22 delicious flavours!

📸 - Kam, one of our incredible Maru team members

It’s the weekend tomorrow, Kya 𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘦 it!! 🐽
Maru is open rain, hail or shine 🌧️ 🌞 Come on down this weekend and get up close and learn some more about our incredible native animals 💚

Thanks to everyone who voted for us in the local business awards making us a finalist 🤗