The Adventures of Kerri & Matt

This is an echidna.

They have very spikey hairs.

Which you would think would make them hard to pet.

Or to cuddle without poking your eye out.

But that didn’t stop us.

Their faces and furry undersides are protected by their spikes.

They can poke just their nose and tongue out to slurp their food.

Which in the wild is ants and insects but in the zoo is blended raw meat and egg.

They have very long tongues for slurping ants out of their holes, which really tickle your fingers when they eat out of your hands.

These are actually the short nosed echidnas. There are other echidnas with even longer noses.

They were very curious about the camera.

Maybe a bit too curious.

But they were so very cute.

The big highlight of the zoo was the crocs.

The crocs are very protective of their territory and don’t like the splashing humans.

They can move pretty quick at the water’s edge.

Especially for fish.

Although his focus was not on the fish at all but on the legs.

On land they aren’t as quick but still as deadly.

Apparently to open a jaw they have very little strength, it is all closing power.

He was lazy though and didn’t do a full tail stand and just did a small arch out of the water.

Matt managed to survive the experience.

Kerri got caught in the middle of a complicated scenario.

There were lots of other reptiles at the zoo.

This is an Eastern Water Dragon. He belongs here.

This is an Australian reptile of unusual size.

Kerri got to hold a blue tongued skink. He belongs here.

This guy was wild and just happened to be sitting on a rock.

This is a rhinoceros iguana. He belongs in Haiti.

This is a komodo dragon. He belongs on his very own island.

This is an Eastern Brown Snake. He is in a cage. But he lives here and is the most deadly snake we would be likely to find wild at the zoo.

This is an albino python.

This is an alligator snapping turtle. He just sits there with his mouth open all day waiting for fish to swim in, so he can chomp down and eat them. He uses his tongue as bait. He belongs in the Caribbean.

These are alligators. They belong in the USA.

Otters do not live in Australia.

Except for this one, which does.

She hides under a log to eat her peanuts.

And plays fetch when they throw her food in the water.