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Posts: 3,540....do you have deer in Australia??? I know, its incredibly stupid of me to ask, but I just had to, as I don't know 
Matilda Huggington-beareNO, we dont have wild deer. We do though have people who farm deer and deer are in the zoos.
Instead of deer we have kangaroos 
Really? Actually, that's fascinating. I love deer -- they're beautiful -- but I'd adore seeing a roo jump across my backyard instead some day. How cool is that?
Rufnut Teddy'sYes, we have deer farms, but they are not wild.
Chaska, MinnesotaI'm like Shelli I would love to have a Roo jumping abound my back yard. What fun!! Too bad you guys don't have deer. They are beautiful to see in the wild and grazing in a field...It really is great. I was shopping the other day at Target and some burley looking nut was on his cell phone complaining he has "not shot one deer yet" this year. I thought well good. I would have said something smart but valued my life and moved on to the ice cream isle.
Michelle
Cleathero CreationsWe have feral deer. Deer that have escaped but they are pretty rigidly hunted now as are other 'feral' animals. Scared the heck out of me when one bounded in front of my car. Kangaroos yes, wallabies yes, echidnas, wombats, rabbits and all other manners of creatures I am used to but not the deer.
Chaska, MinnesotaBronwen writes: Kangaroos yes, wallabies yes, echidnas, wombats, rabbits and all other manners of creatures I am used to but not the deer.
Bronwen: you luck duck, you see wombats and wallabies!...I am so jealous...I get squirrels (yippee). Oh yes, maybe a chipmunk or two (double yippee).
Now please explain what is an echidna? Never heard of that before.
Michelle
Tuppies TeddiesAn echidna is like a porcipine. Has sharp quills on their back, but they are very cute looking...
Jellybelly BearsI wish we had deer like you guys do 
and chipmunks and all those cutsie animals from fairy tales.
I don't have native animals in my backyard...only in the country..my sister lives in the country and they have a koala in the trees in their yard. the kids love it. its a thrill to me too to see our animals in the wild I've heard you have cyotes in your yards over there..that would be frightening 
DoodlebearsI love to see the native Australian animals as many of them are so different from the animals here in the UK. Here is an Echidna and a little about them.
English Name: Echidna
Scientific Name: Tachyglossus aculeatus
Arrernte Name: inarlenge
Luritja Name: tjilkamata
DESCRIPTION
The echidna has a lot of black and white spikes. It burrows into the ground to get water. Sometimes the echidna sleeps in the ground. You can see the spikes coming out of the ground. The Echidna eats ants. It has to dig into the ant hill .
Hugs Jane.
Rufnut Teddy'sThe Kangaroos in the wild are pests and do a lot of damage when they jump out on the road. The wallabies I have seen in wildlife parks, are very gentle and can be hand fed
huh - I find it really curious that lots of things got imported into New Zealand that never were in Australia. i guess it's partly because we're lots smaller and of course there are no native land mammals here except for two species of bat. We have deer and thar and wild pigs running around the high country - even wild wallabies in parts of the South Island!! We even had moose down in Milford Sound at one stage! You name it and some crazy settler has tried to import it here...most of them have been fairly ruinous to our native flora and fauna.
I love echidnas - they are so cute. I have to come back to Aus so that I can see some of your wildlife - the most I saw last time was a koala's bum! I did love seeing the platypus at the Sydney aquarium. I watched it for about 45 minutes - they have fascinated me ever since I was given a copy of Dot and the bush kangaroo when I was about 5.
PS...Michelle, I would love to see chipmunks and squirrels...they might be unexciting to you but they are really exotic to me!
Cleathero CreationsThe echidna also lays eggs and has a pouch!!
Pumpkin & Pickle BearsMelissa said:
they have fascinated me ever since I was given a copy of Dot and the bush kangaroo when I was about 5.
Oh my gosh, I LOVED that film as a child (about the same age). I remember being quite obsessed with it (and Mary Poppins too! 
).
I LOVE the native Aussie animals (my other half is Australian). My absolute favourites are the Kookaburras and the wombats. The sound of a kookaburras laugh in the wild is simply AMAZING.
Sometimes I see an Echidna on our dog walks- when they hear you coming, they bury themself into the ground, leaving only their spiky backs exposed. We also have a lot of Wombats around, and the odd Kangaroo. Unfortunately the Wombats we only usually see when they get hit by cars 
I love seeing wild animals- when I visit the US I love seeing Squirrels, they are soooo cute- and don't even get me started on Chipmunks! lol.
Sarah your sister is so lucky having a resident Koala!
Melissa, I wonder how on earth a MOOSE got loose in NZ? lol... our lovely Possums are a problem there too aren't they. I never knew you didn't have native land mammals there- learn something new every day 
QueenslandMy mother in-law is a wildlife carer and she has wombats,kangaroos,wallabies,tasmanian devils,possums the list is huge. I love going to see her as she somtimes has baby animals inside the house that she has pick up from the side of the road and brings them home and looks after them until they are ready to be let back out into the wild......I never realized that wombats have huge front teeth like rabbits but have held a few and just think they are so cute but always check my fingers(lol)......
Take Care
Be Safe
Debbie
Posts: 3,540This is fascinating to read! I'd love to see a kangaroo in the wild, oooh, and the ....whoops, a nasty, nasty storm's come up...gotta get off here... 
duck n cover....
Karen...the wombats at Melbourne zoo hid from me (I still say they did it on purpose because they knew I was a kiwi ) I have an awful feeling that they brought the moose in for hunting purposes. I can't remember how many pair. there's a guy here who's on a mission to prove that they still exist down in Milford Sound - the bush is so impenetrable and dense there that he might be right. I kind of hope so - moose are so cool!
I too would love to see a kangaroo. Some of the other critters mentioned sound fascinating too.
Here are some deer pictures I posted on another thread ( sorry to double post and bore anyone). I took these pictrures on the weekend while driving in a provincial campground that is closed for the season. The were grazing right beside the road and were not very timid of our car. i just love them. They look so beautiful.
Deer are so pretty! Yet so many people when you say that say things like ' oh they are covered in ticks' or 'they eat my flowers' hehe. Mind you I was not too impressed the morning I discovered a wombat had visited overnight and eaten my Iris buds- or the house I lived at before this one where the Kangaroos would visit at night and eat all the peaches off the tree ;)
Ugh rabid animals, thankfully thats one thing we don't have to worry about in Australia! We dont have rabies here, one of the reasons for our strict quarantine laws.
I can't imagine how people can enjoy killing animals like Moose for fun, ugh.
Hehe those sneaky Wombats hiding from you Melissa! Us Aussies can be so sneaky hehe
Real Deal BearsOh those Dears were georgous Tammy
I am fortunate that I live near a National Park, and have Kangaroo's come to visit.
As well I have a resident echidna, koala's along the drive, and sometimes a wombat comes to visit, not to mention all sorts of bird life.
My parents had a farm up in the high country some time back, and as well as all the Australian wildlife they had goats and dear that had escaped from farms roaming around.
They would go up the mountain to see the wild brumbies and camp out.
Brumbies in the wild are a wonderfull sight 
Jellybelly BearsOh those deer pictures are gorgeous!! Karen I'm like you...squirrels and chipmunks
I wish I saw more wildlife where I live...echidnas on dog walks sound so cool!! I see rabbits lol
Sarah, I get excited when I come across a rabbit too lol I am such a dag;) I was driving home one day and there were two rabbits just sitting on the footpath eating... one looking at the cars going past... I said out loud, "rabbits, two rabbits and they are just sitting there" and I was the only one in the car lol.
I'd just love a pet rabbit:)
Chaska, Minnesota
Debbie wrote: My mother in-law is a wildlife carer and she has wombats,kangaroos,wallabies,tasmanian devils,possums the list is huge. I love going to see her as she somtimes has baby animals inside the house that she has pick up from the side of the road and brings them home and looks after them until they are ready to be let back out into the wild......
Debbie: I would love to do what your mother-in-law does. I love baby animals. Wow...Just like all those wonderful shows I see on the cable station Animal Planet.
Jane: Thank you for posting a picture of a echidna. My goodness what a wonderful animal!
Melissa: I have a boat load of squirells as we speak. I'll see if I can get a few pictures of them for you. The little chipmunks are, I think in hybernation. I don't see them in Winter. They are really cute I must confess. It is amazing what is common in one part of the world is rare in other countries.
Tammy: The deer pictures are just fabulous, very much what we see here in Minnesota from time to time. You have to stop the car to watch them in aw....
Toby: I get racoons too. Love them. I think I have a picture of them and get it posted. (I just poped in picture of my racoons. I still don't know know how to place it because all my pictures come up a the begining of all my posts).
Bear Hugs
Michelle
I have a couple of resident echidnas I watch them while I'm at the kitchen sink, wandering along then suddenly driving their long snouts into the soil for ants, they're amazing creatures....also have a few wallabies, lots of beautiful birds including both black & white cockatoos, eagles & all sorts of parrots .....
