australia

Meet Chad Staples! A man who loves what he does, and what he does is love and care for wild animals at the Mogo Wildlife Park in Syndey Australia. His love for the animals he cares for is endless and his goal is to share that love he has for animals and to ignite those same feelings in you. 

For those who follow Chad on Instagram, you'd know just how meaningful each animal is to him and the special bond he creates with each creature is truly something you can see and feel within his images and/or videos. 

Here's Chad's story:

Story via Brightside.Me

After the horrendous bushfires in Australia that burnt almost half of the island, killing a significant number of wild animals, we finally have some good news! As reported by ABC news, in the recovery efforts, the conservation group Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife found a tiny creature that they feared might have been wiped out by the fires - the world's tiniest possum, the pygmy possum.

These tiny guys who weigh no more than 7 grams and who can easily sit on top of your finger are found in very few places in the world - that is, if you can find them at all. Their size not only makes them hard to study, it also makes them quite elusive little beings. 

Pat Hodgens, a Fauna ecologist, said that the little possums' discovery is really exciting, and we agree! "There's only really been 113 formal records of the species [ever on Kangaroo Island]," he told ABC news. "So certainly not very common and, obviously, the summer bushfires burnt through much of that habitat that species had, but we were certainly hopeful that we would find them."

Their conservation group is going "to try to do everything we can to protect them to ensure that they hang around during this pretty critical time". He added: "It's very important now because it is kind of like the last refuge for a lot of these species that really rely on very old long, unburned vegetation."

There are still many other rare species who have not been spotted after the fires, but this is wonderful news, and we wish Mr. Hodgens and all the other people doing amazing work luck with finding all the species they're looking for. And sometimes, in Australia, people manage to find species they weren't look for. 

We're calling it the greatest Christmas gift ever! One lucky family in Australia had quite the unexpected visitor this holiday season, all thanks to one unusually large and furry ornament hanging from their Christmas tree - a real-life koala! 

The McCormick family discovered the koala tangled in the lights and the plastic branches of the tree last Wednesday, Amanda McCormick shared in a Facebook post, "Well that's something you don't see every day... we just came home to a real-life koala up our Xmas tree in our lounge room!"

McCormick told The Guardian how she believes the koala found its way into their home and tree, "must have crawled in when the doors were open. It would have been in our house for at least three hours." 

So, what do you do when you happen to find a koala in your Christmas tree? The family called the local Adelaide and Hills Koala Rescue, and when the rescue first heard their story, they thought it was a prank call. Adelaide and Hills Koala Rescue wrote on Instagram, "But no, a koala desperate to get in the Christmas spirit had wandered into Amanda McCormick's house and decided it wanted to be the fairy on the Christmas tree. Tis the season to be jolly... Koalalalala Lalalala."

And this past Friday, McCormick's daughter shared a video of the koala on TikTok which has since gone viral because let's face it -- a koala in your Christmas tree is pretty darn special! 

Story via The Guardian

Somehow, Australia managed to get yet another adorable creature. Actually, 2 of them!

Up until last week, it was assumed that there was only one species of the great glider - a possum-sized marsupial. But, as the
Sydney Morning Herald reports, "there are actually three species of greater glider, not one," explaining that the marsupials are "squeezing into tree hollows during the day and at night soaring up to 100 metres through the air on the hunt for its favourite eucalyptus leaves." And yes, Australia did indeed just get cuter. 

Everyone's favorite animal calendar is back! And this time, we're getting a whole six of them - hunky firefighters posing with some adorable animals for charity - cats, dogs, koalas, and kangaroos. What more could we possibly ask for? This is exactly the kind of lighthearted and wholesome content we need to brighten up this year and the next one - handsome men with even more handsome animals. 

Check out some of the pictures below!

Australia is famous for its many quirky and sometimes quite scary animals. 

People around the world are usually amazed and amused by Aussie's way of life when it comes to animals. 

Check out these funny people on Tumblr, for example.  

Heartbreaking news from Australia: a year-long New South Wales parliamentary inquiry revealed that without urgent intervention, koalas will likely be extinct in parts of Australia before 2050. The investigation found that "loss of habitat, fragmented populations, and fire" have been major threats to koalas.

Be still our tender hearts! There is absolutely nothing more precious than when two different animal species become best friends! 

During the COVID-19 lockdown at the Australian Wildlife Park, a koala named, Elsa, and a wombat named, Hope, shared an enclosure together. 

It was during that time that they two struck up the most adorable friendship. They're now being called, "lockdown BFFs." The two marsupials were hand raised by the keepers at the Australia Reptile Park, wombats are actually the closest relative species to the koala, so their keepers figured it would be a friendship match in heaven... they were right. 

Now that the park has re-opened, the keepers are making sure that the two are able to see each other every day! 

Migaloo, is a completely all-white humpback whale and is said to be the very first completely white humpback whale. Scientists are still unsure if Migaloo is albino or leucistic, which means he is unable to "produce pigment but has colored eyes."

The name Migaloo itself means "whitefella" in a few indigenous languages. 

Migaloo was first spotted in 1991, around Hervey Bay and has been monitored by scientists ever since. Due to Migaloo being too well-known and so rare, special protections have been implemented to ensure nothing happens to Australia's favorite humpback. Whale watchers have to keep at least a five-hundred meter distance or face the penalty. A penalty of a fine up to $16,500.

Yikes. They aren't messing around and honestly, that's a great thing. 

A tweet predicted a Migaloo sighting that he would be by Sydney soon and even possibly reach Cape Byron around Wednesday. 

If you're in Australia, be on the lookout for the rare sighting! Though, Dr. Pirotta, Macquarie University Marine Scientist, says, "Migaloo is one of around 40,000 humpback whales so essentially it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. So when people see or may have seen this individual people get really excited and start to try and predict his movements."

"Migaloo is like the rock star for the ocean world because he's showing that we should care about the ocean. But also remembering that because he's so famous we need to be aware of our actions on the water," Dr. Pirotta added.

Seems like Australia reigns up top when it comes to rare sea life! 

Story via DailyMail

This little boy is a hero. 

When Owen, a six-year-old boy living in Massachusetts, heard about the devastating fires of Australia, earlier this year, he not only wanted to help the animals -- he actually did something about it. 

It all started with a drawing he did of a kangaroo, dingo, and koala in the rain. This drawing was Owen's wish for a storm to come and stop the fire, thus saving the animals. When his mom asked him if he wanted to help in some way, Owen didn't hesitate and came up with an idea of creating clay koalas in order to save the real ones! 

Owen and his mom began to make little koalas to give out for every donation they received. The response was tremendous and the family started a GoFundMe page. So far, Owen and his family have raised over $100,000 and donated it all to the wildlife rescue organization called Wildlife Rescue South Coast. 

Read more about Owen's Little Koala's.

Congratulations to the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, New South Wales, and to the mother, Rosie!

A ray of hope is lit in the land down under as Ash, the first koala to be born months after the devastating bushfires that gripped the continent. Up to 85% of the koala population was wiped out between November 2019 and February 2020. 

Australian Reptile Park Zookeeper, Dan Rumsey told BuzzFeed News, "Ash represents the start of what we're hoping to be another successful breeding season. It was such an incredible moment when we saw Ash poke her head out of her mum's pouch for the first time!"

And while it is the first time the world (and zookeepers) have seen the baby, Ash is already 5 months old. 

"Ash is estimated to be 5 months old and is right on track to be emerging from the pouch for the first time. Her mother Rosie has shown exemplary parenting skills and we know that Ash is in good paws," Rumsey added.

The park is said to reopen on June 1st and just in time for visitors to see the ray of hope themselves! 

In 2018, The Boronia Veterinary Clinic in Australia announced on Facebook about a very rare and special guest at their clinic- a rescued brushtail possum with an incredible orange-yellow coat, often referred to as "Golden possums".  

 The real-life Pikachu was sadly found lying on the ground by a concerned rescuer when he was just five months old, after falling from her mom's back. After spending a night at Boronia Veterinary Clinic, she was placed with a wildlife carer.

Brushtail possums are usually a grayish color, but little Pikachu has a genetic mutation that means she lacks melanin. 

Turns out, those unusual colors may look beautiful to us but are actually posing a significant danger to the animal in the wild: "One of the issues with unusual colors, particularly if they are pale, is that this is a nocturnal animal and if they are pale, they are obvious to predators like an owl,"  Dr. Kath Handasyde from Melbourne University's School of Biosciences told Business Insider.

But this adorable possum is not the only one in Australia. There are more little pockets of them around Melbourne, but their location is kept secret by the volunteers in order to keep them safe.      

Story via: Business Insider

This Australian dad has really topped us all as far as creativity during self-isolation. 

While trying to stay productive, Dr. Farvardin Daliri has built a giant, laughing kookaburra in his own backyard.

The native bird, which measures a whopping 8.5 metres from beak to tail and stands at 4.5 metres tall was built for the Townsville Cultural Festival in Queensland, which he established 26 years ago. 

If you're wondering just how Dr Daliri constructed this incredible structure, he started working on it in February and used hundreds of steel round bars that were then melded and interlocked together, creating the shape of a kookaburra.

He also has a Master of Fine Arts, specializing in ceramics and sculpting, which helped him figure out the technical elements needed to make the sculpture.

He then took it out for a test drive and his daughter shared the video on twitter. 

We're melting! It's as if someone combined a kangaroo, koala, sloth, monkey, and bear, and thus -- the tree kangaroo was born! 

This animal can be founds in the rain forests of Australia, West Papua, and Papua New Guinea. Often called by local, "ghost of the forest," the elusive tree kangaroo. Tree kangaroos are marsupials so just like a kangaroo, they carry their offsprings in their pouch. The only difference is that they were built for climbing trees. 

They are peaceful animals who enjoy sleeping and eating a herbivore diet! Oh, and they're cute as heck. 

Check out what this adorable looks like below: 

These cute little marsupials are pretty rare and only live on one specific island off the Australian coast. 

But the real reason everyone's so obsessed with them? 

Well, they have an extremely infectious grin - and we can't get enough.