Into this world
Into this world
Last week, we found and adopted another life into our home. This new member is a native of Dreamland, known as a brushtailed possom. It is merely a few weeks old and left by itself in our laundery. Possoms usually keep babies with them for some 6 months before they are weaned off. We don't know what happened to its mother or why it is alone. But it was weak and desperately hungry. So we took it up and fed it some milk. We gave it a name 'Meego' - after a question 'why did Mommy let 'me go'?
Meego struggles to stand. Note humanlike hands, 4-finger feet, long tail, kangaroolike head and big ears.
Possoms usually prowl about at night at our place. They steal our fruits, nibble young tree buds and leaves, and make scary noises. They crawl back into our roof to sleep in the day time. Sometimes, they get caught and eaten by pythons who also share space in the roof.
But for Meego, born into this world and somehow separated from its mother, will be looked after until such time it can fend for itself. At the moment Meego needs milk and motherly care -- like hugs and tounches, toilet training, physical exercises and warm safe refuge (a furry bag to sleep in like its mother's pouch).
Meego has learned to hold the milk bottle and feed itself. A clear sign of strong will to survive and to grow up.
In a few days, Meego has quickly learned to adapt to its new world, human parents and diluted cow milk. Meego gets to lick some fruits too but so far it does not realy bite into fruits.
We know in a few months it will tell us "let me go" to find its place among its peers in the wild possoms' world.
We know we will miss Meego, and the joy of living together --in this world!
PS. We had supported Maggy Possom and a few generations of her clan in our 'granny flat'. We had learned to see possoms as smart, flexible, tolerant and opportunistic creatures. They are usually gentle and shy but inquisitive. They prefer fresh and local food over processed food but they will eat bread, biscuits and market vegetables (mostly 'imported' from other parts of the country). Many possoms live in suburbia and cities (such as Melborne and Sydney). But the majority livie in rural and bush areas. The city possoms pick their living out of gardens and rubbish bins.
There are 2 kinds of possoms 'ring-tailed' and 'brush-tailed'. They are protected by laws in Dreamland.
ความเห็น (7)
อา..... คุณ Sr มี pythons อยู่บนหลังคาด้วยหรือครับ....
It very nice.
ภาพที่ 2 สุดยอดมากจ้า
Dear ธวัชชัย : A few pythons are around the place. They live under the roof and over the ceiling (not quite 'on' the roof, but 'in' the roof). They enjoy free rent, free meals and hassle-free living (no one here has worries about them), In return, they keep mice and rats away. They are mostly quiet and 'not' slimy!
Hi ครูหยิน : Meego has shown many funny sides of possoms. We are quite fascinated by its easy going, show-no-fear, and unbound curiosity. Compare to human babies, possom babies seem to have much greater rate of learning. They are fun to watch -- but they are not toys.
'Meego'......มีเรียนรู้ที่จะช่วยตนเองได้ดีนะคะ ....
Dear : Yes. Meego has shown amazing learning capacity while keeping its own personality --learn and be oneself--. I can't help thinking if we can give our (human) children opportunities and supports to learn, to grow up and tp become an independent, self-supporting and proud citizens of this world, would we not give our children a greater gift of life? Sadly, we tend to give our children money or material assets but not enough 'environmental' assets for them to thrive on. And we teach them to be 'good' adults (like us who will continue to give children money and material assets, and so repeating the cycle).
I ask myself what I should teach Meego so it can grow up in the possoms' world? Then I realize how little I know about possoms. How can I teach a possom without any real knowledge of possoms?
How do teach our babies, when we know little about human --ourselves--?
ช่วงนี้ที่ออสเตรเลียอากาศหนาวเย็นมากไหมค่ะ ทางใต้ของไทยหนาวเย็นมากค่ะ http://www.gotoknow.org/journals/133407
Hi : It is a hot and dry summer in Dreamland. At my place we have dry dams and dead or dying trees, but we still have wildlife asylum seekers from inlands areas (so things are much worse out there). The drought is affecting even electricity supply grid (we are on an Single Wire Earth Return System -- using earth as a return wire; when the ground is very dry, the earth resistance goes very high -- and the return circuit is broken --> no electricity!)
I hear the South is blessed with more rains this winter. So, farmers should look to good crops this year.