top end birds and reptiles

a cockatoo called Wrak came to visit us in class. she was gorgeous. curious too! it would waddle around the desks looking at everyone sideways, grab onto the side of the table, twist its head around and around, have a moment to preen a wing now and then, jump on the floor and nibble some feet...she was a cutie. i did not know they had air sacs under their skin and if ruptured they would heal themselves. they also have gaps in their skeleton to aid them in flight. i spoke to wrak in their language and it responded. i missed my cockateil, she was with us in Pakistan when i was growing up and lived a good 15 years before she passed.

yesterday it was reptile day. i adore turtles in the reptile familia. skinks too. large lizards i find fascinating. i have always been fearful of snakes but never disgusted or anything like that. i would just stay away if i saw one. they like basking in the sun and once when my group and i saw a black snake on our trail we changed our route and left it alone. touching one is a whole different ballgame though. something has definitely changed in me since i have been living in the Territory. first it made me sad that many people think a snake is best a dead snake, an attitude that needs to change. the reptile handler/ snake catcher had a few bags on the table that would move ominously when someone spoke in class. when brendan the snake catcher took the snakes out and asked us to handle them i could not stop myself. both were pythons, massive creatures. i touched the olive python and shivered. it was soft and smooth. when i held him under his neck and halfway down his length he was soft smooth and strong. unbelievable strength.

once i let the olive python go there was carpet python hanging out on my table checking everything out. he and i looked at each other for a long while. he sniffed me for around 20 minutes with his split tongue, it tickled. he went all over my bag, sniffed my legs, arms, hands, neck, he was one curious fella and did not leave my side until it was time to get bagged. he did not want to go in the bag at all.

i have to say i liked them. they were not venomous, one of them had been rehabilitated from an accident and the other was abandoned by their owner (patterns were not native to the Territory). these guys have a history just like us, they are trying to survive and live with us, and as long as we are respectful of their space we can continue to live in ours. i was hypnotized.

25% of snakes are venomous. okay the top ten posionous snakes are at the top end. yes yes. only 3% of them are truly fatal which comes down to 1.3 deaths per year in the top end. more deaths from smoking, more from shark attacks, more drunk driving deaths. snakes are getting bad rep is what i think!