Aussie Animals - collectively

We've all heard of a flock of birds, a colony of bats and a herd of elephants. But did you know our own Australian animals have some pretty interesting collective names:

Bask of crocodiles

Company of king parrots

Convocation of wedge-tailed eagles

Lounge of blue-tongued lizards

Mob of kangaroos

Ostentation of peacocks

Paddle of platypus

Parade of echidnas

Parliament of barn owls

Smack of jellyfish

Wedge of black swans

Wisdom of wombats

As nobody seems to know what we call a group of koalas, I'd like to suggest a Cuddle of koalas!

Giant Sea Creature!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, its a SIPHONOPHORE, a living organism that floats on the ocean and resembles a giant piece of string. It is closely related to the jellyfish, with the Portuguese man o'war a well-known variety.

This particular Apolemia siphonophore is estimated to have a diameter of nearly 15 metres and is about 47 metres long; longer than the blue whale.

It was recently photographed off the coast of Western Australia and is possibly the largest specimen ever recorded.

Isn't it beautiful!

Animals and the Coronavirus

This week seven animals at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, have fallen ill and one of them, a beautiful four-year-old Malayan tiger named Nadia has been diagnosed with coronavirus.

This is the first time an animal in the US has been infected with the disease, but also the first time a tiger has been infected, anywhere. The other infected animals are Nadia's sister Azul, two Amur tigers and three African lions. They were all in contact with the same zoo worker and exhibited symptoms including dry coughs, some wheezing and loss of appetite.

The zoo worker is doing okay. Let's hope we can say the same for these beautiful animals.