The Wonder of Animal Life

I’ve always had a great affinity for animals, but this program has introduced me to animals in ways I’ve never seen them before. My first experience with animals while abroad was at the Wellington Zoo. This was by no means seeing animals in their natural element, but this zoo was different than most I had ever been to since it was highly interactive. Sometimes animals would just walk right up to you when you least expect it.

The most startling example that occurred to me is when I walked into the Australian animals exhibit. Less than a minute after I walked into the fenced off section, an emu showed up a foot from my side. I panicked for a moment when I thought the emu was an escaped animal until I realized that emus are friendly and he was just coming up to say hi. He let me reach out and pet him as we walked down the path together. Considering that I had never even seen an emu before this day, I was in awe.  

Despite the artificial environment in which this encounter was occurring, I felt a certain harmony with the emu and the other animals of the zoo. By interacting with them, I felt that it would be so easy to coexist, something humanity has made seem so incredibly difficult. Species are killed off by human intervention at an alarming rate. Walking next to an emu made me realize that there are so many species that my children or grandchildren will never get to marvel at or experience because of human destruction. I was saddened by this realization, but also felt appreciative that I was getting to have the experiences that I was.

New Zealand is a country that has more cows and sheep than it does people so driving across the country brought me in contact with large amounts of wildlife. Experiencing from the safety of a car, however, is much different from experiencing up close and personal. When I went on the Rob Roy Glacier Hike, I got to get very up close and personal with some cows. As we came back on the final stretch towards our car, we found our trail blocked by a herd of cows. As far as animals go, cows are fairly commonplace and usually considered unimpressive, but I was thrilled about walking with the cows. Despite their complacent demeanor, cows are still massive creatures that I felt amazed to be walking with. I took one picture that had two cows set against the mountain backdrop that really left me amazed at the beauty of animal life. Even an animal that is as common as humans in New Zealand can have such beauty and deserves such appreciation.

 

Not all animals are so commonplace; in fact, some can be quite distinctive to a region or country. Prior to traveling to Australia, I was aware of the host of unique animals that call Australia home such as kangaroos, dingos, koalas, and wallabies just to name a few. I was lucky enough to have an up close interaction with a couple of these animals including a wallaby. At Featherdale Wildlife Reserve, I got to feed a wallaby by hand. At the time, I was mostly stunned by the cuteness of this little animal. Afterword I realized how lucky I was to be able to experience an animal that is so unique to the culture of Australia. Part of the purpose of this trip was to experience new cultures and while I had never thought about it before, animals can be a part of that. Interacting with the animals of Australia gave me what I feel is a better understanding of the natural beauty of Australia and how it fits into their cultural identity.

 

The final encounter that I had with animals on this trip was arguably the most incredible of them all. Heron Island is a national park meaning that it is well protected from detrimental human influences such as those I have pointed out earliert. For this reason, turtles have continued to nest on the island. This means that I not only got to swim with giant sea turtles, but I got to watch them hatch at the beginning of their lives as they ran to the ocean. Baby sea turtles have to overcome a lot to make it safely into the ocean including sand, seagulls, and sharks. The odds are stacked against them, but watching them fight their little hearts out against such formidable opponents told me that I should never count myself out of a fight either. If a baby turtle thinks that it can get past a shark in the ultimate David and Goliath scenario, then I should always believe that I have a fighting chance. When snorkeling, I got to swim with the adult sea turtles which could be over 100 years old. Knowing that if the baby turtles made it through the perils of beginning life could lead to such a long lived life left me speechless. I was awed by the power and beauty of nature by watching this turtle life cycle.

Spending my days on Heron Island gave me time to reflect on all of the encounters I had had with animal life on this trip. I felt connected to many of them, awed by others, and even occasionally saddened by the brutality of humanity and nature. I feel blessed to been allowed to have such a greater appreciation of animals to incorporate with the greater appreciation I now feel for nature.

~S