Animal Diaries Archive

Minibus is not a morning marsupial!

28 April 2006

Here at the Zoo, like in many other jobs, you tend to get into a routine. Granted, our routine is quite interesting compared to other jobs, but it becomes a routine nonetheless. In our wombat enclosure we have a routine of letting all of our wombats out of their night dens in the mornings. They are all very happy to wander, if not run out into their beautiful enclosure, ready for the exciting day ahead. That is, all except for one – Minibus.

It seems Minibus is very similar to me in the fact that she is not really a morning person. While all the other wombats are waking up, scratching, grazing and basking in the beautiful morning sun, Minibus prefers to curl back up in her night den and sleep in.

In an endeavour to get her up for all of our guests to see her when the park opens at 9:00am, we have tried many different methods of wake up calls - all to no avail. Despite patting, cuddling, coaxing, talking to her and even trying to push her out of bed, her eyes just glaze over and she goes back to sleep. We have even tried letting her sleep in, which puts her in a very good mood for the rest of the day, but still doesn't entice her to come out of bed on her own. We have found that the only way to get her up is to physically lift her 24kg frame out of bed and into the yard.

After years of this routine, many theories have evolved to explain Mini’s inability to get out of bed, but one theory prevails above all the rest. You see, Minibus is our most affectionate wombat in the whole Zoo, and there is nothing she loves more than getting a great big cuddle from her keepers. We figure that she refuses to get out of bed because she knows we will have to pick her up and she loves that extra cuddle in the morning. There is nothing Mini loves more than a great big bear hug!

Wombats are supposed to be the smartest marsupial, after all.