This was a walk-through enclosure called Australian Walkabout which housed Bennetts Wallabies (including albinos) and Rheas. The guidebook says that although the rheas are South American, they are accepted by the wallabies as honorary Australians!
This was a walk-through enclosure called Australian Walkabout which housed Bennetts Wallabies (including albinos) and Rheas. The guidebook says that although the rheas are South American, they are accepted by the wallabies as honorary Australians!
No - but rheas are perhaps less threatening in a walkthrough than emus - as anyone who ever met the emu in South Lakes' walkthrough would agree!
@ Ituri: I think it's only a lighthearted throwaway line to make the point that they do realise rheas are not Australian! They're not trying to suggest there was some sort of marsupial Ratite Initiation Ceremony
I seem to recall the walkthrough was already up and going when the rheas were added and I guess they didn't want to change the signs.
This one has been known to charge people who were just walking along the path. It's far more intimidating than any other Emu I've known - and I know at least one person who's had it charge at him at full speed (and impact!).
But if an habituated emu suspects you have food, there is very little that will stop it from poking it's head into your bag or pocket and pulling out anything it finds. To the uninitiated that can be perceived as an attack. Even to the initiated it's, at the very least, an invasion of personal space and a real nuisance.
