Special thanks to the senior keeper who allowed me to get up close and even stroke this "woolly mammoth" of the monotreme world.
'JR' is approximately 56 years old, and originated from somewhere in the Kubor range of Papua's Simbu Province. He was sent to the Dallas Zoo sometime in the mid-80s, where he was called 'Pinocchio', and then to an aviary in London Zoo where he remained until 1994. He, along with 2 females arrived at Taronga that same year.
Hey everyone, sincere apologies about the delayed reply.
I emailed Taronga a few months prior to my visit and received permission to go on a behind-the-scenes tour of Nguwing Nura, after they learned of my involvement with wildlife rehabilitation and care in Perth and Singapore (I'm currently pursuing further studies in WA atm).
I was particularly excited to see JR and yellow-bellied gliders. While the senior keeper and I were seated on some rockwork, just observing the animals eating, he noticed that JR was very relaxed and suggested that I should take the opportunity to give him a gentle stroke and see the difference between him and the short-beaked echidna. So, I went for it.
He just felt like a dog to be honest. I would describe the texture as being most similar to an alpine dingo that I worked with back in Perth. This was combined with the conifer-like texture of the quills beneath all that fur, but it was very subtle.
Personally, I was more astounded by JR's size. Being used to smaller short-beaked echidnas in WA and platypuses during previous visits to Victoria, he was a titan !
I would say his overall build is somewhat comparable to that of a female Southern hairy-nosed wombat. I do genuinely wonder if he belongs to the 'diamondi' subspecies, which are reportedly the largest extant monotremes.
Imagine the size of their burrows in the wild. Phew !
