day three-hundred-and-twenty-two - golden brushtail possum

here's an interesting fact about possums:

© jem barratt

unless they die in your roof that is. in the middle of an adelaide summer.

and then your dad has to climb into the roof and scoop the mess into a garbage bag and dispose of it. and he won't let you see it because it is actually just liquid.

gross.

but that probably won't happen to you. i mean it's happened to me twice but maybe i'm WHY it's not happening to you.

in other news, possums are actually exceptionally cute and native, and therefore you should ignore their general nutjobbedness (and also that possum-covered-man/lady who kisses possums in a park at melbourne by moonlight [seriously]) and just accept them already.

pleeeease?

xj

p.s. plus they're not as crazy as opossums, or anti-possums as i like to call them

day two-hundred-and-eighty-one - eastern grey kangaroo

what? you're going to boycott my blog if i repeat an animal i've already drawn? well see ya later sucker(s)/no-one.

i was camping last week, and there were many of these kangaroos in the national park we stayed in, so naturally that's what i photographised.

and THUS:

© jem barratt

i like that the second kangaroo is like his shoulder angel. if he wasn't there the main roo might've eaten me just like he ate my friend's sketchbook - for reals. we also saw a dead baby dolphin beached on the shore with its guts all about the place, but i thought this would be a nicer post...

see what i do for you.

xj

day two-hundred-and-sixty-three - bilby

as if i haven't drawn a bilby yet!?

unnecessary question mark, get out of here! (...never ? muah?ha???ha)

© jem barratt

i didn't mean for him to be so cute, but i stuffed the face up and just went with it. and now i love him. although he does look like he should be in that kid's show 'arthur'. what was arthur by the way? a rat? a gopher? i have no idea.

also have you ever noticed all the lines in that cartoon are broken. it's really weird.

trust me. and trust this guy too. doesn't he just look so trustfulworthly?

*shudder*

xj

p.s. oh yeah, some facts. in australia we eat easter bilbies not rabbits because rabbits are evil in australia. well some of us do - people who can afford (and like) fancy chocolate. um what else? surprisingly they are only 'vulnerable' and not 'endangered' - in south australia our zoos are trying to breed them like crazy for reintroduction. AND they like to stick their heads in the sand. the end. you couldn't possibly learn anything else about them!

day two-hundred-and-fifty-six - sugar glider

delicious!

this blog has not been informative (at least not about the animals) in a very long time. so today i will attempt to teach you some things:

firstly, i am a liar...

© jem barratt

i did draw with the colour-splash background again. lesson? don't trust me!

secondly, while these marsupials are australian it is americans that are most obsessed with them - there is a big sugar glider pet market in the US and they are sometimes (sickeningly) referred to as 'pocket pets'

thirdly, that is so so stupid america. they are NOCTURNAL! and they cannot be toilet trained. perhaps because they are wild-freaking-animals-and-should-not-be-kept-for-your-selfish-purposes

fourthly, they live off sap and gum - hence being sugar gliders and not insect-gliders

fifthly, their goal in life is to attack the moon (obviously) so that it is always night

lastly, bolding words is a nice alternative to dot points. just so you know

xj

day two-hundred-and-twenty-one - koala

hey koala

yes?

thanks for reminding me to go bushwalking so i can see you and your friends in the wild.

(no problem)

good eve' koala!

(farewell jem)

xj

day one-hundred-and-sixty-two - eastern grey kangaroo

i'm surprised that i'm australian and it's taken me this long to draw a kangaroo.

© jem barratt

to be honest, i used to be pretty unimpressed with australian animals. i think it was because in other parts of the world kangaroos and platypuses are seen as strange or even made-up creatures - i always thought they weren't any weirder than a skunk or a raccoon, probably because they're the normal animals we see here when we stray from the city.

but i've since changed. mainly because kangaroos ARE weird if you think about them too much... or even if you just go to the australian museum and see this guy:

© jem barratt

incidentally, you should probably also go there if you love puns.

in any case, i went on a bushwalk today and happened across a grey kangaroo with a little joey in its pouch. i felt pretty lucky that i got to see some kangaroos just by going for a walk.

thanks australia - i like you today.

xj

day one-hundred-and-fifty-seven - parma wallaby

if you've ever wondered where parma ham comes from...

© jem barratt

it comes from pigs dummies.

xj

day one-hundred-and-six - cuscus

it's both an excellent food and a cool animal:

© jem barratt

this is a little misleading as he looks super smooth, when in fact they are a little fluffy.

um i just found out these guys live in my country! i feel like maybe i should have known that already. well there you go. we should ditch ringtail possums for cuscuses (cusci?). that may sound harsh but i'm not the biggest fan of ringtails ever since one died in my roof and made my room smell like gooey death.

woah.
xj