While snoozing, "Up Over," (as opposed to Down Under), all nestled in bed, there are creatures that lurk at night. We know they’re out there. Mostly they’re quiet, except for the occasional raccoon brawl or trash can dive that wakes you from a deep slumber to wonder, “Is that someone breaking into my house?! No, it’s just a damn raccoon.”
While, "Down Under," one of the creatures that lurk at night is the bandicoot. The bandicoot is an endangered, nocturnal marsupial that resembles a rat, but a bit cuter. Endangered you ask? Read on and find out why.
The bandicoot is a yellowish, brown omnivore, has a long tail and snout, is peach fuzzy, and the size of a small raccoon. It feels as if every unique animal I run across is a marsupial! It’s amazing that there are 334 species of marsupials, and 70% of them are found in Australia – a little trivia for you.
The other morning as I headed out at 5:45am to my new Boot Camp on Manly Beach, I ran in the middle of the street to avoid tree branches, jagged sidewalks, driveways, and whatever other creatures go bump at that time in the morning, which now include bandicoots...
As I sleepily jogged toward the beach there was a band of bandicoots upon me all of a sudden! I came upon one who began to run circles around me, and then another one a few feet – or meters – away, then another! I think I saw a total of five bandicoots, just running around in the street. My first thought when I saw these strange creatures was, “Oh yeah, I’m in Australia – strange animals!” Sometimes this idea of living in Australia still startles me and causes me to giggle, “Wow, we LIVE in Australia, how weird is that?!” My second thought as I slowed down to inquire – or enquire as it is in Aussie - was; “Oh, they’re kinda cute!” But they were scurrying so fast and had tails like a rat’s, so I scampered on doing high knees as I didn’t want to step on the little suckers moving around me like field mice, lest I hurt one and make the rest attack – who knows what they’re capable of?! It was 5:45am! Who would have heard my muffled cries for help as the gang of bandicoots took me down?! I escaped them and continued on to the beach. I would survive my introduction to the bandicoot and live another day.
A few days later, at about 9:30pm, as Mark and I were lounging on our front porch – as that’s where we can hear the waves hit the shore at Little Manly Cove – we saw a bandicoot running solo in the street. This little dude was literally running in circles, not like a dog chasing its tail, but covering some area by running in big circle, after circle, after circle. We were cracking up! Was he confused, lost, upset? No, I think he was just stupid. No wonder they’re endangered! They’re so senseless they’re running around in circles and getting hit by cars! Poor little marsupials.
Therefore, when driving - or running - in Australia, proceed with great caution, because a really dumb, but kinda cute, marsupial might be trying to commit suicide under your tire (tyre), or running shoe.
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