On the behind the scenes tour we get to touch, hold, and feed the animals, and animals in Australia are especially strange. That is because Australia is very hot so the creatures have to adapt themselves in order to survive. We met our guide Paul at ten and said hello to the three other people. Two were a couple from Hawaii and the other was a woman from Missouri. It was an all American group. Paul led us around the zoo until we came to our first animal, the feather tail glider. Paul was a zoo keeper who loved his job. He had been zoo keeping ever since he was 17 and still enjoyed his work. He said that ever since he had been a kid he wanted to be a zoo keeper. That really surprised me because I had always thought of zoo keeping as the same every day. But the way Paul described it made it sound as exciting as being a spy. Maybe all jobs were like that. Even picking up trash.  Anyway, back to the feather tail gliders.There were six of them. They look like mice but have a long gray tail that is a mini feather. They are the size of my pinkie. We all held them but they kept running up my arm and into my hood. It really tickled! Next was the bilby. We went into a hall and there was a mound of sand with fake plants and rocks. Paul put out bowls of food (which included live worms) and let the bilbies out. They had long noses, furry middles, and tails like a raccoon.  We pet them while they ate and when they were done they scurried around our feet. Then, Paul went into a display and brought out a little bear, which turned out to be a wombat. It had sandy fur and big claws. He turned it around and knocked. We heard a thump. Paul explained that a wombat uses its hard back for protection. If something is chasing it, it will go into a hole halfway. Its sturdy back makes an impenetrable door. We paid the koalas a visit but we weren’t allowed to touch them. It was pretty boring watching them because the only eat eucalyptus leaves which don’t have much protein. So the spend most of their time napping and conserving energy. Last we saw the kangaroos. When they jumped we all laughed because it looked like it was on and invisible pogo stick. We even saw a mother kangaroo with a baby in her pouch. The baby was the size of a football and hopped around its mother only to go right back into the pouch. Paul said it was getting it’s exercise. When the tour was over we had lunch then headed over to the seal show. We saw three seals do tricks and learned that it is a seal’s sensitive whiskers that allow it carry a ball on its nose. The last seal was a huge male named Michie. When Michie was done doing tricks the man who had been explaining everything asked for a volunteer. I raised my hand and he picked on me. He told me to stand right next to the pool and raise my arms. He said the Michie was going to jump and hit the hanging ball above the pool. All I had to do was yell as hard as I could, “JUMP MICHIE JUMP!” But this was a problem for me because I hate yelling stuff infront of people unless I’m angry. So I sort of raised my voice and said it. The man booed. “That wasn’t loud enough! Was it Michie?” Michie then honked for five minutes. The man suggested everyone yell it together. “Yes!” I thought. Everyone yelled it and my arms were still raised.  Michie jumped into the water and shot out. He touched the ball with his nose. Everyone cheered but when he came back down he made a huge splash. And guess where it landed? Right. On. ME! I was completely soaked and spent the rest of the day freezing cold. Dad and I went home while Carter and Mom stayed. I took Dad’s hand. It had been a great day.