Milwaukee zookeepers caring for native Australian animals worry about fate of species devastated by wildfires

Among the heartbreaking photos of the devastating wildfires in Australia is one showing a kookaburra perched on a blackened tree branch under a blood orange sky.

The distinctive sharp-beaked bird whose photo went viral in November survived the devastation but its fate was uncertain because pretty much everything the Australian native eats — mice, snakes, insects, small reptiles — likely succumbed to the flames.

Birds can fly away from fires "but is their habitat changed or destroyed," asked Amanda Ista, the Milwaukee County Zoo's Wild Connections keeper.

Ista held a small branch where the zoo's kookaburra named Dundee sat eating meal and wax worms out of her hands. Ista has been an animal keeper at the Milwaukee County Zoo for a dozen years and like other animal keepers, she was saddened to see the devastation in Australia.

"Just to see the scope of it is insane," Ista said Wednesday.

Until a couple of years ago, the zoo was home to several species native to Australia including kangaroos, koalas, tree kangaroos and emus.

But those animals were moved to other facilities when the Australian area of the zoo closed to make room for the elephant exhibit that opened last year as well as mixed species areas for zebras, impalas, bongos and yellow-backed duikers.

There are currently at least four species at the zoo whose native habitat is Australia: a bearded dragon lizard named Six, Dundee the kookaburra, a Fly River turtle named Penny and a pair of tawny frogmouth birds called Grover and Timrek.

None of the species are endangered though it's likely many of their kind died in the fires that were recently contained following torrential rain. University of Sydney ecologists estimated that more than 1 billion mammals, birds and reptiles died in the fires that torched about 25 million acres, an area that would cover roughly two-thirds of Wisconsin.

The zoo has donated money to Australian conservation organization Zoos Victoria and included a link on the zoo's web site for donations to the Bushfire Emergency Wildfire Fund.

Widely circulated video and photos of kangaroos hopping to safety ahead of rapidly spreading flames, a woman taking off her shirt to swaddle a badly-burned koala, which later succumbed to its burns, and Australian soldiers using syringes to feed injured koalas have starkly illustrated the toll on wildlife.

"Australia is one of those places with such unique fauna and flora," said Milwaukee County Zoo Aquatic and Reptile Curator Shawn Miller. "To see that amount of animal loss — as someone who works with animals, it's heartbreaking."

The zoo's Fly River turtle is about 30 years old and came to Milwaukee in 2012 after authorities confiscated her and 11 other turtles from the luggage of someone arriving at a U.S. airport from Australia. 

On Wednesday morning Penny, whose distinctive pig-shaped nose acts as a snorkel to gulp air, was napping on the floor of a 12,000-gallon freshwater tank in the zoo's aquatic and reptile center.

Miller explained that Penny can hold her breath for as long as an hour and, at 25 pounds, is exceptionally large for a female. Her favorite snacks are figs and strawberries.

"She's a beautiful turtle. She has a ton of personality," said Miller, noting that Penny sometimes races children who run alongside the tank.

Penny's species is the only freshwater turtle with flippers instead of feet and are sometimes called pig-nose turtles. They're native to freshwater streams, rivers and lagoons in Australia's Northern Territory as well as New Guinea and are considered threatened because they're captured illegally for the pet trade.

The Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment last week issued a list of 113 animal species that are the hardest hit by the wildfires, including many whose habitat range is at least one-third burned or more.

None of the Milwaukee County Zoo's species are on the list, which includes well-known animals like koala, platypus, wallaby and three types of geckos.

In the zoo's aviary, both Dundee the kookaburra, who arrived in Milwaukee in 2004 from Sea World Orlando, and the tawny frogmouth pair live together in an exhibit near one of the entrances. Grover and Timrek (Kermit spelled backward) are frequently mistaken for owls because of their large round heads, plumage and big brown eyes. Tawny frogmouths are found throughout Australia and Tasmania.

When they dine — usually at dusk or dawn because the creatures they eat are also nocturnal — their mouths open wide to swallow their meal whole. That makes them look like frogs, hence the name, Ista explained.

The zoo has one bearded dragon, dubbed Six because that number was painted on its back when it arrived in Milwaukee in 2017 from the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Science where it had been used for research. The lizards are very common in Australia and popular as pets.

Six is not on public exhibit but because it's friendly and docile, the bearded dragon is an ambassador in the zoo's Wild Connections animal encounter program. Because they're an arid species living in desert, savanna and scrubland areas of Australia, bearded dragons don't drink much water, instead absorbing dew that collects on their skin at night, Miller explained.

"It will be interesting to see how many of them crawl out of other animals' burrows. Fires are not new to Australia, though this one was particularly bad, and (some animals like bearded dragons) have been able to adapt," said Miller.