Dear Skippy....

Dear Skippy,

It's so nice to hear from our marsupial friends in Australia. I've asked around the wallabies here and one of the older ones (well, a very, very, old one indeed) seems to remember you from his days back in Oz and he reckons he recognized you on your visit here earlier this year!

Because of his great age his memory isn't that great but he describes Skippy as a bespectacled, motorcycle (was it a Moto Gucci?) loving biped with greying hair. Is that you? Do you still eat the banana skin rather than the banana? He's really pleased that your film career went so well but why haven't we seen you on the silver screen for so long?
If it's not too much trouble he asked me if you could provide him with a pawprinted photograph of yourself "in character". If you're standing next to Kylie at the time, so much the better.

Regarding your question about how they keep warm, the British Otters love the cold; the other day when there was a thick covering of ice on their ponds they all had great fun skating on it, breaking it and eating it. They let if refreeze and then did it all again a couple of hours later. The superb insulation qualities of their coat - two layers of fur sandwiching a layer of air - keep them warm as long as they keep it in good condition and aerated. I imagine its' like wearing a waterproof duvet! I think their feet and noses may be susceptible to the cold but the rest of them certainly isn't.

Some of the Asian Short Clawed Otters don't seem to mind the cold that much either; Sonny and Thor play on the ice quite readily in a similar way to their British cousins but the family stay in when it's cold and keep warm in their holt with their new cubs. Last week when we opened up their holt to check on things there was a blast of warm air from their bedding; wonderful, no wonder they didn't want to come out!

We cleared out the crocs from our ponds about 2.25 million years ago and haven't had any recent difficulties with them, not as far as I can remember anyway.

However, I will check our daily record sheets to be sure that I haven't forgotten anything but it may take me a little while - 2.25 million years times 365 days a year works out at quite a lot of daily records. . . . . . . .

On a serious note, the cubs are doing fine, deer look happy and the birds are a lot more comfotable now that the recent cold snap is over.

Hope you all have great Christmas, John.