Untitled Document

Tingle was born at Roo Gully at 1.30pm on the 30th January 1999,
and the only reason I know the exact time is that I was there during the whole birth!

Tingle's mother, Katie, was Roo Gully's first 'teenage' mother.
She was left slightly handicapped when she had to have part of her foot amputated
after being caught up in fence as a young joey.
A year later, unable to outrun the boomers, she was caught and mated before her time by Oliver, a wild buck.

Four weeks later, unsure of what was happening to her, Katie came into the house and gave birth to Tingle.
It was a day I will never forget.

Then suddenly I realised she was about to give birth.

I grabbed the video camera and filmed one of the most precious moments in any mother's life. It was a tremendous experience.

Tingle was the second joey to be born at Roo Gully.
A couple of weeks before Sadie had given birth to Wattle, under the cover of darkness,
and although we missed seeing her arrival into the world Sadie was very willing to share her joey.
Katie was just as happy to involve us.
We were the most privileged people in the world.

As they got older we discovered how different our joeys were.
Whereas Wattle was our cheeky joey, Tingle was our shy little girl.

Even when she was a young at foot Tingle never strayed far from Katie's side,
preferring to stay close so she could stick her head in the pouch if she felt insecure - which she often did.

For a few months life was good for Tingle.
She ran in the bush with her mother, but sadly it was not to last forever.
Katie developed a serious infection in the pad of her amputated foot
and before we finished the treatment she went bush and was never seen again.

Weeks later we were surprised to see Tingle on the lawn, alone.
She was exhausted and we knew the young roo
who was always wary of humans had run for miles
to get back to the only home she knew.

We realised then, with great sadness, that Katie was never coming home.

Tingle settled into life at Roo Gully and later that year the wild bucks returned and she was mated.
Four weeks later she gave birth.

Although her baby would have provided valuable information for our study into joey development
Tingle was still very timid and at no time did we ever consider putting her through the stress of filming her joey.

In fact Tingle's joey became something of a Roo Gully mystery.
But the day came when we did manage to film this elusive joey, and we named Tingle's daughter Fern.

Fern is now a young roo and Tingle remains a very good mother.
Her association with her daughter is very strong and they are always together.

We try very hard not to have favourite kangaroos, but of course as we look back on each one's life
we remember things that make each one special in its own way,
and there can be no doubt that Tingle's life has been very special indeed.
Because her mother had been raised by us and trusted us enough to share her joey,
not only were we able to follow her life from the moment of birth, and all the way throughout her pouch life,
but because Tingle came home when things went wrong in the bush for her and Katie
we were presented with the opportunity to share her adult life and the life of her own daughter.

The information we have collated is invaluable not only to our study into joey development
but also to the better understanding of the Western Grey kangaroo by scientists and conservationists.
Tingle's life has become much more than just following a joey throughout its pouch life.
It has become a complete study into the entire life of a kangaroo,
a kangaroo that has not been raised by humans,
and will reveal so much that was previously unknown.

On behalf of Tingle and her mates we thank you for caring