What am I? Have you ever seen me before? My name is “Pademelon” but I am no relation to the watermelon, the musk melon, the winter melon, or even the cantaloupe or honeydew. And no, I am not a kangaroo. I am who I am; a Pademelon. Let me explain….

 

Australian What Am I

I breathe and move and so you know

My Kingdom’s animalia

I do have fur, and nurse my young

I’m classified mammalia

Be sure to check my infraclass

I am marsupialia

It’s true I have a cozy pouch

And live in warm Australia

 

But, no, I’m not a kangaroo

Who shrank inside the dryer

And no, I’m not a wallaby

Who wished she could grow higher

I hop about and graze on grass

And don’t do any yell’in

My fur is gray and reddish brown

I am a pademelon

 

The critters in DownUnder 

Are so varied and unique

We bounce and pounce, we splash and dash

We twitter, whirr and squeak

Koalas and the kangaroos

May be the most well-known

But Pademelons matter too

And we are not alone

 

Australia is full of life

Strange beasts you’ve never seen

The quokka, quoll and numbat

And a tree ant that is green

A kangaroo found in the trees

The earth-bound walleroo

Yet we agree that none of us

Are quite as strange as you

– by Ruth Gilmore Ingulsrud

 

Some species of the pademelon are threatened or endangered because of habitat loss and predators that are not native to Australia or Tasmania. The pademelon is a gentle, lovely creature that eats grass, herbs, fruit and mushrooms. Be careful not to confuse the pademelon with the paddymelon which is a small vine fruit that grows in the outback of Australia. Here’s one way to tell the difference: one of them hops and the other rolls.