As coronavirus keeps us apart, we will let the animals in. I hope we do them justice
In the age of Covid-19 we are taking comfort from animals and wildlife – but we should learn from them too
by Laura Jean McKay
Apr 03, 2020
4 minutes
First, the eyes. I pressed mine to the opening of a little wooden house. The park ranger behind me cleared her throat.
“Yeah, watch out because they jum–”
The shiniest eyes bugged out, followed by a little furry body.
An Australian northern quoll is fast, spotty and critically endangered. Ginger Meggs landed deftly on my neck, scuttled across my shoulders and flattened his body against my wrist. Normal quoll behaviour?
“He’s feeling your pulse,” the ranger told me. She asked if maybe I was a calm sort of a person because he stayed there, belly warm against wrist, reading my blood. No one has ever described me as calm. In the human world,
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