My Life with Kangaroos: A Deaf Woman's Remarkable Story

10. Moving like a Kangaroo

117 10 Moving like a Kangaroo AFTER the unpleasant cold of an Australian spring, in September 1974 Pebbly Beach became warm and sunny about midday, and this was an opportunity for us to go outside and picnic in front of the hut. Geoff and Kathrin prepared something to eat in the kitchen, while I kept watch outside. This was necessary since there were currawongs and magpies in every direction that were addicted to snacks and were ever ready to swoop and steal. We took our places around the richly laid table in sunshine that now beat down, but at that moment—heavens above!—we were suddenly surrounded by about fifteen kangaroos. Several of them sniffed the coffee, assessed the cheese, and tried the toast while others poked us in the back with their snouts. Unwillingly, we got up, tapped and slapped at their noses and chins, and shoved them out of the way, but did that help? Not at all! None of them took the hint. Since Kathrin and Geoff couldn’t think of any other way to repulse them, I went into the usual “attack” position. I spread my arms and fingers and sprang at the next animal to slap it soundly on the hips. Geoff and Kathrin did the same, but even that didn’t help much. Hardly were the animals driven in different directions when they were back in formation—this time, with the hens and ducks as allies! Happily, this brazen attack was a one-time event. It seemed that our defense strategies had impressed them, as from now on they left 9781563685590_My Life with Kangaroos.indd 117 4/8/13 11:04 AM 118 MY LIFE WITH KANGAROOS us in peace at mealtimes. At my request, we refrained from feeding the animals altogether at such times. This allowed us to eat without being disturbed, and, just as important, they no longer regarded me as a food supplier but as “one of them,” and this indeed was of particular importance for my scientific work. Ten years earlier, during one of my visits to the zoo in Zurich, something unusual had happened. I was crouching down in one of the outside pens among the large gray kangaroos when one of the senior males hopped over to me, seemingly with nothing particular in mind. Aware of the danger of attack, I remained still. With studied slowness, I turned away from him, bent my back a little, and looked over my shoulder once or twice in his direction. He remained quite still, watching me. My mother photographed this scene without really knowing what was going on. A few days later, I showed the pictures to guests and tried to explain my behavior. For some reason that I failed to understand, they were amused at my explanations. When they had all gone home, I turned to my mother and asked what all the good cheer was about. “Well,” she replied, “they think that you enjoy behaving like a kangaroo yourself!” I was annoyed at this. Of course, I felt a bit embarrassed, so I tried to explain the situation to her, but she could not appreciate the earnestness of the situation and said that I was talking nonsense. What I was doing had nothing to do with animal psychology, she maintained. Nevertheless, I didn’t let it go at that and persisted in asserting that one had to adapt to an animal’s behavior and that in this one had to mimic its movements as much as possible. Failure to do so would make it impossible to spend time with the creature. However, it was only when I had explained that I had behaved like a female kangaroo in order not to be attacked by the male that the light went on. Understanding this, my mother was from that moment convinced of my scientific acumen and later proudly informed others of this. WHILE in Australia’s open spaces, I had an opportunity from the very first to broaden and improve my understanding of 9781563685590_My Life with Kangaroos.indd 118 4/8/13 11:04 AM Moving like a Kangaroo 119 species-related attitudes as far as kangaroos were concerned.20 In order to live with them better, I corrected my bodily postures every day, indeed, sometimes from hour to hour. It was not an easy business to maintain the correct pose. Having thought about the matter and with...