Koala Hugs


Before we left on this trip, Gauss asked me what I wanted to do in Australia. I didn't know what to expect, but I thought of koalas and said I had only one request: to hold a koala.

Gauss conveyed my request to Rod, who called the zoo to make arrangements for a Koala Cuddle.

We had an appointment with Edna, an 11-year old female named after Dame Edna Everedge, a.k.a Barry Humphries--photo below to refresh your memory. On Dame Edna's visit to the Australia Zoo, she held this very koala.

Besides, no blog about Australia would be complete without her image.


Like many other experiences on this trip, I wasn't prepared for my reaction to the koalas. Of course everyone thinks they're impossibly cute and cuddly, but there's something more about them...they're so vulnerable, you find yourself compelled to tread lightly and interact tenderly.

The way the zoo displays the animals contributes to this perception. Visitors see primarily females and little ones; boisterous males are kept in a separate enclosure, as they can become aggressive toward humans and other koalas.



Koalas eat only eucalyptus leaves, which are poor in nutrition. To conserve energy they have evolved small brains, so they're a bit dim-witted. They conserve further by spending 18-20 hours a day snoozing. Most of the time, koalas can be seen curled up into furry balls in the forks of tree branches. They have hefty cartilage plates on their rear ends so they can nestle into the branches securely. They're also surprisingly heavy when you hold them. The claws, designed for climbing slick-barked eucalyptus, look fierce, but Edna cuddled us carefully, grasping the fabric of our shirts if she felt insecure.


They're seen less and less in the wild, as habitat is lost or fragmented. They're often hit by cars, which just makes me really sad. I'm closing with a couple photos of the joeys (baby koalas) housed at the zoo. This one, Stella, was about 8 months old.





This just in from our Australian biologist friend, Alison Rowell—In an email to us entitled "Gauss and Patti: Tougher than Mike Tyson" she explains that the former heavyweight champion wimped out when given the opportunity to cuddle a koala. We can all see how vicious those furry little marsupials are!

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/iron-mike-meets-his-marsupial-match-20121115-29e6x.html




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