They’re
so cute! So adorable and cuddly! When you see one you just want to pick it up
and hug it!
I am
speaking, of course, of the Koala Bear.
They
are iconic. Anyone who’s ever heard of Australia knows what they are. And they
just happen to be so naturally cute that once you see one you can hardly forget
about it, with those shiny, dark eyes and black, bulbous nose. Not to mention
those irresistibly round, soft bodies just like our childhood teddy bears. How
could you help but love them? They are some of Mother Nature’s most wonderful
work.
Here
are a few facts.
·
They live on a diet largely consisting of
eucalyptus leaves. These plants are poisonous to other animals, but the koalas
have a specialized digestive system that renders the poison harmless to them.
·
Koalas smell a bit like cough drops due to the
large amounts of eucalyptus leaves they eat.
·
The name “Koala” comes from an aboriginal word
meaning “no drink” because these animals rarely take any water. They get most
of the moisture they need from the leaves.
·
During mating season, the males can emit a
holler that can be heard up to a mile away.
·
Even though we tend to call them “Koala Bears”,
they’re actually not from the bear family at all. That’s a misnomer resulting
from their teddy bear-like appearance. They’re more closely related to
kangaroos.
·
They are marsupials. The females have pouches on
their abdomens where they carry their newborns for about the first six months
of its life.
·
At about six months, when the baby, known as a
joey, is too big for the pouch, it will begin riding its mother piggy back, or
by clinging to her front. It leaves Mom at about a year of age.
·
I’ve read that they aren’t as soft as they look.
Their fur is fairly course and woolly.
·
They are one of only three creatures in the
world to have fingerprints. The others are humans and primates.
·
They sleep about 18 hours a day.
But they have some problems.
To begin with, they were hunted
almost right out of existence in the 1920s and 1930s. Fortunately, common sense
prevailed and they were rescued and made an impressive comeback. But the
population has never been the same again.
There have been new problems
lately, though. In the Australian state of Victoria, not far from Melbourne,
there is a very large population of Koalas. They survive on the gum of Manna
Gum trees. Apparently, recently, there have been more Koalas than there has
been gum and so a large number of animals have been starving. A horrible
situation, to say the least.
This began to present a problem, of course, so the government
decided to take action. Unfortunately the action they decided to take was to
capture them and destroy them by lethal injection. They’re saying close to 700
of the animals have been treated this way in 2013 and 2014.
Now, of
course, fingers of blame and accusations are flying in every direction. Some
say the government starved them on purpose to get rid of them. (No evidence of
this that I’ve seen.) Some say the animals could have been re-located instead
of being destroyed. Others say Koalas are very difficult to move and that they
just have to have their manna gum trees. Some argue this was a humane thing to
do for animals who were suffering greatly. Others argue it was cruel and unnecessary.
As is
usually the case with these situations, there are no easy answers. Except one.
We’ve
got to find a better way.
Photo by DeLacroix Media Enterprises
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