Koala Bear?

Did we wake you?


Koala Lookers

Am I not cute enough?

“The first time I heard it, I thought the neighbor was having trouble starting his water pump.” It is my cousin Dianne talking – and she’s talking about Koalas. I didn’t know that they make noise.

“Oh they do – loud too.”

We are now in a group of five – Jim & I, my brother Trevor, and two other cousins – Pieter and Josephine. We are in Morwell National park and we are hunting for Koalas - figuratively.

They are no longer literally hunted in Australia – but they were. In 1924 over 2 million Koala skins were exported. They may be no longer hunted but these animals suffer venereal disease, car strikes and significant loss of habitat. In the last 10 years their population has dived by 90%. Koalas are becoming rare, but, as yet, not officially endangered.

They’re rare to spot too. Nocturnal and lazy, they sleep more than our kitty at home – up to 18 hours a day (O.K., actually kitty sleeps more). They usually sleep with their amply padded backside securely wedged into a tree fork. In short, we’re looking for a motionless lump high in a gum. Jim spots one.

We point, we use binoculars and we try and discern the body parts of the distant blob. We are happy – then we hear something.

It’s called a bellow. It’s a grunting, a bleating, a bawling, well … a bellow. And it sounded close. We walk quickly and scan the gum trees as we follow the sound.

“There it is!” Trevor is pointing as a squalling Koala 25 feet from the trail and only about 20 foot high – in a Victorian Christmas Bush.

We are enchanted as we watch the performance. It’s not distressed; it’s just calling to its mates. We are also mystified. Koalas are fussy animals. Of the over 600 types of Eucalyptus trees in Australia, Koalas only eat from 50. They have ten species they prefer and only two types they really like. They don’t eat leaves from Victorian Christmas Bushes.

“I have no clue what he’s doing there.” Josephine has a PHD in environmental studies.

Josephine does know that Koalas are not bears – as I’ve been saying. They are marsupials (pouched animals). The name comes from the Aboriginal ‘no drink’ - Koalas get 90% of their water from gum leaves. They only drink in drought or when sick. They live up to 20 years and can run as fast as a rabbit.

All I know is that Koalas are an Australian Icon and I’m thrilled to pieces to see them, and hear them, in the wild.