Koala Bears - cute & endangered

Most of us, by now, know that koala are not really "bears."

But did you also know that koalas are social animals and can communicate with each other over long distances? But the most important fact about koalas is that the impact of intense urbanization has resulted in the destruction of their habitat, while the attacks of other animals, like domestic dogs and foxes, and traffic accidents, are causing the koala population to decline.

Source: Environmental Graffiti

Australia's koalas at risk from inbreeding

The two largest populations of koalas in Australia are so heavily inbred that they could be wiped out "in an instant" by a single disease, scientists have warned.

A recent study of the tree-dwelling marsupials on Kangaroo Island, which lies off the coast of South Australia, and French Island, off the south-east state of Victoria, revealed that the genetic make up of the koalas was dangerously similar.

More than 20,000 koalas inhabit Kangaroo Island and somewhere between 2000 to 3000 on French Island, but the animals could be quickly wiped out if they were exposed to a disease, the study found.

The inbreeding was the result of a relocation program that began more than a century ago.

Source

Weird news: Tourists find koala napping in bed

Three Australian women vacationing on an island off the coast of the mainland said they were shocked when a koala chose their hotel room bed for a nap.

The koala entered the home from the balcony and settled for a nap on a bed covered with a blue and pink floral duvet.

Source

Video: Rare white koala

World's only blue-eyed koala

His piercing eyes have dumbfounded animal carers who were so worried they tested his vision.

Staff at his Dreamworld home on the Gold Coast found that apart from some reduced pigmentation, Frankie, named after Frank Sinatra, has perfect vision.

Frankie is the world's only known blue-eyed koala.

Source: Daily Telegraph

Rare white koala

This koala is incredibly rare because although he has white fur instead of the usual grey/brown, he has the normal black eyes and nose.

The creature, nicknamed Mick, was found blind and suffering from a variety of illnesses by a forest ranger and taken to the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, north of Sydney.

He was immediately given round-the-clock security protection in case anyone tried to steal him and sell him to a collector for his novelty value.

After an operation on his eyes, he was put on antibiotics and gradually returned to full health.

Mick has just been released back into the Bush after months of treatment - although his precise location remains a secret.

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Cute Baby Koala

An adult female koala named "Tara", with her six-month-old joey clinging to her back, rests on an eucaplyptus tree at an animal park in Sydney July 31, 2007. The central Sydney animal park has seen the birth of three joeys (baby koalas) in the last seven-and-a-half months and is holding a competition for the public to name the baby koalas.

(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Studying a Koala Mystery in Eastern Australia

One of the best places in the world to learn about koalas is St. Bees Island off the coast of Queensland in eastern Australia.

Decades ago, koalas were imported there to enhance tourism at a local resort.

The resort is long gone, but the koalas stayed, and their presence has led to a new kind of visitor: research biologists such as Alistair Melzer.

Melzer is studying the island's koalas, trying to understand why the iconic animal is thriving there, while on the verge of extinction in many other parts of Australia.

World's Only Twin Koalas

Mother Koala Murrumbidgee takes care of her Koala twins, who are six and a half months old, at Chimelong Xiangjiang Safari Park in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province May 13, 2007. It is currently the only pair of Koala twins surviving in the world, according to local media.
REUTERS/Joe Tan

Australia rocked by 'lesbian' koala revelation

Female koalas indulge in lesbian "sex sessions", rejecting male suitors and attempting to mate with each other, sometimes up to five at a time, according to researchers.

The furry, eucalyptus-eating creatures appear to develop this tendency for same-sex liaisons when they are in captivity. In the wild, they remain heterosexual.

Scientists monitoring the marsupials with digital cameras counted three homosexual interactions for every heterosexual one.

"Some females rejected the advances of males that were in their enclosures, only to become willing participants in homosexual encounters immediately after," say the researchers.