Koala Klass 101

Klever, no?

You could fill a thimble with the vast knowledge of Koalas that I possess. But having visited Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary three time and held a koala, I feel I have graduated to 'Certified Koala Enthusiast'. I'm 'certified' in something - that is indisputable.

So. Some constants I embraced when it came to koalas:


1) They don't like to be called 'bears' as they are not a bear.

2) They will be spotted at the sanctuary sleeping, meditating or in very deep thought in a comfy spot on the eucalyptus branches provided in their pens. Guaranteed.

3) They are the softest, cuddliest, sweetest fluff of fur on the planet.

And, if this were a test I would have failed. I had one right: they don't like to be called bears.

As for the 'sleeping, meditating, deep thought' thing? That was from checking out most of the Koala enclosures on my visits (there are 130 koalas - so we are not talking about just two or three ...). Due to that thing I mentioned in a previous post about them sleeping about 20 hours a day - it did not surprise me to find a lot of very sedate koalas.

So ... we had fed the kangaroos, tormented the emus and decided to get lunch. Ordered and it was a bit rainy so we wandered back into a covered enclosure which I had not seen before. It was surrounded by koala enclosures. There were maybe 4 -5 koalas in each of about 6 - 8 enclosures - so we were happy to be surrounded by koalas while enjoying our lunch. What struck me as really weird was they were AWAKE! AND MOVING!

Up to this point: 2 1/2 visits to the sanctuary - I had seen one koala walk across one branch - about a meter. ONE Koala, ONE meter. That is it. Sure, I saw heads move, eyes open, but movement? Nah. And I was OK with that. I mean, who am I to say that their 4 hours of awake time has to be while I am at the sanctuary? I get it.

But these guys were moving. And then I saw one JUMP FROM ONE BRANCH TO ANOTHER! I had no idea koalas even had that in their skill set! Then more movement, more jumping. This continued throughout the day (see YouTube video below) at all the enclosures. So not just during lunch and not just in the lunch area. I have no idea why they decided to be awake that day - but it was nice ...

... up until it was not. Which brings us to #3. They LOOK like the softest, cuddliest, sweetest fluff of fur on the planet ... do they not?

Back to lunch and enjoying the 'koala show' when all of a sudden one of the koalas on a lower branch decided that he (and I am assuming this was a power thing - thus a 'he') wanted to be the highest - which meant crawling over the current 'king of the hill'. Which he attempted to do.

Things got UGLY. Have you noticed that koala 'fingers' are topped off with 3 inch claws? There was some swiping involved, so I'm just sayin' - can't feel good. But all well and good - survival of the fittest and what not. BUT: Question here - what does a koala sound like? Hmmm? Maybe cute little squeeks? Chirrups? Growly purring? What fits with that cute little gray furry exterior? I would THINK a little chirrup. Maybe the growly purring ...

After listening to the alpha male give a good 'talking to' the koala that dared to try to usurp him - which had brought all of us to a stunned, mouth full of food gaping open, eyes huge, frozen in place ... Ryan and I tried to come up with a description of the sound that we heard. We agreed upon: Angry Donkey Possessed by Satan. Yep - not that I have actually been in the vicinity of a possessed donkey - but I have heard 'angry donkey' and it just needed a demonic tweak to get there. So, yeah, koalas (lets be fair, when mad) sound like "Angry Donkey Possessed by Satan".

I could have lived my whole life thinking they made cute little chirrupy sounds. After hearing our angry little koala, Ryan did mention that he was a little bit concerned to hold one ... but he was a trooper as you saw in a previous post.

So here are my videos of koalas - this first one is short so I just embedded it. Only a few pens actually have chain-link surrounding them - thus making it difficult to video. But these are what they call the "Nursery" - mommas and their babies - thus making it equally difficult to reach over, snatch the wee little one, hide it in your backpack and head on home. Oh. My. Gosh. They are so adorable you can't help but want to steal one ...

She seems, in this clip, a bit tense. Papa had just made some braying sound (from another pen) and she jumped off her peaceful perch and did this pacing - but not for long:





And here is the grand daddy of videos - a bit long for a camera clip. But as active a bunch of koalas as I saw (aside from the fighting and 'yelling' which I didn't get on camera). And, yes, I was TOTALLY KIDDING when I told them to fight: