Mammal: The Koala
The Believer Magazine
December 2003/ January 2004
By Malaika Costello-Dougherty
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The koala sleeps all day, waking from a series of naps to munch
on eucalyptus trees. Aboriginal Australians thought the koala
was drunk because of the way that it rocks on the tree branch,
reclining way back and gulping for air. Today many say that the
koala is permanently stoned.
In fact the koala has a bad diet of only eucalyptus trees –
poisonous to most animals and low in nutrition – and sleeps to
conserve energy, appearing drowsy because of a slow
metabolism. Koala is the aboriginal word for “no drink” because
the eucalyptus trees provide sufficient hydration for the woolly
animal.
Koalas live in Eastern Australia; to spot them in the wild, one can
go to Magnetic Island off the coast of Queensland. When
passing another hiker on Forts trail (the best koala-spotting
hike), the etiquette is to offer a suggestion of where a koala can
be found and hope that the other hiker will reciprocate.
You may be hiking on the Forts trail and one member of a group
of English girls in bikini tops will advise: “Down trail number nine
there’s a koala. It’s gorgeous.”
And down trail number nine, nestled in a canopy of green with
the sun catching its gray fur, you may find a sleeping koala. It will
hold on to the branch with a long hind leg, its arm hanging down,
its fingers splayed. The face appears dignified with a dominant
black nose, soft pink chin and ears that point out like a teddy
near.
When it wakes to scratch itself with those impossibly long black
nails, the koala languidly moves while the wind combs through
the eucalyptus branches.
Then the koala down trail number nine pushes back, turns
around and climbs up the branch – paw over paw. The little grey
marsupial grabs out and pulls back a branch full of leaves. It
nibbles and sucks on the eucalyptus – perched with its round
butt on the thin white branch,
The seemingly gentle koala makes fearsome grunts and growls
and is actually a pretty vicious animal. A rescue team had to be
sent to an island where koalas over bred and were ripping each
other apart with those grasping black claws.
Koala sex also looks pretty kinky in a violent kind of way. The
reclusive koala mates in the evening with other members of its
colony (a group of koalas whose home ranges fit together like a
puzzle). The dominant male will prowl his area during the
breeding season, fighting with the other males and impregnating
the females.
After conception, the baby koala (known as a joey) emerges in
thirty-five days and looks like a pink tail climbing up its mother’s
soft belly. The joey navigates to the mother’s nipple and the
safety of her pouch. The pouch makes the koala a marsupial
(like the kangaroo) and not a bear.
As the joey grows, the mother sleeps in a circular embrace with
her baby, making humming and grunting sounds. The mother
feeds with the joey riding on her back, grabbing at the leaves.
The baby stays with the mother until a new pink joey emerges,
and then the young koala must find its own home range.
At the Billabong Sanctuary in Townsville, you can hold a koala.
Clasp your hands under its butt and feel the calm koala pressed
against you with its cologne of powerful eucalyptus.
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