is now around 20 months old and I guess you would call him a teeanger now.
He has been ranging out and away from the property finding his place in the wide world.
But he came back for a day. Quite suddenly he was in the this young swamp mahogany (a primary koala food eucalypt) in the plantation at the front of the property.
This plantation has around 300 trees that are used to cut leaf to feed the koalas in care. Occasionally one of the wild koalas moves through and grazes in there too.
Frankie moved off again overnight. Oh mate it's a wild world out there, hope you find somewhere with enough food!
Thank you for the many questions and comments on my photos.
@gardencat great question! it's not an exact answer as there are 3 main variables.
Firstly the amount of food plays a part. 4 years ago no more than 2 males or any age, purely due to there being 3000 less trees than now.
Secondly, it depends on the base personality of those males. You can only have one adult alpha in a colony, and that's that. Most males are not alphas, but there is a bit of a range of personality types but I've never seen them classified exactly. So the quieter the nature of the male, the more likely he can stay inside an alphas territory.
Thirdly age is a big factor. Any colony will be made up of an alpha, some lower ranking males, and then some youngsters. As those youngsters mature it depends on their nature as to whether they may have to move on quickly or not.
Each year, this property can support more as the trees grow, however there is going to always be some limit I suspect in how many adult males can actually live here and I would guess that will always (well say for the next 10 years) be 2 - 3. The number of sub-adult and juvenile males that can live here is what I suspect will increase with the increase in amount of food as the trees grow.
Wasn't that a long answer! For the past year the regular colony has had 2 adult males, and 3 juveniles becoming sub-adults. But now 1 adult and 2 of the sub-adults are ranging off the property more and more and more.
The colony is always a shifting population!
Gorgeous teenager - finding his feet and pastures new , - I hope he will realise that the grass is not always greener on the other side ! and perhaps find it better to stay at your wonderful hotel !
He looks very friendly..good natured I would think. hope he finds a great place in his world.
I don't know if anyone ever asked if they mate for life and many females are in your garden.
@bruni more great questions :)
No, they are very much lone animals, and yet they do live in a colony with a social structure. They do not congregate, groom, feed together or show other social behaviours. They mostly communicate through smell, leaving scent trails through the forest.
The colonies have an alpha male, and he of course would like to be the one doing all the mating, but in practical terms his territory is large so all males will take opportunities that present.
The cycle is basically like the feline cycle. A 6 month 'breeding season', with the females being induced ovulators.
Stop reading now if you are a little squeamish.
Basically it's rather violent, with much screaming, biting and pain, but like with cats, this is what induces her to actually ovulate. She will do all she can to prevent him. It is rather like, if she can stop him, then he is not worthy. We have the joke about 50 shades of grey...
At the moment in the colony here there are 3 adult females, and they all have joey's just emerging from the pouch. (koalas are marsupials, so a 35 day pregnancy results in a jelly bean sized foetal joey. Joey crawls into the pouch and attaches to a teat to drink milk and grow for a further 6 months).
There are also 2 sub-adult females here that are daughters from last year. I'm not sure that they will both stay, one however just might.
It's also never a problem to ask questions that may have been asked before as I wouldn't even remember which date back when it has been talked about :)
Frankie is very handsome.
Firstly the amount of food plays a part. 4 years ago no more than 2 males or any age, purely due to there being 3000 less trees than now.
Secondly, it depends on the base personality of those males. You can only have one adult alpha in a colony, and that's that. Most males are not alphas, but there is a bit of a range of personality types but I've never seen them classified exactly. So the quieter the nature of the male, the more likely he can stay inside an alphas territory.
Thirdly age is a big factor. Any colony will be made up of an alpha, some lower ranking males, and then some youngsters. As those youngsters mature it depends on their nature as to whether they may have to move on quickly or not.
Each year, this property can support more as the trees grow, however there is going to always be some limit I suspect in how many adult males can actually live here and I would guess that will always (well say for the next 10 years) be 2 - 3. The number of sub-adult and juvenile males that can live here is what I suspect will increase with the increase in amount of food as the trees grow.
Wasn't that a long answer! For the past year the regular colony has had 2 adult males, and 3 juveniles becoming sub-adults. But now 1 adult and 2 of the sub-adults are ranging off the property more and more and more.
The colony is always a shifting population!
I don't know if anyone ever asked if they mate for life and many females are in your garden.
No, they are very much lone animals, and yet they do live in a colony with a social structure. They do not congregate, groom, feed together or show other social behaviours. They mostly communicate through smell, leaving scent trails through the forest.
The colonies have an alpha male, and he of course would like to be the one doing all the mating, but in practical terms his territory is large so all males will take opportunities that present.
The cycle is basically like the feline cycle. A 6 month 'breeding season', with the females being induced ovulators.
Stop reading now if you are a little squeamish.
Basically it's rather violent, with much screaming, biting and pain, but like with cats, this is what induces her to actually ovulate. She will do all she can to prevent him. It is rather like, if she can stop him, then he is not worthy. We have the joke about 50 shades of grey...
At the moment in the colony here there are 3 adult females, and they all have joey's just emerging from the pouch. (koalas are marsupials, so a 35 day pregnancy results in a jelly bean sized foetal joey. Joey crawls into the pouch and attaches to a teat to drink milk and grow for a further 6 months).
There are also 2 sub-adult females here that are daughters from last year. I'm not sure that they will both stay, one however just might.
It's also never a problem to ask questions that may have been asked before as I wouldn't even remember which date back when it has been talked about :)
Love reading your info on Koalas. Very informative indeed
Thanks for all the interesting information.