I was going to title it - does this make my bum look big :) Sure is a thin little twig she is balanced on! Thank you for the awesome comments and questions on my photos and nature
Ha! A question we know better than to really ever ask ;-) That's amazing that she's balanced on such a small twig! How much do these cuddle bugs usually weigh?
@elatedpixie Maxine is now a fully mature female and she would weigh around 6 kg I would guess. The males here get to 8-9 kg. But down south where it is much colder, the koalas grow much bigger and are much hairier. The males there can grow to around 14kg! I do believe she doesn't really have all her weight fully on that one twig, but the perspective of the shot makes it seem that way :)
@koalagardens so wonderful that you get to be around and appreciate these magical little guys. Thanks for letting me know too, about their numbers - heart breaking. Do they know why this is happening? Such a bummer.
@elatedpixie it is our greatest shame I feel.
When white man came here they discovered that the koala pelt is one of the warmest and most water resistant. So they became valuable and koalas were killed by their million to supply the fur trade back in europe. While this was happening, logging was being pursued, and grazing animals with hooves that destroyed the soil, were being introduced in huge numbers.
And so from both sides the koala was being decimated. In the 1930's the government finally decreed it illegal to kill them, but by then the numbers were only a small fraction, and their habitat fragmented severely.
Now the decline continues as the last of their habitat is being wiped out rapidly. I feel that if we cannot stop this for what is perhaps viewed as one of the 'cutest and most harmless' animals in the entire world, what hope do the hundreds of other native Australian animals that are also classed vulnerable to extinction have?
now we have no idea how many koalas are left - the 'official' numbers vary from 30,000 to 100,000 and when you look at a distribution map that means they are spread very thinly. (they are spread over many thousands of km)
I volunteer with koala rescue and we rescue around 350 per year in our organisation alone. We only save around 20% of these as catching koalas is not easy up in the tree tops, so usually when we do catch them, they are seriously ill or injured.
Hence the passion for the work I do just providing habitat and getting to observe them in the wild every day as I live in their backyard. I'm one of the luckiest people alive to be so close to them every single day! Thanks for caring, and I'm sorry to deliver such sad and disturbing facts, but this is the reality of the world we live in - it's a truly wondrous world and I'm trying to breathe in every single moment and atom of it :)
When white man came here they discovered that the koala pelt is one of the warmest and most water resistant. So they became valuable and koalas were killed by their million to supply the fur trade back in europe. While this was happening, logging was being pursued, and grazing animals with hooves that destroyed the soil, were being introduced in huge numbers.
And so from both sides the koala was being decimated. In the 1930's the government finally decreed it illegal to kill them, but by then the numbers were only a small fraction, and their habitat fragmented severely.
Now the decline continues as the last of their habitat is being wiped out rapidly. I feel that if we cannot stop this for what is perhaps viewed as one of the 'cutest and most harmless' animals in the entire world, what hope do the hundreds of other native Australian animals that are also classed vulnerable to extinction have?
https://www.qt.com.au/news/hunt-shame-revealed/2760839/
now we have no idea how many koalas are left - the 'official' numbers vary from 30,000 to 100,000 and when you look at a distribution map that means they are spread very thinly. (they are spread over many thousands of km)
I volunteer with koala rescue and we rescue around 350 per year in our organisation alone. We only save around 20% of these as catching koalas is not easy up in the tree tops, so usually when we do catch them, they are seriously ill or injured.
Hence the passion for the work I do just providing habitat and getting to observe them in the wild every day as I live in their backyard. I'm one of the luckiest people alive to be so close to them every single day! Thanks for caring, and I'm sorry to deliver such sad and disturbing facts, but this is the reality of the world we live in - it's a truly wondrous world and I'm trying to breathe in every single moment and atom of it :)