Look at this stunning girl that appeared on Saturday! Such a surprise and doesn't she look like she is already at home?
Really hoping she will stay around as she looks healthy and maybe is a young girl as she has no joey with her. I'd be very happy to have her hang around! https://youtu.be/3EZ3c9SVIf4 for a little detail
My it seems there are a lot of new faces at the Gardens! I just saw your video of the little one who came to your veranda. It sure would be fun if they all became regulars. Great shot- and welcome to the neighborhood Matilda!
@olivetreeann oh you are onto me Ann! I will post him tomorrow - it was a neighbours verandah tho, not mine. About 2 km down the road from here. I was called out to help rescue him 😊
@fbailey it's a good question! not a simple answer as age and gender play a big part. what I mean is that it wouldn't be possible for there to be a dozen adult males here. However there could easily be a dozen koalas living here if they were the right mix of age and gender. Koalas are very territorial, so it's not just about how much food there is, it is the structure of the colony, the community.
The property would support at least half a dozen adult breeding females, and four or five young koalas of any gender, from around one three years old. I find there are often two fully mature males but they tend to not overlap the same areas of the property.
At the moment, the colony has been suffering from the results of the droughts and water deluges we suffered last winter/summer. There were only two adult males frequenting here. Then a few stragglers that have come and gone at times which is normal.
The two girls are in the kindy, but I'm still waiting to find out for sure whether they will stay here or not.
Then over the weekend Matilda and then releasing Faison (oh spoiler alert!) has been a lot of koala smell and activity is suddenly everywhere!
I'm interested to see if more koalas here will actually attract more koalas here because they communicate by smell. Time will maybe tell me some interesting things 😊
@fbailey yes indeed, under the license we operate from as koala rehab every koala released must be both tagged and microchipped (which is smart as we all know Bullet ditched his tag only months after release)
I love questions, it's great to see people thinking about things not just going aww cute 😃
@gardencat no she is brand new 😊 my facebook followers name all the new koalas, the competition can get quite fierce too, but Matilda waltzed through an easy win this time 😂
@milaniet my property is in a natural 'koala corridor'. Koalas can't just stay where they were born or colonies would become inbred. So each year, starting around mid July, young koalas begin to move out and they move through the corridors looking for somewhere to settle. They have used these corridors for time immemorial.
It would seem that Matilda is a young girl (she has no young in pouch or on back so she didn't breed last year), and so it's likely she is looking for somewhere to settle. Hopefully she will decide to stay here, she would be a lovely addition 😃
@jernst1779 she is quite a distance from me, I wouldn't appear to be any kind of threat. I'm on the verandah of my house, and she is about 30 m high up in a huge tree. So while the koalas in my photos often look close to me, it's just the great zoom I have 😃
The property would support at least half a dozen adult breeding females, and four or five young koalas of any gender, from around one three years old. I find there are often two fully mature males but they tend to not overlap the same areas of the property.
At the moment, the colony has been suffering from the results of the droughts and water deluges we suffered last winter/summer. There were only two adult males frequenting here. Then a few stragglers that have come and gone at times which is normal.
The two girls are in the kindy, but I'm still waiting to find out for sure whether they will stay here or not.
Then over the weekend Matilda and then releasing Faison (oh spoiler alert!) has been a lot of koala smell and activity is suddenly everywhere!
I'm interested to see if more koalas here will actually attract more koalas here because they communicate by smell. Time will maybe tell me some interesting things 😊
I love questions, it's great to see people thinking about things not just going aww cute 😃
Did you just name her Matilda or has she been recorded somewhere before?
It would seem that Matilda is a young girl (she has no young in pouch or on back so she didn't breed last year), and so it's likely she is looking for somewhere to settle. Hopefully she will decide to stay here, she would be a lovely addition 😃