Meet the Phascolarctos cinereus.
The aborigines named it for its habit of ‘no
drink’ which is strange enough but also it eats eucalyptus leaves toxic to
other animals. Thanks to a fecal inoculant called ‘pap’ provided by the mother,
special bacteria safely break down eucalyptus leaf.
The KOALA is a marsupial mammal that suckles its partly
developed new-born in a pouch that prevents it from falling to the ground. Wrong! The pouch opens rearward
so ‘Joey’ learns from day one to hang on tight to Mum, in fact the very first
task as a blind and naked new-born (the size of a jelly bean) is…..start
climbing - unassisted! It's just
as well we didn’t design the Koala or the new model would hardly have
got off the ground; it would be extinct long ago after the first joey had
forgotten to hold on and hit the deck.
Here in Port Macquarie we have an excellent Koala
hospital. Their information brochure opens with the statement: “Koalas have
lived in Australia for at least 15 million years….” but why does it fail to
mention the ‘inverted’ pouch? Is it just too clever for 'evolution'? 
Some more of Tony Sullivan’s photos made me research this tourist favourite. What would it be like to be born up a tree, blind and small as a jellybean, then to have to climb up unassisted into mum’s pouch and hang on for dear life? The mind boggles.
ReplyDelete