INTRODUCING YOUR NEIGHBOUR
Please meet Phascolarctos cinereus, named by a Scientist whose
Latin sounds more interesting than his observation!
The Scientist thought our amazing friend the Koala was an ‘ash
grey pouched bear’!
Phascolarctos cinereus, the ‘ash grey pouched bear’, commonly
called the Koala, has lived in Australia for at least 25 million
years.
The Koala was here before the land became dry. He was here
before he learned to climb trees and live on Eucalyptus leaves and
he was here long before Matthew Flinders sailed through Bass
Strait. He was here before we cleared the bush for farms and then
cut up the farms for house blocks.
We are, in fact, living in the Koalas’ garden!
Take a moment to wonder about your neighbour, Phascolarctos
cinereus, the Koala.
Next time you hear that big old male Koala declaring that he is
so very, very sexy, take a moment to wonder if, in 35 days time, a
tiny, 2 centimeters long, hairless, blind, earless, pink
‘jelly-bean’ Joey will drag its self, by some miracle, into its
mother’s pouch and attach its self to the small teat where it will
feed and grow and develop for 6 or 7 months, shut tight in the
pouch by the mother’s strong sphincter muscle.
If the mother Koala is still feeding an older Joey, the other
teat will have elongated and will now protrude from the pouch so
that the older Joey can still suckle.
At about 22 weeks the tiny Joey will open its eyes and begin to
peep out at the world. By now our Joey is looking more like a
miniature Koala and less like a jellybean!
Although still drinking milk from it’s mother the Joey will
begin to feed on ‘pap’, special soft droppings produced by the
mother for about 8 weeks and full of protein and the micro
organisms needed to digest the fibrous leaves of the Eucalyptus –
Yakuult for Koalas!
Soon the growing Joey will out grow the pouch and the tiny,
furry baby will cling to the mother’s belly, suckling still and
jealously protected by its mother.
Last years young will now be a year old and will be ‘encouraged’
to seek a ‘home run’ of its own where, if a female, she may become
a mother in two or three years time and the cycle will begin
again.
But our little ‘Jelly- Bean Joey’ is now getting very
adventurous, riding on his mother’s back, catching leaves while
standing on his mother’s belly, climbing skinny branches to get
sweet small leaves and practicing gymnastic routines – to the
consternation of his mother.
How sad it will be if the time comes when we no longer see,
walking down the street, the pale, woolly bottoms of Koalas
illuminated in our head lights!
By planting Koala feed trees in your garden, on your nature
strip and in the local parks, and by encouraging your human
neighbours to do like wise, you can help provide new ‘home runs’
for Somers Koalas and guarantee we will never need to live with out
Koalas.
Rosemary Birney
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