K is for Koalas
(This is part of a series, Blogging from A to Z April 2014 Challenge. My theme for the challenge is Quintessential San Diego from A to Z, focusing on those things that are typical, or perfect, or classic examples of San Diego life. Today is K.)
What do koalas have to do with San Diego? It turns out that the San Diego Zoo is a terrific place to catch a koala napping! In fact, you can see more than 20 koalas in San Diego. You might even catch one of them awake and eating.
And I am lucky enough to have a long-time friend, Penny Hyde, who is an amazing zoo photographer. Well, she isn’t just a zoo photographer, she takes beautiful pictures of many things. But her zoo photos are outstanding. Her love for the animals shines through.
The San Diego Zoo has become a good home to koalas, native Australians though they are. The Zoo received its first two koalas as a gift from the children of Sydney, Australia back in 1925.
Since then, the zoo has become famous for having the largest koala colony, as well as the most successful koala breeding program outside of Australia. Check here for a live Koala Cam. If it is daylight in San Diego, you might be able to watch a koala or two in a tree, with eucalyptus leaves blowing in the breeze. If you are lucky, they might be nibbling their eucalyptus leaves. (Fair warning: I’m sort of becoming addicted to the Koala Cam, now that I know about it. Just so you know.)
But most likely, you’ll catch them sleeping, as koalas sleep up to 20 hours a day, nestled in a crook of a tree. They need much sleep to give them time to digest their food. Koalas are designed to live and sleep in the crooks of branches: they have a reduced tail, a curved spine, and a rounded rear end, that nestle them safely. Even while sleeping.
Koala’s only food is eucalyptus, which is perfect for San Diego, as the climate is great for growing the tall, fragrant trees. The San Diego Zoo has their own browse farm, where they grow and harvest fresh eucalyptus for their koalas to eat. Of the more than 600 different kinds of eucalyptus trees, koalas prefer the leaves of about three-dozen varieties. From a koala’s point of view, each looks and tastes very different.
Koalas do not drink much water and they get most of their moisture from these leaves.
San Diego’s koalas are the northern or Queensland sub-species.
Today, the San Diego Zoo has the largest colony of koalas outside of Australia, with over 20 living at the Zoo and more than 30 on loan to other zoos in the US and Europe.
Sometimes, some of them are awake.
In the zoo’s new Australian Outback exhibit, the males, which are territorial, have their own perches. The females, which are more social, and their babies, called joeys, are gathered in another area together. The exhibit’s elevated walkways bring you to eye level with the koalas as they perch in their forest of eucalyptus.
Koalas are sometimes referred to as koala bears. Koalas are mammals, and they have round, fuzzy ears and look cute and cuddly, like teddy bears. But koalas are not bears, of course. They are marsupials, with pouches for their young. Others in that group are kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, wombats, possums, and opossums. The koala is most closely related to the wombat.
We love to visit the koalas at the zoo. They are cute awake or asleep.
https://www.donnaamisdavis.com/k-koalas/Animals Wild & TameSan DiegoSan Diego A to Zkoalas,San Diego,San Diego Zoo,zoo(This is part of a series, Blogging from A to Z April 2014 Challenge. My theme for the challenge is Quintessential San Diego from A to Z, focusing on those things that are typical, or perfect, or classic examples of San Diego life. Today is K.) What do koalas have to do with...Donna Amis DavisDonna Amis Davis[email protected]AdministratorDonna Amis Davis
600 types of eucalyptus?! Had no idea! Another fun post, Donna.
Thank you, Anita!
My aunt and uncle emigrated to Australia before I was born. When they came back for a visit they brought me a toy koala which I still have 50+ years later! When we visited them in Brisbane 10 years ago they took us to a koala sanctuary. They are such gorgeous little creatures – I enjoyed your post.
Anabel at Anabel’s Travel Blog
That is amazing that you still have that toy koala! How fun to see them in their home country, too. We got to do that in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, at the Billabong Koala and Wildlife Park. And our friends took us to a neighborhood that had some wild koalas living high in the trees. They were hard to spot!
SOOOO adorable! Yeah, now I’m going to have to watch Koala Cam…. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
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I caught a koala awake and moving around yesterday afternoon. Made me smile! Thank you for stopping by.
I always get excited when we see a koala in the wild….it’s not easy. I’ve only ever seen them at Noosa in Queensland and in a small town along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road where they are always asleep in the trees near the local shop! The elevated walkways in the zoo sound a great way to see them closeup. I can imagine there’s not a lot of action on Koala cam!
We got to spend some time in the Port Macquarie area a few years back. Our friends there knew where the koalas hung out. Some lucky people in one subdivision sometimes get koalas in the trees next to their driveway!!! We went out on a hike through a gum grove and did spot one WAY up in the trees. But like you said, it’s not easy to spot them!
Those are beautiful zoo photos…and the San Diego zoo is one place I have been…years ago. I loved it!
Hope you can get back someday. My friend Penny shared some more photos with me that I’ll be posting on Z Day. Stay tuned. Thank you for stopping by!
We saw Koalas when we visited the San Diego Zoo a few years ago – they are so adorable! And really easy to photograph since they don’t move much. Great idea for K, Donna 🙂
Just the opposite of trying to photograph my two grandkids, who are 3 and 4. They are always moving!