Sunday 28 January 2007

Koka Kola and Pepsy Kola


At home in the Adelaide Hills there is abundant wildlife. A few kilometres from here, there is dense native bushland where kangaroos can be encountered sunning themselves on the warm bitumen roads.
These two furry friends are our KOALAS and they live high up in the Gum (Eucalyptus) Trees around our property. I took this photo after the baby had fallen to the ground from quite a height, bounced and carefully clawed it's way back up again to it's mother's back.
Koalas are not bears nor placental mammals. They, like Kangaroos, are MARSUPIALS, and they simply eat gum tree leaves and very little water. If one stands below them one may think it's raining. Wrong!
The males, when mating, make such a din, the sound could be mistaken for a fierce rhinoceros.
This baby is just recently out of the mother's pouch, but climbs back in from time to time.
Here is a precis about them from Wikipedia; perhaps a bit too detailed!

Marsupials are mammals in which the female has a pouch in which it rears its young through early infancy. The female has two vaginas, both of which open externally through one orifice but lead to different compartments within the uterus. Males usually have a two-pronged penis which corresponds to the females' two vaginas. The penis only passes sperm. The pregnant female develops a yolk sac in her womb which delivers nutrients to the embryo. The embryo is born at a very early stage of development (at about 4-5 weeks), upon which it crawls up its mother's belly and attaches itself to a nipple (which is located inside the pouch). It remains attached to the nipple for a number of weeks. The offspring later passes through a stage where it temporarily leaves the pouch, returning for warmth and nourishment.

25 comments:

Michael Salone said...

Absolutely adorable. Are you able to get very close to them?

Nikon said...

I make a din when I mate, what of it?

Nikon said...

ok, enough of my humor today - it's not working on 2 continents.
Great shot.

Anonymous said...

Michael, I have been as close as about six feet, during winter when Coca Kola (mother) is down low to protect Pepsi Kola from the cold winds. There is a very sheltered spot behind our shed where she can rest during the afternoons and baby can pop its head out. When very tiny, the koalas look like tiny brown bears because their cheeks haven't filled out yet. They are also a chocolate brown colour; their fur grows lighter as they get older. Next winter, when the next baby is very young, I will try to take a photo for you. Mostly, as close as we get, ie during summer, is between ten and twenty feet. Whenever I go walking I look up and amazingly, most days I see a koala. Our property is surrounded by various species of eucalypt, a veritable feast for koalas and they roam from tree to tree eating only the juiciest of tiny tips.

Anonymous said...

Nikon, your humour is fine and quite funny! Glad you popped in for a peek. However, not even you would be able to rival the sound of a mating male koala. It is also not a speedy affair. Think of a braying donkey and a lion's roar and you might be close to the mark. Some nights we have to close our windows because the decibels are tremendous! The female koala "screams" also which is the most heart rending cry.

Ame said...

LMAO Nikon & MB! LMAO! ;)

Ame said...

Sorry...just HAD to revisit this most amazing informational and CUTE-OH-SO-CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE post...something caught my eye...hmmmmmm...on second thought, I guess it really didn't! I forgot--my "naughty braincell" is in the OFF MODE! AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! Restraint Ame...reSTRAINT!!!! LOL! ;)

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

Wow double the pleasure and i'm saying no more than that!
It's great to see Mme Benaut on here and commenting! Such a lovely idea for both of you to do it and merci Madame for your wonderful comment at my site.
This koala looks so cute it could have a zip up its front with some cosy pyjamas waiting inside. Am i right in saying though, that they're not cuddly at all and can be quite vicious?

Nikon said...

Thank you mme benaut!

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

Actually i will say a little more. My house was also quite noisy over the weekend ;)

Ame said...

OMG LYNN! The NERVE! LOL! ;)

M.Benaut said...

Lynn,
Peut-être vous vivez près de à une ligne ferroviaire bruyante, non ?

M.Benaut said...

Nikon,
See what you have started, monsieur !

Ame said...

HEY NO FAIR! All this FRANCAIS!!!! =(

M.Benaut said...

Ame,
When Lynn said. "Actually i will say a little more. My house was also quite noisy over the weekend ;"
I assumed that the cause of all the noise, obviously was.
"perhaps you live near a noisy railway line, no?"
There could be no other cause for all that groanin'. The British are not like that, as you will soon find out in a couple of weeks.
Sorry about the Francais M"AAM.
Désolé au sujet du Français ma chère fille.

Ame said...

Aw, Merci' for the clarification M-B! Just didn't want to "get off track!" ;)We'll just see what I find out WON'T we...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! =)))

Ame said...

Besides, isn't "din" what you do to the lights on those oh-so-special weekend evenings? Peel me a grape pullllleeeeeeeeease? ;) Ah, I just love to play with words!

M.Benaut said...

Ame,
To be safe you had better arrive on a Monday, and remember the pink champagne.

Ame said...

LOL! Gotcha! ;)

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

he he it's the noisy English girly here again! What fun all that above was. Actually you're right, M. Benaut, the British are conservative, quietly spoken and well mannered. I am all of these. Sometimes, however, a certain circumstance...well, it rather gets the better of one, doesn't it? lol!

M.Benaut said...

Lynn,
Better than knowing the second verse of God Save the King !!!!!
And yes, I would venture that we, in Oz, are imbued with a modicum of decorum, in rather the British tradition. It takes a lot for us to let the side down, so to speak. No rif raf in these parts. But yes, like Vesuvius, when the time comes,,,,,,,,

Michael Salone said...

Oh my gosh....Nikon really started something. I couldn't imagine that Lynn and Ame could take a Koala photo and turn it into, well, quite an imaginative discussion. Am still laughing!

Anonymous said...

Lynn, re your comment about our little koalas being vicious - they're not really - we are NEVER in danger of an attack! BUT they do have incredibly long, strong claws which enable them to climb to great heights (and pour le bebe to cling on to la mere). Tame koalas in wildlife parks are cuddled without any fear by their tamers (except of being accidentally saturated) and some koalas are perched in tree forks for tourists to pat & have photos taken - they ignore the humans and continue munching their leaves while the patting is being undertaken. Will prevail upon M.B to post later a photo of one such koala being patted by a UK visitor! As for zip-up koala look-alike pajama bags - I think you can get them at Adelaide International Airport once you pass through customs ... M.B is definitely expecting a visit from SOMEONE on Monday.
Probably the commonest word in the Aussie lingo, interestingly, is MATE, usually pronounced MAAAAATE, when addressing well, anyone really.
Michael, everyone needs a good belly laugh or rub or something similar every day, didn't you know? LOL xxx

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