Northwest of Sydney is Koala Park. It's a bit of a hike to get out there and the building has a pretty sad, neglected facade, but the animals make it worthwhile!
There are several different birds and plenty of other animals in the park.
Wallabies hop around the park freely. This one has a joey in her pouch!
First up was a sheep sheering show. A border collie rounded up one agitated sheep into the holding pen.
The sheerer came out and, after showing us the sheering tools, got to work. This sheep didn't struggle much but still ended up with a few bloody knicks.
Next he did a boomerang demonstration, but with so many trees around, it was more a demonstration of how to get a boomerang caught up in the branches! Finally, the border collie ran around and herded up all of the sheep.
We listened to a talk from the penguin keeper. Known as little penguins, blue penguins, or fairy penguins, this variety is the smallest of all penguins. They are the only penguin native to Australia. Fairy penguins have a lifespan of about six or seven years in the wild but often live for twenty or thirty years in captivity. Break ups do occur from time to time but they usually mate for life.
The park's main attraction: koalas! I got to pet Attunga, a female adult koala.
- “Koala” comes from an Aboriginal word meaning “doesn't drink water”
- Their diet is mainly eucalyptus leaves which contain water, so a koala will only drink water if there is an extreme drought and the eucalyptus leaves are too dry
- Eucalyptus leaves require a great deal of energy to digest which causes koalas to sleep for up to twenty hours a day
- They are nocturnal
- Koalas live about 12-14 years and weigh about 12-14 kilos
- Female koalas have completely white chests while males have a brown scent gland used for marking trees
- Although their skeletons suggest the koala once had a tail, today they are the only tree dwelling mammal without an external tail
- Koalas are marsupials, meaning the females have a pouch
- A baby joey is born about thirty five days after conception and will stay inside the pouch for six months
Gratuitous koala pictures! Notice that they're asleep in most of the shots.
This koala climbs down from one tree to another when the direct sunlight becomes too much.
It's inevitable that one koala will run into another from time to time when repositioning itself on a tree.
Some of the park's koalas are wild and are here due to injuries. These koalas have free range of all the trees in the park, while the others stick to their enclosure.
We visited the kangaroo enclosure where at least a dozen kangaroos relaxed in the shade. Their faces are surprisingly rodent-like up close.
Despite this sign, there were no babies in the nursery. Disappointing! There was one adult female koala, but there was no one around to tell us if she was even pregnant.
All this animal excitement had me all worn out and I slept most of the train ride back to the city.
