Koala and Joey

[Uncle Al]

koalas can swim.....

Thanks Chris, never knew koalas had any affinity with water. A real thrill for the canoeoists.
As they say, only in Australia!

Alan...

[Handyjack]

Person I work with lives at the end of the train line at South Morang. Often in the mornings when he is walking the couple of blocks to the train station he sees some kangaroo's. Part of the area is bush, the rest is residential.

[Mobyturns]

The first Koala I saw in the wild was on Magnetic Island, but the most interesting Koala find was on a property a couple of hours north of Hughenden in the mid 1980's. In the middle of the day, and a very hot one at that, we found a Koala on the ground walking across what was basically wheel tracks on the basalt country and moving between trees. I have a 35mm photo of it in an old photo album. Had to fool the light metering and autofocus on my old camera as the Koala was about 1.2m above ground in the shade on an Ironbark with mid day sunlight as the background.

[MAPLEMAN]

Great to hear handyjack
Highlights the importance of trees being retained, particularly in urban areas like yours
Trees are often under valued in our modern society
They are so important in providing habitat and shelter for a wide variety of species, as well as a connect to the natural world
Thanks for your post...MM

[MAPLEMAN]

The first Koala I saw in the wild was on Magnetic Island, but the most interesting Koala find was on a property a couple of hours north of Hughenden in the mid 1980's.

Never knew that they were on Magnetic Island or Hughenden for that matter
They seem to love Ironbarks though
Do they enjoy feeding on them i wonder
I believe that they enjoy certain types (flooded gum i think is one species they favor) but not sure what their favorite chew's are!...MM

[AlexS]

.....not sure what their favorite chew's are!...MM

Surely they can chews whatever they like.

[rustynail]

Never knew that they were on Magnetic Island or Hughenden for that matter
They seem to love Ironbarks though
Do they enjoy feeding on them i wonder
I believe that they enjoy certain types (flooded gum i think is one species they favor) but not sure what their favorite chew's are!...MM

Prefered food very much depends on area. Koalas in our area head straight for grey gum and forest red. That is not to say they wont eat iron bark and stringy. They seem to have a first and second preference. In the hot months they are often seen in non food trees, asleep in the abundant shade these heavier canopied trees offer.
Down here, flooded gum is not a food tree, but is liked as a sleeping tree in summer, due to its usually cool location. Iron bark is eaten.

[Mobyturns]

They were introduced to Maggie Is. I was really surprised to see a koala in the outback and on basalt, in the mid day heat - can't be to smart. The area north of Hughenden has a wind farm proposal so I hope they can't climb the pylons.

Counting koalas on Magnetic Island - ABC North Qld - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

[MAPLEMAN]

Counting koalas on Magnetic Island - ABC North Qld - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Wondering how many numbers of koalas can the Island sustain
Seems like they don't, at times, appreciate relocation to other areas
Read recently that a large number didn't survive being relocated to another area of forest...just can't remember where in fact that occurred
They were moved because there was no longer enough food to sustain the large population!
Maybe someone knows the where this had happened...MM

[Mobyturns]

I'm not sure when they were introduced to Magnetic Is, but it seems to agree with them.

[lovetoride]

Magnetic Island National Park - Nature, culture and history (Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing)

"Koalas were introduced to the island in the 1930s to protect them from perceived threats on the mainland."