Who doesn’t?
I mean, they’re furry and slow moving and cute.
What’s not to like?
Well, maybe the fact that they have razor sharp claws and that the males can’t stand each other and will battle and scar each other with their razor sharp claws, but those are minor things.
They’re still cute!
This is something I recognized even as a child.
In fact, the VERY FIRST THING THAT I BOUGHT WITH MY OWN MONEY was a toy koala.
A local drugstore had stuffed toys, and one was a really cute koala bear. It was made of really soft animal fur (brown rabbit, I think), and it had flexible black plastic claws, and brown plastic eyes, and when I was five years old I set my heart on it.
My parents, who were encouraging me to learn the use of money, allowed me to save up for it and do chores to earn more money, and so the little toy koala was the first thing I ever bought! YEE-HAW!
I’m afraid that I’ve lost track of it now, but I’m sure it’s still at my parents’ house, tucked away in a closet, and I’ll stumble across it again someday and take it out and let the memories come back.
The memory of the toy koala itself came back when I stumbled across
THIS ARTICLE ABOUT REAL KOALAS.
Really interesting stuff!
Koalas are most unique creatures.
As many people know, they live entirely on eucalyptus leaves (y’know, those sap trees that drip sap all over your car if you park under them in California?).
Eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to almost all creatures–but not to koalas!
Except when they are.
The article doesn’t mention this, but during a certain part of the eucalyptus tree’s annual cycle, they become so toxic that even koalas can’t eat them, at which point the little critters have to fast until the poison level in the trees goes down again.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS FASCINATING CREATURE OF GOD.
I’ll bet when you were small, Jimmy, you could call them Koala BEARS without being acosted. Well, those days, I’m sure you know, are over. Old habits die hard with me and I’m always (well not always)using the term Koala bears with my kids and usually some stranger will correct me saying they aren’t bears, but marsupials. Can’t people mind their own business? OK I feel better.
I read once the reason they are so slow moving is that the eucalyptus leaves keep them in a perpetual state of being stoned.
I thought you were pro-hunt? I’m pleasantly suprised that you have a softer side.
I used to have a cuddly toy kangaroo when I was young…when I discovered it was made of ‘real’ kangaroo I gave it to thelocal children’s home.
God Bless.
“…usually some stranger will correct me saying they aren’t bears, but marsupials”
Isn’t the same true of pandas? I heard they were actually more closely related to the raccoon. But I still call them panda bears.
Aren’t koalas hurting?
This reminds me of my cousin who had a “squally bear” that he couldn’t go with out. 🙂
CUTE
Why would being pro-hunt mean you can’t find animals cute?
Animals can at times be cute, and at times be tasty and fun to chase down. Similarly, plants can be pretty, and they can be dinner, and they can be interesting to track down and pick.
Where’s the contradiction?
Maureen,
I didn’t mean for there to be a connection, it was just an observation based upon my warped humour and Jimmy’s past post’s about hunting fluffy and cute looking things…I should have put a smilie in there or something, like this 😉
God Bless.
Very cute and interesting. I didn’t know they ate their mothers’ poo, though. I think there’s another word besides “fascinating” to describe that better. 😛
Hi, Jimmy!
Your soft huggable koala was indeed probably made of real fur. Wallaby fur, to be exact! My father went to Australia in 1969 and brought back koalas for each of us. They were made of soft, real fur with black flexible plastic claws and a black nose made of the same plastic. Ours were shaped so that they fit right into your body when you hugged them. They were very realistic looking and had a distinct but not unpleasant smell. When we asked Dad what kind of fur they were made of, he told us it was wallaby fur. I have since petted wallabies at zoos, and confirmed that it was exactly the same fur as my “Blinky Bill”.
My “Blinky” was named after a popular children’s book character from Australia, and I slept with him through intermediate school, high school, and college. I have him still, flexible plastic claws long gone, fur and the hide underneath rotted away in places exposing the stuffing, but very real in the “velveteen rabbit” sense. I’ll NEVER throw away my Blinky.
Martha (Tim J’s wife)
I like Koala’s too!… though they can be a little tough and stringy if not correctly prepared.
Actually, based on my reading, I believe the jury is still out on pandas. Different authorities have classified them different ways: Some say they’re related to raccoons (and certainly the much smaller red panda looks a lot like a raccoon), but others say they’re bears. With thumbs.
Unrelated note: When my eldest daughter was a baby, she once called a black-and-white soccer ball a “panda ball.” 😀
I went to college at UC Santa Barbara & there are eucalyptus trees all over campus, giving it a very unique & pungent fragrance. I missed it for a long time after my gradumacation. (SIGH. I just met with an old college friend over the weekend & I’m a bit nostalgic.)
I had a koala when I was young. We were stationed in Hawaii and I fell in love with a grey 13″ that was made of kangaroo fur. My parents did not want to get it for me but I talked them into it some how. The hands and feet were leather instead of the normal plastic. Since I lost it to one of my dogs I have collected stuffed koalas and some statues. Nothing has really replaced it though. I also keep eucalyptus around the house.
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