Captain Koala

Here he is, our resident Koala. The kids named him Captain Koala. When I told my mother about the koala in our yard, the first thing she asked me is if I tried to feed it. I explained to her that koalas only eat gum leaves (eucalyptus). Koala is an aboriginal word meaning 'no drink' and indeed any moisture they get is from the gum leaves. (And I wonder how much water they contain?!)As you can imagine, they are not the healthiest of creatures. Moreover, they sleep for about 23 hours out of the day and the other hour they spend eating. What a life......
I recently read that on Kangaroo Island there is an overabundance of koalas and they are destroying the gum trees by eating all the leaves. Several years ago they actually killed koalas on the island which led to local and national outrage. Now they are implanting the female koalas with a contraceptive device which will prevent them from becoming pregnant.
As you can see in this photo, koalas have very sharp claws which help them climb gum trees so well. You would definitely not want to get too close to a wild koala because they would certainly defend themselves using these.