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Here is an ad insert from my cable/internet provider bill pushing the Phoenix Zoo. Thought you Aussies may be amused.

This reminds me of my first experience with koalas, this was in 1971 when I was on R&R in Sydney from Vietnam. It was, I believe, in Manly, across the harbor from Sydney. There was a zoo exhibit with a second level so you could see the koalas perched up in the trees at their own level. Because of the eucalyptus leaves they eat, the whole thing smelled like Vick's Vapo Rub. Anyway, these creatures looked pathetic. I thought they were sick, sitting up in the branches, inactive, leaning their heads against the tree trunks, in a daze. Kind of made me question the whole notion of keeping animals in zoos. Anyway, it wasn't until years later that I heard koala's were nocturnal. So I guess they just wanted to get some sleep while everyone came along and gawked at them.

Modern_Who, you're very lucky you only found your way to Taronga Park Zoo, and not one of the koala-cuddling establishments.

Some years ago, a new Federal Tourism Minister (who must have had a rugged night the night before) came away from cuddling a koala, remarking that he couldn't see why anyone would want to do it. They scratch, he said, they have fleas, and, er, tend to lose control of their bowels He didn't last long in Tourism.

Koalas are slow and sleepy because the gum leaves have some sort of drug in them that affects the Koalas. They are always under the influence of gum leaves.

In drought conditions a gum tree will produce toxins in the gum leaves to stop Koalas eating all the leaves and killing the gum tree.

Many moons ago I had a job as a multi disciplined horticulturist. It was a full on job. Many, many people to look after.


I received a call that a koala was in a crowded cultural centre. I was asked if I could arrange for the removal of the koala from this function. I thought it would be an easy job. What was hard about removing a cute, cuddly koala? So I went down myself.

On arrival I could see where the koala was because there was a crowd of people circling a space. It was making noises that were not cute & cuddly. More like somebody being murdered. At this point I got suspicious. With confidence I walked up to the big buck koala. It was showing huge canine teeth at me & slashing claws in the air. At this stage I knew I was in big trouble.

Managed to get a handful of the fur at the back of his neck & a handful of his tail & the people parted before me. As I took this kicking, screaming, psychotic koala outside the crowd followed me to see how I was going to get rid of it. Hanging onto the struggling animal took all my strength. At the point when I had no strength left, from 2 stories up, I tossed this raving furball into the top of a gum tree & just kept on walking. Never got a single complaint! Stamping is a safer occupation.

Thanks, tonymacg. Taronga Park Zoo sounds very familiar. But cuddling establishments?

Great story KGV Collector. Distinct act of heroism in giving this animal the bum's rush.

Good to hear commentary on koalas from the natives.

Not that we'd want to discourage you from visiting again, of course ...

(And yes, there are numbers of places where you can get up close and personal with koalas. Japanese tourists seem to love them. Whether they go back for a second bout, I never have been able to discover.)

Nice and funny Koala stories.

They look so calm and quiet in all videos. Had no idea they were always drugged!

I've never had the pleasure of seeing one close up but I hope to see one and even a Giant Panda / Polar Bear.

Let me clarify this to give you a better idea of just how pathetic they looked. They were not sitting beside the tree trunk, up against it and leaning their head against it, they were straddling a limb, facing the tree trunk, hunched over with the top of their head against it. A sorry sight, indeed.

Interesting facts about koalas taken from https://www.savethekoala.com/koalasfacts.html

Koalas are mostly nocturnal. Nocturnal animals are awake at night and asleep during the day. Koalas, however, sleep for part of the night and also sometimes move about in the daytime. They often sleep for up to 18-20 hours each day.

There is a myth that koalas sleep a lot because they ‘get drunk’ on gumleaves. Fortunately, this is not correct! Most of their time is spent sleeping because it requires a lot of energy to digest their toxic, fibrous, low-nutrition diet and sleeping is the best way to conserve energy

Thanks for the info on koalas Puzzler!

There has always been two different groups on the issue of drugged koalas or not drugged.

I had the pleasure as a hired horticulturist to help with the planning of wildlife corridors for the beginning of Save The Koala in the area we live in. It goes back to the 80s. We have one of the largest koala populations in Australia.

When planning what to use as food trees for koalas I discovered that many different gum trees were needed to balance out the different toxins the trees were offering the koalas as leaf food. Too many gum leaves from the one type of gum tree can make koalas very sick to the point of death. Still nobody has a detailed description of what the toxins are and what they do to the koalas. Many of the names of the toxins I can not even pronounce. The only toxin I truly remember, and it is one of the main ones, is arsenic.

During times of drought, when trees come under extreme stress & defoliate, the leaves become even more toxic.

I am no longer at the cutting edge of Save The Koala. But the people involved now in this area would have a very good understanding of what a koala needs compared to 20 years ago. It is a fascinating area. A lot more research is needed. We really know so little about our koalas. John