I didn’t get enough of Aussie animals back at Featherdale in Sydney, so Thursday we went to one of Brisbane’s best animal parks, the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
The park is mainly koalas, which was very fine by me. They also had other native Australian animals, which is the parks advantage over the Australia Zoo also located in Brisbane.
First thing inside the gates we watched a short koala presentation. Here are the facts:
- Koalas are cuter than babies and kittens. Combined.
- Koalas live about 10 years, although they have had koalas reach their 20’s in captivity at the park.
- Male koalas have a scent gland on their chests that they use for marking. Females do not.
- Koala babies eat their mothers feces (called pap) for about two weeks. They do this because in order to get the bacteria that helps them digest eucalyptus in their stomachs.
- Lone Pine has over 100 koalas. Each one eats 1/2 a kilo of eucalyptus leaves a day. The park brings in 1 ton of food into the park a day (although we figure most of that goes uneaten) which is gathered from 4 groves of different types of eucalyptus trees.
- Koalas sleep somewhere around 18 to 20 hours a day. ¡Eso si que es la vida!
- Two of the toes on their feet are fused together, and act as a sort of brush for grooming. They also have two thumbs that help them climb.
- Koalas can be pretty active, as evidenced during feeding time at the park. They run, jump and climb all over each other.
The Lone Pine has some more fact here if you’re interested.
The sanctuary was another great animal experience. I was just as impressed as Featherdale… not to mention, this time I had my big camera with a charged battery and a spare battery in my bag. I have 177 photos of koalas in my collection now. Did I mention koalas are cuter than babies and kittens combined?
