Koala
Phascolarctos cinereus
-27.5584, 153.043
Field Notes
Description:
This koala looked like it was waving it's foot at me, but I had to go online to make sure it was actually a foot I was looking at. Sure enough, it was, and I learned a bit more about koala physiology in the process. These bizarre animals never cease to amaze me, but there were two things I noticed with this spotting that puzzled me: there appeared to be two claws on one toe (photo #5), and two thumbs on one paw (photo #6). Here's a good explanation....... "The Koala’s paws are specially adapted for gripping and climbing. Rough pads on the palms and soles help it to grip tree trunks and branches, and both front and hind paws have long sharp claws. Each paw has five digits; on the front paw, two digits are opposed to the other three--rather like a human's thumb--so they are both able to be moved in opposition to the other three. This allows the Koala to grip more securely. Distinctive parallel Koala scratch marks on tree trunks are due to this particular characteristic. On the hind paw, there is no claw on the biggest digit, which is opposable to the others for gripping. The second and third digits are fused together to form a double-clawed digit which is used for grooming purposes, such as for removing ticks." - from the Australian Koala Foundation website.
Habitat:
Just on the outskirts of Toohey Forest, a remnant eucalyptus woodland reserve of approximately 655 hectares. The forest is situated within an urban area on the south side of Brisbane. https://news.griffith.edu.au/2019/09/19/an-ecological-island-in-suburbi… This koala was resting in a box species of eucalypt (?), although I doubt it was a food tree; more likely a comfortable shade tree for resting. Here's a recent spotting from within the forest itself, and in the note section is information about food tree species these local koalas prefer - https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/1482627589 This was my first koala spotting in the area only two weeks prior.
Notes:
It's funny the things that appear when they're least expected. I spotted this koala when I was at work. I was getting out of the car and just happened to look up, and this koala just happened to be looking straight back at me. There have been periods when I have looked for days in various bushland areas for koalas, to no avail, and then this one appears out of the blue. Unfortunately, this koala has roamed from the safety of the forest, and to reach this location it has had to cross one of the busiest arterial roads in the area. I've seen three (possibly four) dead koalas around the forest perimeter in the past couple of years. Koala exclusion fencing is currently being installed around the forest to minimise koala deaths in various hot-spot areas.
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