Brushtail Possum
Tail
Koala
Male, saved himself
Animals
Plants
Info
| Brushtail Possum Tail | | Koala Male, saved himself | | ||
Animals Plants Info |
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Chordates (Chordata) - Mammals (Mammalia) | ||||||||||||
| Order: | Kangaroos & Wombats (Diprotodontia) | |||||||||||||
| Family: | Koala (Phascolarctidae) iNaturalist Observation | |||||||||||||
| Species: | Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus ssp victor)| This Photo: | Male, about to fall | Thank you Terra Occ for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found in the Adelaide Hills and possibly elsewhere While considered cute and cuddly, wild animals should not be approached. Animals that people hold in zoo's are tame. As with any large wild animal, they can inflict severe injuries if cornered. Having said that, they are not openly aggressive. A male's mating call is a loud, deep, sickening sound. It's a much bigger sound than their size suggests. This is on purpose; the ladies like their boys to be big, so the boys oblige They love stringy bark gum trees. We also often see them walking on the roads through the Adelaide Hills. You may think we've made a mistake ... of course Koala's aren't introduced! Well, yes they were; locally at least. Introduced to the Adelaide Hills in the middle of last century. So while an Australian native, not a native where these photo's were taken. Quotes from the SA Dept of Environment & Natural Resources: "In South Australia, koalas were historically only found in the lower south east and were thought to be extinct by the 1930s due to hunting for the fur trade." "From 1959 -1969 koalas from Kangaroo Island were also successfully introduced to a number of other locations in South Australia including the Mount Lofty Ranges, the Riverland and Eyre Peninsula. " This can be related to Cootamundra Wattle. A NSW native, now an "introduced" weed species in the Adelaide Hills. Similarly, can you imagine the destruction this species has caused to the local native environs. It's not their fault of course, should never have been located there in the first place. But Tourism is a powerful motivator in our Society.
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