What makes koalas so mysterious, yet so interesting? That was the question for Clode, a biologist and natural history author. Some may see these Australian emblems as cute and cuddly. Others find them aggressive, slow, torpid, small-brained, inbred, disease-ridden and maladapted.
With scientific rigour, commonsense, and touches of humour, Clode takes readers back in time to koala fossils, discusses the wondrous Australian myth of ‘dropbears’, and marvels that the first European settlers in this country did not notice koalas for many years.
Koalas sleep all day because they can. Once they have found a suitable area for food, they just have to reach out and pluck the leaves they need. They have no fear of predators when high in the trees. Their physiology is unique, with their gut able to cope with a toxic diet of eucalyptus leaves. How mother koalas inoculate their joeys with the correct gut microbes to handle that diet is fascinating, if messy.
Clode found koalas did not feature much in Aboriginal art, artefacts, or hunting. That changed with the advent of European settlers and huge numbers of koala pelts were exported by the early 1900s. It was not until 1933 that the Australian Government finally banned the export of koalas and koala products.
Southern koalas are far more numerous than those in the north-eastern states of Australia, where this year they were listed as ‘endangered’. What is to be done about protecting and conserving this emblematic marsupial?
The answer lies in the trees. Protecting, restoring and extending the habitat for these enigmatic animals.
Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville
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