OREGON ZOO . PORTLAND, OREGON . WWW.OREGONZOO.ORG
Koala Visit
Two furry gentlemen from Australia arrived at the Oregon Zoo for a five-month visit during 1998.
Two male koalas, Tuckonie and Ouraka, were on loan from the San Diego Zoo which has developed a program to give more public exposure to the most recognized and adored of all Australian animals.
"The koala is in major habitat and conservation trouble in the wild," said Valerie Thompson, the San Diego Zoo's koala coordinator. "Our program is aimed at educating zoogoers in other parts of the country about their special survival problems."
Thompson said at one time there were millions of the lovable but defenseless koalas in Australia. However, epidemics, heavy hunting for their pelts and a gradual destruction of their habitat has decimated them. Today, she said, they are numbered in only the thousands and live in wildlife sanctuaries protected by Australian law.
"One of the chief difficulties of saving the koala is its specialized diet," Thompson added.
Koalas are fussy eaters, munching only on the tough, oily leaves of eucalyptus trees. They also get most of the water they need from the leaves. Koala is an Aborigine word meaning "no drink."
"Without the eucalyptus trees, the koala cannot survive," Thompson said.
The San Diego Zoo grows its own eucalyptus trees and they are sending 240 pounds of branches to Portland per week. Thirty-five different types of eucalyptus will be sent.
Tuckonie was born at the San Diego Zoo. His name is an Aborigine word for "little man of the forest." Ouraka was born in San Diego and his name is Aborigine for "wait a while." Ouraka was slow to emerge from his mother's pouch.
Koalas stand about 1 and 1/2 feet high at adulthood and weighs between 15 and 20 pounds. They have tufted ears, prominent wide eyes and a broad black nose. Tailless, it has thick ash-gray fur with a tinge of brown on its upper body and is yellowish-white on the under body.
Although it resembles a tiny bear, the koala is actually a marsupial, an animal which
has a pouch for carrying its young. Other marsupials who live only in Australia include kangaroos, wombats and wallabies. The Virginia opossum is a North American marsupial.
Another obstacle to preserving the koala is its slow reproductive rate. A newborn koala is about the size of a large lima bean and it spends its first six months inside its mother's pouch. After that, it spends another six months riding piggyback on her.
Essentially tree dwellers, the koala will occasionally descend to the ground to lick the earth--apparently a digestive aid--or to shuffle slowly over to another tree. Although its legs are short, they are very strong and the koala is an excellent climber. Koalas communicate in harsh and grating voices, sounding like a handsaw cutting through
a thin board.
Diane Gould, a keeper at the Oregon Zoo spent two weeks at the San Diego Zoo where she received training in the art of caring for koalas. Gould returned to Portland, with Tuckonie and Ouraka and Chris Hamlin, a San Diego koala keeper. Hamlin stayed in Portland through the opening of the exhibit.
The koalas were housed in a special indoor enclosure known as "Koala Junction", which now houses our Tree Kangaroos.