Australiana #1 - Koala

So as I said, I will be posting wildlife pictures from my recent Australian adventure on a weekly basis. We begin with that most obvious of Australian critters - the koala. Unfortunately, we never managed to see one of these in the wild so these photos come from the Healesville Sanctuary and the Featherdale Wildlife Park, both superb collections of native species in generous enclosures.

Sleepy koala

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Bearded koala

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They may seen cuddly, but you don't climb trees without claws like these

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Surprising things that koalas apparently do...

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More like this

That's photo is such a reality check. Koala's have become so "Elmo-ized" ... I think of them more as a stuffed toy animal than an actual creature. Great photo.

I think I'd enjoy living the Koala life: sleep for 16-20 hours, munch on some leaves, savage some unsuspecting tourist with my massive talons when he pokes me to get me to look at the camera, sleep some more..