Koala: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future
by Danielle Clode
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2:52
Author discusses surge of interest in koalas and shows footage
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Sep, 2022
Spoiler:
Danielle Clode credits children’s book authors with creating new interest in the koala when the animal became endangered. She thought that koalas would be a fairly simple topic, but came to realize that they are incredibly complex. She says they are actually a very resilient species; therefore, Clode takes the koala’s endangered status as a sign that we are really “stuffing things up badly” and “need to look harder at what we’re doing.” She calls them “charismatic” and “a flagship species for conservation.”
70:21
Author presents via video call + photos and drawings of koalas
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Jan, 2023
Spoiler:
The author does some myth-busting around koalas, first explaining that they are not bears but marsupials. Koalas are not “stoned,” although they do sleep up to 95% of the time and are active at night. They have a super-charged liver that allows them to eat toxic leaves, such as the eucalyptus. Koalas have agile hands with fingerprints and two thumbs, allowing them to easily grip leaves. Clode warns that their claws are razor-sharp and that you should never poke a sleeping koala.
7:18
Author speaks from natural setting about shrinking koala habitat
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Dec, 2022
Spoiler:
Calling the koala “quintessentially Australian,” author Danielle Clode shares that bush fires, land clearing, predation and disease have damaged koala populations on Australia’s east coast; at the same time, however, there are so many koalas in the southern forests that they sometimes eat themselves out of their own food supply. She says that uncovering the prehistory and fossil history of the koala has been one of the great revelations of writing the book. She calls them “highly adaptable” and “behaviorally flexible” animals.
29:08
Author discusses koalas and answers questions via video call
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0
Jan, 2023
Spoiler:
Koalas require a large habitat, an average koala needing a good, productive forest the size of a sports field, or an arid area about the size of New York’s Central Park. “Sociable loners,” koalas will spend time in groups when in a zoo but must be solitary in the wild to maximize their food supply. The author says that because humans are so intensely sociable, we tend to look down on solitary animals and to think they’re not as intelligent, which is untrue.
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