Originally Posted by
Mad Aussie
I could half ruin the tourist industry here ;)
I live on the northern outskirts of the Brisbane area. It takes me 30 mins to drive into the city centre itself.
This Koala was about 1 1/2 k's from home. We see them from time to time. Some suburbs have a few around, others have none.
They look all cute and cuddly don't they? And they are super soft to the touch, just like you'd dream them to be. In captivity they are indeed very docile. (I must head up to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo again soon .. it's only about 50 mins drive away)
However, the wild ones like this one should never be touched at all. Although most will just sit in the tree and watch you while you point and take photos before getting bored and climbing further up and away from the aliens, if you cornered one on the ground expect to hear lots of strange grunting sounds and to lose copius amounts of skin and some blood when he tears into you in self defence. You really would have to actually grab a wild Koala to experience that though.
I'm guessing his ear bling is an electronic tag.