Cuddly
San Diego Zoo, 2018
The San Diego Zoo is a great place to watch koalas. They have several artificial trees, one for each koala, and zoo personel place the eucalyptus leaves that the koalas survive on at the top of the artificial tree. As a result, you can see the koalas easily whether they are eating or sleeping.
The koala sleep 80% of the time and, I suppose, eat the rest of the time. The leaves that comprise their diet are poisonous but the koalas can metabolize the poison so it does not harm them. They fall into a sound sleep while their bodies digest the poisonous leaves… a type of “food coma”.
Really cute little critters, but I imagine if I tried to pet them they’d respond with a bite.
Yes. I recall someone saying that “they can scratch you up real bad!” That says it all.