G'day rich-joy,

"... well, aren't Koalas and Wombats supposed to be COUSINS ??!! "

Actually, the last time the classifiers and taxonomists held forth on them, they declared that Koalas were: "re-arborialised wombats"! (They cite various features in common, but principally the backwards facing pouch ... typical for subterranean burrowers ... but very dicey for tree dwellers!

Anyway, koa;s do such a good job of blending in with the bush that nobody writes about them. It took some 18 (?) years for the first Sydney colonists to even notice them ... probably only after they had cleared most of the nearby Gum trees!

Regards,

Bob Bolton