BS: Tough Koala

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: Rowan
Date: 16 Jul 08 - 09:56 PM

While Macropus rufus is now the largest of the macropods, M. giganteus (Eastern Grey kangaroo) was much larger (3m tall) during the Pleistocene; we now have only the tiddlers among us. Much more common, in the eastern states, their footprint is much lighter on Oz soils so the replacement of cattle by kangaroos has much to recommend it; their meat is much leaner, the fur is warmer and the skins are much more flexible than cowhide. Concertina bellows of kangaroo hide last better than the usual northern hemisphere materials.

Chlamydia is a major problem in koalas but I thought I'd leave the reference alone.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: GUEST,Outback Bruce
Date: 16 Jul 08 - 12:38 PM

*I admire wombats and would very much like to have one. But they don't make good pets.*

Their house habits do leave alot to be desired.....

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: SINSULL
Date: 16 Jul 08 - 12:11 PM

I wondered how long it would take for someone to notice that.
M

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: Wesley S
Date: 16 Jul 08 - 11:44 AM

treatment for a chlamydial infection.

Now how did THAT happen? That's a STD isn't it? Are ther Koala sluts running around the outback?

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Jul 08 - 08:30 AM

BTW, did know that roos don't fart?!!!

"Despite having a herbivorous diet similar to ruminants such as cattle which release large quantities of methane through exhaling and eructation, kangaroos release virtually none. The hydrogen byproduct of fermentation is instead converted into acetate, which is then used to provide further energy. Scientists are interested in the possibility of transferring the bacteria responsible from kangaroos to cattle, since the greenhouse gas effect of methane is 23 times greater than that of carbon dioxide."

Radio Australia - Innovations: "Methane In Agriculture." 15 August 2004.

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Jul 08 - 08:27 AM

From Wiki

"The Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus) is the largest surviving marsupial anywhere in the world. Fewer in numbers, the Red Kangaroo occupies the arid and semi-arid centre of the continent. A large male can be 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 90 kg (200 lb)."

Sorta like a low flying truck... right thru the windscreen... hence the perceived need for 'roo bars'...

I remember a series of cartoon jokes (may have even been T-shirts) years ago... one of them had a big red staring down a triple ganger road train with the caption "Roo-Ted"...

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 16 Jul 08 - 08:22 AM

Hardly surprising the marsupial wolf died out...

PS, do not take lightly what is said above about koala claws...

Oh, and part of th fun with kangaroos is that a big red can hit you head high (they can easily go higher than that, but sometimes they don't want to) doing well over 30 mph.

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Jul 08 - 04:13 AM

Whereas kangaroos used to be used in sideshows as 'boxers' - based on their natural ability to push their paws in your face, grab your shirt, stand on their tail, then rip your stomach out with their hind legs - useful behaviour to discourage other male roos away from their females...

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: Rowan
Date: 16 Jul 08 - 12:31 AM

Wombats are the animal kingdom's answer to a bulldozer. I've mentioned before on a Mudcat thread the two occurrrences I've witnessed where a wombat and a vehicle had an exchange of courtesies.

The landrover had to be jacked up to release the wombat from under the diff; it ran off as soon as the vehicle's weight was lifted but the diff was cracked. The VW Karman Ghia had the right side front wheel assembly pushed back about 2" although, again, the wombat ran off.

JennieG's comment about them making poor pets is only mostly true. In NSW the equivalent to Queensland's Australian Wildlife Hospital is WIRES (Wildlife Information and REscue Service) and is composed of groups of volunteers all around the state. Many marsupials come into care as orphans still in the pouch and are raised to adulthood and released into the wild. Orphan wombats are really affectionate as youngsters but, as adolescents, their affectionate behaviour includes biting their mates on the bum. A wombat's bum has rather tough and thick skin and tolerates such affection rather well but your average human leg is more sensitive and fragile so, at this stage, wombats in care are transferred very much to the outdoors. Where their liking for burrowing and bulldozer abilities don't endear themselves to the average householder.

Koalas, on the other hand, will only piss on you when you pick them up and hang on to you with fingernails that are designed to grip onto smooth and tough manna gum (Euclayptus viminalis) trunks and similar.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 11:08 PM

The worst thing you could do (for your car) would be to hit one in the head...

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: frogprince
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 10:59 PM

No trouble believing that, Foolstroupe; I was going to ask about the common adult size of the beasties,(I've seen them in a zoo, but it's been a while), then just looked it up. I got approx 77 pounds. Run into, or over, anything of that weight and proportions at any speed, and the question in a given case would just be whether you would get more direct damage from the critter, or from losing control of the car.

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 10:36 PM

frogprince, see JennieG above - a wombat can write off a small car...

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: JennieG
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 09:07 PM

Gurney, 'Lucky' Grills is/was a TV personality here in Oz, on a show I have never seen, on a channel I don't watch.

And as for wombats (which are related to koalas - wombats stayed on the ground and koalas took to the trees yonks ago) don't tangle with a wombat. Some years ago my son Stephen The Drummer was travelling back to Sydney very late one night after a gig in Canberra, nearly three hours drive south, when he hit a wombat somewhere near Marulan. (for the non-Ozzies: Marulan is pronounced Mar - roo as in kangaroo - lan) Score: wombat one, Stephen's little blue car nil. $1500 damage to the underneath bits.

I admire wombats and would very much like to have one. But they don't make good pets.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 08:56 PM

Well, I still like a story with a happy ending.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: Gurney
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 08:53 PM

So THAT'S why the hit-team of gorillas is slinking about.


Glad they're looking for Chong' and not me!

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 07:13 PM

I seen that happen to a gorilla once too. He tried to get in the way of my getaway car and stop me, so I gunned it. Bang! Stuck headfirst in the grill, just like the koala, and waving his arms and legs around like a ferris wheel on the rampage. The rad fan was beatin' on his bran pan...I could hear it distinctly. This ape made a hell of a lot of noise and commotion up there at the front, but he couldn't get loose at all as long as I kept the pedal down. We did a fast tour through about 20 city blocks, ran some red lights, and eventually wound up in back of this warehouse down by the river. He woulda probably survived the incident fine if not for the clip of .44 cal I unloaded into him when he finally got his head loose from the grill.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: Gurney
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 06:20 PM

Well, JustMe, next time try pushing Vick's Vapour Rub up your nose. You won't get so fat and it will smell/taste just the same.

Fast news, JohniK, it made the news in New Zealand just two hours ago. Must have gone the pretty way around.

The lady driving the car is reported to be distressed and immediately gave permission to cut apart the grille to release 'Lucky.'
Lucky?????

I once stopped a car with a siamese cat clinging to the roof. I've never seen such big eyes on a cat.

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: GUEST,Just me
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 05:36 PM

Wow! talk about reading the thread wrong!

I saw "Tough Koala" and thought, "That's gotta be wrong; I had
fried Koala last night and it wasn't tough at all!"

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: frogprince
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 10:03 AM

"take out a diff" ?? Okay, my blind guess is that that means the driver has run over one and trashed his differential.(The differential on the driver's car, that is) Am I correct?

   Do they ever bust a "steer" (component of the steering linkage?)
   
   Or do something totally "rad" to a vehicle (destroy the radiator)?

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 10:00 AM

Bet the koala is sitting there thinking:

"Hey dude, that was some serious 'clyptus sh!t there man... gotta find me another one of them babies."

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: Mrrzy
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 09:50 AM

Anybody recall when this happened with a wheelchair dude, who was stuck to the grille of a truck going 60 mph down the highway, after being struck by a truck? Same question about how you flag someone like that down...

Subject: RE: BS: Tough Koala
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 14 Jul 08 - 11:50 PM

If you think the koalas are tough, don't annoy the kangaroos.


...and especially the wombats! They have been known to take out a diff, and still keep after you - they can burrow thru concrete...



Oh, and if anybody yells "Drop-bears!" .... Run...

Subject: BS: Tough Koala
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 14 Jul 08 - 11:19 PM

Koala survives 60-mph hit, 7 miles in grille

Marsupial bounces back from shock after he's cut from front of vehicle
Reuters
updated 9:05 p.m. CT, Mon., July. 14, 2008

CANBERRA, Australia - A koala that cheated death after being hit by a car at about 60 mph and dragged with his head jammed through the vehicle grille for about 7 miles is being dubbed Australia's luckiest marsupial.

The eight-year-old male koala, named "Ely 'Lucky' Grills" by rescuers, was struck by an unwitting motorist north of Brisbane and found only when the car stopped after being flagged down by another vehicle.

"To have him survive and virtually unscathed is quite miraculous," Australian Wildlife Hospital spokeswoman Carolyn Beaton told Reuters on Tuesday.

"Lucky" hung on during his ordeal with one arm and his trapped head, and was freed with household scissors used like a fireman's "jaws-of-life" to cut around the car's mesh grille with the horrified owner's permission, Beaton said.

"Whilst Lucky was in shock, he quickly recovered and was nearly better after a couple of hours rest and a feed," she said.

Lucky will stay at the hospital, set up by the late television wildlife and crocodile crusader Steve Irwin, for 45 days to recover from his experience and receive treatment for a chlamydial infection.

Copyright 2008 Reuters

OK: I put it in BS, but there's gotta be a song here.

Would you flag down and approaching motorist with a koala's a** sticking out of the front of his car?

Is "... and was nearly better after a couple of hours rest and a feed" an Aussie idiom?

Many questions leaving wide latitude for creative lyrics?

John