By the way, this is from an interesting article about using an endangered species lottery to save rare Australian animals.
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More articles by PZ Myers can be found on Freethoughtblogs at the new Pharyngula!
Mary's Monday Metazoan: Koalas are such an easy draw
Category: Organisms
Posted on: December 7, 2009 9:01 AM, by PZ Myers
Find more posts in: 
Life Science
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TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/126577
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Comments
Posted by: Mick | December 7, 2009 9:09 AM
DROP BEARS!
*hides*
Posted by: Eyeoffaith | December 7, 2009 9:23 AM
Drop Bears are much better than Hugger Bugs and Bunyips.
Posted by: Heidi | December 7, 2009 9:23 AM
Drop bears are misunderstood. Like Stitch. /nod
Posted by: Daniel | December 7, 2009 9:38 AM
I want one.
Posted by: Ol'Greg | December 7, 2009 10:02 AM
hehe... at first as the page was loading I didn't realize there were two of them and I thought "Whoah! Lotta eyes!" but no, just a baby. Almost as scary.
Posted by: Cuttlefish, OM | December 7, 2009 10:03 AM
Excuse me, PZ, but I wonder--
Did you make an (excusable) blunder?
The photo you've found,
Is it shown upside-down?
Just like everything else in Down Under?
On the upside-down part of the earth
From Brisbane, to far western Perth,
All is head-under-heels,
Though to them it all feels
Like it's normal--they've felt it from birth.
Posted by: cedgray.wordpress.com
|
December 7, 2009 10:06 AM
I like the Lippo Centre in Hong Kong that's koala-inspired:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lippo_Centre,_Hong_Kong
Posted by: Silič O'Nopolitanopoulos, Färschdbischuf Beesknees aus Ulm und Klein Elguth, Elector Pharynguline.
|
December 7, 2009 10:28 AM
How do they taste?
Posted by: Anon | December 7, 2009 10:34 AM
Given the "you are what you eat" adage, I would imagine they taste like disagreeable cough drops.
Posted by: Comstock
|
December 7, 2009 10:41 AM
Yes, koalas are definitely a big draw, but they are not generally threatened. That may be the case in some areas of their range, but in many places they are quite secure, sometimes bordering on over-abundant. Follow the links to the official list of threatened species, and you'll find no koalas. Good PR they are, but we don't want to misrepresent the situation.
Posted by: Matt Penfold | December 7, 2009 10:46 AM
My brother did his Ph.D. working on a project to find the optimum size of eucalyptus woodland that would also allow for housing development.
Posted by: Glen Davidson | December 7, 2009 10:50 AM
Fuzzy, dumpy little things. Don't do much that's interesting, though.
Good thing is, they don't have to do much more than look like that to be cute.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
Posted by: Andyo
|
December 7, 2009 10:51 AM
There might be a few more koalas left if more people wanted one for breakfast.
Posted by: Matt Penfold | December 7, 2009 10:53 AM
I have a hypothesis that many of the koalas that are in popular tourist areas are in fact stuffed, and that every night workers go around with a cherry picker repositioning them so that repeat visitors do not catch on.
Posted by: littlejohn | December 7, 2009 11:17 AM
Given their size, I'm guessing .22 rimfire would do the trick. Very inexpensive hunting! And they just sit there. They'd sure as hell be endangered in America; we'd make hats and redneck car antenna decorations out of them.
Posted by: mothra | December 7, 2009 11:56 AM
Lottery in June, crop heavy soon.
Dumbass strategy to protect wildlife.
Posted by: IBY | December 7, 2009 1:04 PM
Yeah, let's save all the freaky Australian animals! ^_^
Posted by: amphiox | December 7, 2009 2:33 PM
Very nice to look at, but from rumors I have heard, not so nice to touch. . . .
Step. Away. From. The. Bear. Very. Slowly.
Posted by: woodsong
|
December 7, 2009 4:03 PM
Yes, from watching the Crocodile Hunter rescuing one, I'd say both their voice and their claws resemble a buzzsaw when they're frightened...
Posted by: Blondin | December 7, 2009 4:03 PM
Tha's one vicious rodent!
Posted by: Blondin | December 7, 2009 4:07 PM
I soiled my armour...
Posted by: wiley | December 7, 2009 4:41 PM
Failed Green candidate put forward a proposal to charge tourists to hunt koala: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/greens_candidate_lets_sell_tickets_for_a_koala_killing_party/Posted by: Gyeong Hwa Pak | December 7, 2009 5:55 PM
Drop bears?
Posted by: anon | December 7, 2009 6:04 PM
Excuse me, dear Cuttle, but you
Are the one with the inverted view,
Normality’s here
In the south hemisphere,
Not anywhere else, and that’s true.
I’m disappointed, I list
That my favourite Darwinist
(A rhymer and poet
Wouldn’t you know it!)
Is a hemisphere chauvinist.
Gyeong, drop bears are an Australian joke - yet another (this time mythical) beastie to frighten foreigners with. They drop out of the trees to devour gullible visitors. After all, death adders, brown snakes, redback spiders, trapdoor spiders, irukanji jellyfish and and the Portuguese man-of-war aren't enough.
Posted by: Gyeong Hwa Pak | December 7, 2009 6:10 PM
So they make a good video game enemy? Excellent. . .
Posted by: mxh | December 7, 2009 7:22 PM
Bah! I stay away from those Chlamydia-ridden things.
Posted by: Rakehell | December 7, 2009 7:38 PM
So kissing on on its adorable little nose would be a bad idea then?
Posted by: Silmarillion
|
December 7, 2009 8:38 PM
They've got a bad temper and nasty claws, but I still said "awwwwwwwww" when I saw the picture.
Posted by: Crudely Wrott | December 7, 2009 8:46 PM
They really aren't too bright and they are prone to emotional over reaction. Not that they aren't cute. They just don't know it and they'd probably be put off if they did.
Sort of like the IDists. You wouldn't want them in your home but you just can't resist the Lifelike Photos!
Posted by: echidna
|
December 7, 2009 11:55 PM
Blondin: Not a rodent. Marsupial, if you please.
Posted by: hje | December 8, 2009 12:50 AM
Marsupials scare me, .. because they're fast ... ; )
Posted by: Michael Kingsford Gray | December 8, 2009 3:52 AM
Koalas sound like loud asthmatic donkeys.
Seriously.
And they are in no way threatened.
On Kangaroo Island they have to be regularly culled.
There are so many on my sister's property in Adelaide that they keep one awake at night with their bizarre, (and VERY loud), braying/honking, as well as scrabbling over the tin roofs at times.
Posted by: wiley | December 8, 2009 5:05 AM
'they have to be regularly culled'
that would be 'good' anthropogenic culling, as opposed to 'bad' anthropogenic stuff.. CO2 for eg.
..just wondering, aloud...or not..
Posted by: Blondin | December 8, 2009 8:46 AM
You are wise, oh Tim.Posted by: Silič O'Nopolitanopoulos, Färschdbischuf Beesknees aus Ulm und Klein Elguth, Elector Pharynguline.
|
December 9, 2009 12:11 PM
anon,
I believe you mean
˙ʇs!u!ʌnɐႡɔ әɹәႡds!ɯәႡ ɐ s!
(iʇ! ʍouʞ noʎ ʇ’upႨnoʍ
ʇәod puɐ ɹәɯʎႡɹ ɐ)
ʇs!u!ʍɹɐp әʇ!ɹnoʌɐɟ ʎɯ ʇɐႡʇ
ʇs!Ⴈ ! 'pәʇu!oddɐs!p ɯ’!
˙әnɹʇ s’ʇɐႡʇ puɐ 'әsႨә әɹәႡʍʎuɐ ʇou
'әɹәႡds!ɯәႡ Ⴁʇnos әႡʇ u!
әɹәႡ s’ʎʇ!Ⴈɐɯɹou
'ʍә!ʌ pәʇɹәʌu! әႡʇ Ⴁʇ!ʍ әuo әႡʇ әɹɐ
noʎ ʇnq 'әႨʇʇnɔ ɹɐәp 'әɯ әsnɔxә
There. That's easier to read, innit?
And why shoot the damn buggers? I don't go around shooting apples. Just shake the damn trees.
Posted by: Silič O'Nopolitanopoulos, Färschdbischuf Beesknees aus Ulm und Klein Elguth, Elector Pharynguline.
|
December 9, 2009 12:15 PM
Bugger cocking wankbollocks shite!