Australia is home to a host of weird and wonderful creatures, including the iconic kangaroo, the duck-billed platypus, and the spiky echidna.
But few animals inspire such passion from tourists as the cute and cuddly koala.
They might look like real-life teddies, but koalas aren’t actually bears at all. Instead they are marsupials, just like kangaroos, wallabies, and Australian possums. While they live all along Australia’s east coast, from the tip of Queensland to the bottom of Victoria, few tourists will ever spot one in the wild. Koalas are nocturnal creatures, so they sleep high in the tree tops during the day and become active only after night falls. So the best way for tourists to see a koala is to visit one of Australia’s nature parks and zoos.
The Koala Park Sanctuary in Sydney’s western suburbs was established in the 1920s to protect koalas from the lucrative fur trade of the time. While koalas are now protected, the park’s work is still vital to the survival of this endangered animal. The park’s rainforest, eucalyptus trees, and native gardens look to mimic the koalas natural habitats, allowing visitors to observe these creatures behaving as they would in the wild. Guests can cuddle, pat, and get their photo taken with the koalas at the park’s feeding sessions, which happen four times a day.
Australia's cutest resident, the koala
On the other side of Australia there’s the Cohunu Wildlife Park, located 40 minutes from Western Australia’s capital city, Perth. When the park opened in 1982 there were just four koalas. Today there are more than 25, and with an average of four joeys born each year the population continues to grow. Visitors can cuddle a koala and get a souvenir photo taken to show their friends. All proceeds from the photos go back into the park’s koala research program.
While Steve Irwin was more famous for wrestling crocs than cuddling koalas, his Australian Zoo in Beerwah, Queensland has more than 20 of the cute creatures. With names like Chanel, Alexia, and Mishka, you can bet these are some pampered koalas! At the zoo’s daily koala show, visitors can learn all about the way these creatures live in the wild and the ones that make the zoo home.
