Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Koala at Lone Pine
Originally uploaded by chazjac

April 30
Brisbane
Sunny and Mild

So much has changed in Brisbane sine I was last here in 2006. There had been a construction project that seemed never-ending, spanning several of our visits, by the river between the Queen St. Mall and the Victoria Bridge, across from the casino. It's all finished now, yet another high-rise structure along the Brisbane River. But they do have a very nice plaza complementing the Mall across George St.

On the other hand, some things have not changed. Every year I have been here, there is an African fellow playing a set of steel drums outside the casino. I did not think street musicians would stay at it that long, but he does appears to make very good money at it. Maybe he catches a lot of folks leaving the casino who have just won big and are feeling generous, although I have listened to him and think he's quite talented.

One thing that has changed is the location from which we board the Mirimar Cruise that takes us to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. In the past, we would board on the north side of the river, but the captain e-mailed me before we left with the news that we must go to the south side, nearby the State Library. I learned yesterday that there had been plans to build up the North Quay, the former location of the dock for the Mirimar and several other tour boats, with a large entertainment complex that would jut out about 1/3 of the way into the river. So, the boat docks were closed and the Mirimar found another mooring place. Needless to say, the plans for the entertainment complex were scrapped, once people pointed out to the city planning board that restricting the river by that much would have serious consequences and increase the risk of upstream flooding. But the docks are still gone.

We boarded the boat and started up the river under a cloudless sky. The cruise is only slightly different now from the past. The Brisbane River still meanders about, creating long fingers of land and islands about which the river winds. The flying fox colony on Indooroopily Island has dwindled as it often does this late in the season, with the fruit bats often heading north for better pickings. One year, there were none at all when we went on the cruise. This year, there were only about 1/5 as many as we've seen in peak years. The cruise has a pre-recorded guide, who pointed out that the flying foxes can now transmit a deadly fever to humans if they scratch. Coming into contact with them seems very unlikely, though.

One notable change this year was the absence of a former eyesore along the river. There had been a large old coal-fired power plant, long since abandoned, that had been sitting unused and decaying for nearly a quarter-century. No one wanted to demolish it because of the heavy use of asbestos in it construction, so it just sat. But sometime after 2006, it was knocked down, and construction on a tennis complex has commenced. It will be interesting to see what it looks like in a few years.

Since the Brisbane river is a tidal river, the trip to Lone Pine will vary in the time it takes; when the current is against the boat, it can take up to an hour and a half. Today, though, the tide was with us, and we arrived in about 75 minutes. That was nice, as it takes a little while to do the paperwork so that we can enter.

We began the visit with a BBQ lunch, the first of several we will have during the trip. It's a nice feature of many of the tourist attractions over here, and allows us more time to enjoy whatever the spot has to offer.

After lunch, many of the students went to the 'koala cuddling' area, where for a fee they could hold a koala for a moment. My colleague took several photos of the students doing this, and will probably post some of them on the course site.

The koala show illustrates the koala life cycle, the threats to the koala, and some of the work that Lone Pine is doing to help the koala survive. The koala is a marsupial -- it is not a bear! -- and thus gives birth to a highly immature cub with the appearance and size of a jellybean. This cub must crawl on the mother's fur from her cloaca to her pouch, where it attaches to a teat for some weeks before emerging as a cub recognizable as a young koala. Too large for the pouch, the cub clings to the mother's back for a few more weeks until it is weaned. During this time, the koala cub must ingest a special type of feces that the mother excretes; this feces contains important bacteria that the koala's digestive tract must be inoculated with in order to digest eucalyptus leaves. After weaning, the cub begins foraging for itself and drifts away from its mum.

Koalas lead solitary lives except when mating. They forage for food about four hours a day and sleep the rest of the time, snuggled safe in the crotch of a eucalyptus tree, high overhead. Their fur helps them retain body heat that would otherwise be lost in the breeze. They have little body fat; their plump appearance is due to a very long intestinal tract necessary to extract as much as possible from the nutrient-poor leaves in their diet.

Koalas are always described a 'fussy eaters,' as they will consume only eucalyptus leaves, and only a few varieties at that. Depending on who is doing the speaking, I have heard that they consume only 8, or 25, or 50 varieties of the 700 or so types of eucalyptus in Australia. So, I don't know the number, and I guess the experts don't really, either, but it's small. They will rarely drink water, obtaining what they need from the leaves they consume most of the time.

That they are fussy eaters probably comes from the fact that they have a limited set of behaviors generally. The koala's brain is very small, and has no folding typically seen in other mammals. They are cute, but unfortunately not very bright.

Since they live high in the trees, what threatens the trees threatens them. Loss of habitat is the chief danger facing koalas today. Much of the eucalyptus on which they depend is being cut down as Australia's population and economy grows. Related to this is the issue of roadkill. Many koalas are killed by motorcars and trucks on the highways, as the koalas attempt to cross the road in search of food. Some of the highways in New South Wales and Queensland have specially constructed tunnels and koala-proof fencing as a means of keeping them off the roadways, but it's an incomplete measure at the moment.

Though they do live in the trees, they do come down to forage, and are thus exposed at times to predators: dingoes and other dogs, feral cats, and quolls. The very young and very old koalas are particularly vulnerable.

The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary acts as the koala's advocate in the legal system, and also educates Australians about the animals and the dangers facing them. But it also houses many other animals. They have exhibits on the wombat, the dingo, many birds, and a couple of crocodiles. They have an open feeding area where one can feed kangaroos and wallabies. There are even a couple of emus wandering in the enclosure. They have small animal demonstrations throughout the day, including a sheep dog show that's quite good.

For this visit, the students stayed at the sanctuary as long as they wanted, and took the city bus back to the hostel when they felt like leaving. We gave them each the bus fare to get back. Much less expensive for the course than hiring a coach or taking the boat back, and much more time for the students to enjoy the animals. And it's easy, since Lone Pine is a terminal of one of the bus routes.

Tomorrow is a free day. There's a botanical garden on this side of the river that I've never gotten to visit, so I'll be doing that. And then we're off camping.