(CN) Koala defies odds by delivering twins

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Koala defies odds by delivering twins

(China Daily)

2006-10-31

 

A koala named Tao Tao gave birth to a pair of cubs in Guangzhou Xiangjiang

Safari Park over the weekend.

 

Local experts said the chance of a female koala delivering twins is less than

one in 1,000.

 

The park established a special task force that consists of experts and animal

doctors to help look after the two infant koalas, who are expected to be able to

see tourists in eight months.

 

The park currently has six koalas from Australia. They include three males and

three females that arrived in Guangzhou in late April. Guangzhou is the first

city to have koalas in China.

 

Southern Metropolis News

 

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-10/31/content_720637.htm

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Chimelong (Xiangjiang Safari Park)

 

http://www.chimelong.com/

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[Note: The following article/photos are about koalas in Australia]

 

Island's koala colony faces anti-baby dart

(China Daily)

2006-10-02

 

Scientists plan to unveil a new weapon in the battle against an overcrowded

koala colony.

 

Without predators such as dogs, life on Kangaroo Island off South Australia

state has proved too idyllic for the teddy bear-like marsupials' own good.

 

The tastiest species of eucalyptus on the island are now groaning under the

weight of an estimated 28,000 koalas that are chomping themselves out of habitat

at a rate of almost 500 grams of leaves each day during the few hours they spend

awake.

 

But scientists believe they will be able to curb the population explosion by

shooting the bears with a contraceptive dart as they rest in the treetops, a

researcher said yesterday.

 

University of New South Wales researcher Cathy Herbert said field testing was

already under way on the island of an experimental contraceptive device that is

implanted between the shoulder blades of female koalas and has proved 100

percent successful.

 

The implant is easily inserted under the skin without sedation in the same way

that a veterinarian implants a microchip in a domestic pet, she said.

 

It is expected to block reproduction for two years through the slow release of a

hormone, Gonadtrophin, which is commercially marketed as a contraceptive for

dogs.

 

But while implanting the device in dozy koalas in the field has proved simple,

coaxing them out of tree tops where they spend most of the day snoozing up to 30

meters above ground can take more than an hour, said Herbert.

 

" We're developing a system where a contraceptive implant can be darted into the

animal's thigh muscle every couple of years so you don't have to climb the

trees, which is quite intensive work, " she said. " The remote delivery system

should be ready sometime next year for trials in the field. "

 

At the moment researchers have to work with state government wildlife officers

who scale the trees using ropes and pulleys until they're high enough to wave

flags on long poles above the koalas' heads. The koalas usually slowly retreat

down the trees away from the flags and are easily bundled into bags when they

reach the ground.

 

" Where we're working on Kangaroo Island, the trees are really tall and you can

see the koalas way up in the tops blowing around in the wind, " Herbert said.

" It's quite amazing they go right to the tips even when it's really windy. "

 

Various research projects have received government funding over the past decade

in search of humane and cost-effective methods of reducing the overpopulation

crisis on one of Australia's largest islands.

 

Koalas did not exist on Kangaroo Island until the 1920s, when 18 were introduced

in a bid to create a protected haven after the species had been wiped out on the

state's mainland by fur hunters and tree clearing.

 

Any talk of culling Australia's cutest native animal has brought howls of

protest, and governments have ruled out that option.

 

Surgical sterilization and relocation have been tried, but the state government

regards these options as too expensive to offer large-scale solutions.

 

(China Daily 10/02/2006 page5)

 

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2006-10/02/content_700881.htm

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Photos of koalas in Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary:

October 30, 2006.

 

Australian scientists unveiled three test-tube koala joeys on Monday as part of

an artificial insemination programme to preserve the vulnerable mammal.

[Reuters]

 

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/photo/2006-10/30/content_720223.htm