Tom Gudden, age 9, of Omaha, Neb., for his question:
What is a koala?
The koala proves that Mother Nature still makes the models for the best toys. He looks like the live model for the cuddly Teddy Bear, once the favorite of the Cocoa Crowd. Actually, the koala was not the model for this comforting toy. The Teddy Bear was copied from a real bear cub some time, before koalas became known to the public.
President Theodore Roosevelt had a deep understanding of Mother Nature and of how important it is for us to live in partnership with the old lady. He was a great conservationist. The newspapers, of course, reported this and often made cartoons to point up his theories. One such cartoon showed President Teddy protecting a cuddly bear cub. Everybody, including the children, wanted to pet that cub. So a toy manufacturer obliged with the famous toy and, with the President’s permission, named it the Teddy Bear.
The koala is a native of Australia and he is no relation whatever to the bear. He is a marsupial, a pouched animal, toy cousin of the big kangaroo. Full grown, he is three feet long and weighs maybe 30 pounds. His soft, silky coat was made for you to cuddle and his clinging arms were made to cuddle you back. He has a big, sooty black nose and a pair of floppy ears. His little eyes are very bright and his sleepy little face wears a constantly puzzled expression.
The koala’s character is just as charming as his furry body. He is gentle, affectionate and always ready to make friends. Surely Nature made the koala to be the perfect living toy for all the children in the world. This may be so. But it seems that old Mother Nature did not trust us with her darling. For the koala is a fragile little creature. He rarely survives outside of Australia and he very often perishes when taken from the grove of eucalyptus trees in which he was born.
As we would expect, the gentle creature is a vegetarian. He feeds on leaves of the eucalyptus and the blue gum. Only curtain leaves will do and only the koala knows which leaves to choose. Only Mama Koala gets to enjoy a real live Teddy Bear of her own. And she enjoys her living toy baby for as long as possible.
The koala is always an only child. At birth, Junior is as wide as a pencil and about one inch long. He goes at once into Mama's pouch. There he feeds and grows for about six months. By then he has hid fur coat and his bright eyes are wide open, ready to see the world. The young fellow comes out and climbs onto Mamas back. He may cling there until he has grown almost as big as his mother.
Papa Koala does not bother much with the baby, but the mothers in the tribe take an interest in each others children. Sometimes one mother will mind her neighbor’s baby. And, most unusual in the Animal Kingdom, a mother koala will sometimes fend her neighbor’s youngster. The youngsters feed on mothers milk until they are six months old. They sometimes swap mothers for a meal. After dinner each returns to the furry comfort of his own mama.