Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
In the end, it was not he Australian government who stopped the slaughter, but an American president. Hoover responded by prohibiting the importation of koala and wombat skins into the United States, and the trade eventually dried up. I have been reading this one off and on for a couple of months. Nonfiction is not my thing so I just read a chapter here and there but close to the end I did not want to put the book down. I have loved koalas all of my life so when I saw this book available on edelweiss I had to have it. This book starts millions of years ago so when it says a history, it means a history. Also, the author is a zoologist and that shows as well. There are so many technical terms and you learn every piece of the koala inside and out. SO many scientific facts! My poor husband as I read and told him so many facts about the koala. I learned so much! One day I will go to Australia and see a koala in the wild! But I do know that koalas, like all of us, need something to hold, whether it's a tree or the warmth of another body. I knew koalas weren't the cute, cuddly "bears" many of us think them to be. I've heard biologists says it's a miracle they aren't extinct given the near-perfect environmental conditions they need to survive.
Clode explores the complex relationship and unexpected connections between this endearing species and humans. She explains how koalas are simultaneously threatened with extinction in some areas due to disease, climate change, and increasing wildfires, while overpopulating forests in other parts of the country.
Why not also add these?
A gorgeous special edition celebrating 35 years of this Australian classic by the bestselling and much-loved author of Where is the Green Sheep? and Possum Magic .
The story of the koala has taken me into the distant past, across continent and cultures and through an incredibly wide range of knowledge systems: botany, ecology, Indigenous knowledge, evolution, palaeontology, anatomy, conservation biology, history, toxicology, psychology, veterinary and nutritional science, and animal behavior. Little koala has grown and now he must leave his mother and find his own way in the world. With a gentle push, he climbs away to find his next meal. He faces many dangers, a thundering male koala challenges him and pushes him off his tree and wild storms. Eucalyptus trees with burnt bark from a bushfire prove hard to climb and he must travel further away to find a new home. Scared by a poisonous snake hiding in the bushes he hops hurriedly away. Eventually he finds a perfect place for his new home.
About
The author trained as a scientist; in parts, the book reads like a report for a graduate course assignment. For the casual reader, some of the science gets pretty deep in the middle, and might keep you from making it through this book. I'd suggest you plow on as the last third of the book is the best.
Between sleeping and eating, koalas are “an almost entirely arboreal animal.” Why it’s highly unlikely to spot them in the wild. Perched high up in these trees, they find safety away from predators on the ground. When they do climb down its nightfall, when most people aren’t searching for them. Koalas are iconic symbols of Australia. Surprisingly, very little is known about them. Danielle Clode, an Australian zoologist/biologist, wants to change that. “It amazes me a creature this iconic and distinctive to Australia is so mysterious.” Her husband says, “Maybe there’s not much to know.” Her reply, Koala: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future,” vividly shows “there is just a lot more to koala than meets the eye.”
Books
The tree-dwelling koala is one of Australia's most iconic species, yet it is threatened by habitat loss. Danielle Clode, a natural storyteller, has written an insightful book that deepens our understanding of this fascinating animal and highlights the urgency of its survival.’—Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees
Great Deal 
New Comment