Koala Gives Stinky Hugs!

Oh, that is a very strong smell. Here, smell the tip of my finger. That was the cheese it smelled. Upon arriving in Australia, I had my sights set on getting up close with some of the country's most iconic mammalian inhabitants. However, approaching mammals in the wild is incredibly difficult, as most species are very weary of human interaction. So encounters tend to be nothing more than a fleeting glimpse. The best solution for getting an up close and personal interaction is to work at a wildlife park where native animals are being rehabilitated or raised under the care of humans. So we reached out to the Billabong Sanctuary, an establishment that has been providing the public with a hands-on approach to learning about native species for over 35 years. Located just outside of Townsville, they are considered one of Queensland's premier ecotourism attractions, and their grounds are home to various Australian icons, including kangaroos, wombats, dingoes, and of course, the one and only koala. So if you are in the mood for an extreme dose of cute and cuddly, then this is definitely the episode for you. All right, Coyote, what do you have there? Well, it's about eight o'clock in the morning, and it is breakfast time. And today, I'm having breakfast with a koala. So I'm bringing this eucalyptus into its enclosure and see if we can get it to eat. You guys ready? Let's do it. Here we go. Now you can't eat this, can you? No, it's toxic for me, but it is perfect for Banjo. Hi, buddy, how are you? Who's Banjo? This is Banjo the koala. He is a big koala, too. All right, let's do this. You see this? We've got a couple of water troughs right here and on this side. And what I'm gonna do is place these branches of eucalyptus inside these little water troughs. Smells just like a cough drop. All right, looks like he's interested in these leaves. Mark, why don't you come around this side? Let me see. Koalas are very specialized because they only eat eucalyptus leaves. And there are hundreds of species of eucalyptus trees and they're very selective about the leaves that they will eat. Only a few varieties actually interest these animals. There's breakfast, it's right there. Look it, here's the good ones. And they really only eat the tips. Let's see. Whoa, you're sitting in the leaves. You're sitting on your breakfast, Banjo. Have a scratch. Ball of scratch. There you go. All right, I'm gonna take off my pack here. Okay, here we go. Starting to snack. Oh, it's the good stuff. Look at that. Wow. Pretty good, huh? And how much eucalyptus can this koala eat, Coyote? A lot. Now, they're primarily nocturnal. So during the day, they spend a lot of their time sleeping up in the trees. But as soon as it gets cool and dark out, they start to get active. Now, early in the morning like this, they will also eat. They'll spend the majority of their day sleeping, up to 18 hours a day sleeping. And the rest of the time, they're pretty much just feasting. And they can eat about a kilogram of leaves every single day. And they like these younger tips of the leaves. You see these softer, juicier leaves. And they absorb most of their moisture from the food that they eat. So it's their food and their water. Food and water at the same time. I mean, they're an arboreal species, so primarily they're staying up in the treetops. So they get down on the ground, they stand the chance of running into potential predators like dingoes. Now, up in the trees, you maybe think it's just, well, what could get up in a tree and eat something like a koala? Obviously, a bird of prey like an eagle or a very large hawk. But for the most part, they stay pretty tucked down when they're sleeping. They stay camouflaged up against the trunk of a tree. They're gonna be just fine. Oh, and can you see that? Look, you can kinda see those front teeth there. Similar to the teeth of a wombat. Very rodent looking. Now, they are related to wombats. As we know, they are marsupials. Now, most marsupials have pouches. However, Banjo is a male. The males do not have pouches. But the females, when they have a baby, it's called a joey, right? And the joey is tiny. Only the size of a jelly bean when it's born. It has no fur, no ears, and it's completely blind. Now, it will stay in the mother's pouch for around five to six months. Once it develops enough, then it will crawl out from the pouch and just hang onto the mother's back and sort of stick with it until it's big enough to head out on its own. All right, Mark, check this out. This is really cool. Go ahead and zoom in right through these leaves. You see that yellowish mark right there in the center of that cream colored chest? Is that dirt? No, that is actually the koala's scent gland. It secretes a very strong musk. And Banjo, I'm just gonna touch your little scent gland there if you don't mind. Let me see. Oh, that is a very strong smell. I read that koalas smell somewhere between a real strong musk and eucalyptus. So what I did wanna do is I wanna smell the koala. Let me see here. Oh, yeah, very strong smell. I would say somewhere between a muddy, grimy, wet dog and a really old cough drop. And here, smell the tip of my finger. Yeah, that is some strong musk. But to a female koala, that must smell excellent. Well, it looks like Banjo has had a fair share of eucalyptus leaves. I think you guys all want me to get a more up-close look, right? You gonna hold a koala? I'm gonna hold a koala. Here we go. All right, now, what I need to do, hey Banjo, let's do this. I'm gonna get in real close. And he's gonna just kinda put his hand up there. I wanna support his backside. Just go like that. There we go, buddy. Hop on down. Whoa, there we go. Just like cradling a baby, only much softer. Hi Banjo. That's what we call the koala cuddle right there. Wow, so dense. Oh my gosh, the fur is incredible. You don't really realize it until it's actually on you. It's almost like a lamb. I know, right? Like a lamb's wool, koala's wool, very, very dense. And a lot of animals, you think about having these coarse outer guard hairs, and he's just dense and brillowy all throughout. Oh my gosh, you are just so cute. I'm trying to talk rather quiet next to his ears. Look at the ears. Kinda reminds me of Gizmo from Gremlins with those big ears. And they do have excellent hearing. Look how they can kind of individually move each one of those ears too. Oh my gosh, you're so cute. There you go. I think it's really neat how they have those vertical pupils too. Go ahead and zoom in on the eyes there. So calm, so kind. There's a koala hug. Oh, I can, oh, I can smell his scent gland. And it's kind of pressed up against my chest there, so I think I'm probably gonna smell like a koala for the rest of the day, which would attract in some female koalas, but when it comes to everybody else being around me, sorry guys, I may have to ride in the back of the truck on the way home. Oh my gosh, look at that big nose. Looks like he's gonna sleep. Well, he did have that big breakfast of eucalyptus leaves. Was it almost nap time, what do you think? He's doing like this. Let me see, can you see how his claws are just hooked onto my shoulder there? Oh yeah. Those are some serious claws, right? Can you feel those claws? Yeah, I can feel them holding onto me. I mean, they aren't like piercing through my shirt or anything like that, but I am just trying to make calm movements. I don't want to startle him in any way whatsoever. He seems just very content to hang out on me. It's good, huh? All right, well, I think Banjo is pretty comfortable with me at this point, so let's crouch down and get into a slightly more comfortable position. There we go. Oh, what a big cuddler. I think we can all agree that the koala is arguably the most adorable animal that we've seen so far here in Australia, but a lot of times people often think that these are bears because of the term koala bear, but the koala bear, in fact, is not related to bears at all, and as we know, it is a marsupial, which means, of course, that they have a pouch. Now, notice how quiet Banjo is, right? You're thinking to yourself, well, koala is like the most stealthy, silent creature you've ever held onto, Coyote, but believe it or not, koalas are capable of making some incredible sounds, especially the males. They can do this large, guttural bellow, this sort of, rrrr, rrrr, rrrr, rrrr, rrrr, rrrr, rrrr, rrrr, rrrr, rrrr. Sounds kind of like a holler monkey if I were to compare it to something, and that's sort of a territorial dominance thing. It also can draw in the females, basically saying, I am the king of this eucalyptus tree. Is Banjo going to sleep? No, he's still awake. On this side, and he's got one eye closed. He's taking a little koala cat nap. Banjo wasn't very impressed by your koala cat. No, I guess my bellow wasn't quite enough. Get your ear this way. Here we go. Hey, guys, wanna know a fact that's pretty interesting, but also kind of gross? I have a feeling you're gonna tell us anyway. Ah, I am going to tell you. I don't know if you guys wanna hear this one, but we know that adult koalas eat eucalyptus leaves, and the microorganisms in their digestive tract help break down those leaves and allow them to deal with the toxins. However, the babies are not capable of eating leaves yet, so what they have to do is eat their mother's poop. Oh, why is that? Now, the reason they do that is that the bacteria that's transferred from the poop into the babies helps coat the inside of their digestive tracts so that they are then capable of eating those leaves and breaking them down. How would you like that? To start out by eating your mom's poop before you actually got a full nourishing meal. Pretty gross, right? Oh! All right, guys, so I don't think you can visit Australia without getting the chance to see one of these iconic animals, and getting the chance to hold one is absolutely amazing. Now, I feel bad, because I've been snuggling Banjo this entire time. You guys have been behind the cameras kind of saying to yourselves, oh my gosh, it's so adorable, but would you like to hold a koala? I wanna hold a koala. Mario? Absolutely. You wanna hold? You wanna hold Banjo? All right, Mario, how about you go first? Okay. Transfer him in. Whoa! Now you're gonna smell like a koala. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, I do. I smell like a koala. All right, I'm gonna get out this camera so I can get some shots of this. Mario, you're doing it. What do you think? So my first thought is it's solid, and it kind of feels like I'm holding a baby. You know? You kind of just have to be like very gentle and slow with your movements. Oh! Watch your face. Some sharp claws. Maybe he likes your hat. Yeah, he's like, give me that hat. Here we go. It's a little tight. Oh, oh. There you go, buddy. Whoa! Heavier than you think, right? Oh my goodness. Hi. How are you? When I was a kid, I'm sure you did too, we ate those treats, koala yummies, you remember those? Oh yeah, I remember koala yummies. And I remember when I was a kid thinking, like I wonder if I'll ever get to actually hold a real koala bear. And this is that moment. I smell like Cheez-Its. You know, like the cheddar snacks? Really? I think maybe it's his like musk gland or something. Yeah. It's kind of a cheesy, pungent smell, but totally worth it. Totally worth getting to hold a koala bear. You can definitely feel those claws, guys. Oh, that's what it was. That was the Cheez-It smell. You were the musk gland. The musk gland. Well, I don't think anyone would argue with me if I said that the koala was unquestionably the most adorable animal that we have seen here in Australia. I'm Coyote Peterson. Be brave. Stay wild. We'll see you on the next adventure. All right, let's get Banjo back up into his roost. The marsupials of Australia are some of the most unique creatures on our planet. And getting the chance to work alongside several of them, including Blossom the brushtail possum, Wanda the wombat, and Banjo the koala, really opened my eyes as to how diverse our planet truly is. If you ever have the chance to visit Australia and happen to find yourself near Townsville, definitely take a day to visit the Billabong Sanctuary, where you can see all the fantastic residents that we feature on the Brave Wilderness channel. Still in the mood for cute, but maybe not so much the cuddly? If so, make sure to go back and watch the episode where I got a handful of spikes from the adorably bizarre echidna. And don't forget, subscribe so you can join me and the crew on this season of Breaking Trail.