1/4: Koala: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future Hardcover – January 17, 2023 by Danielle Clode (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 29 July 2023
⏱️ 11 minutes
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1/4: Koala: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future Hardcover – January 17, 2023 by Danielle Clode (Author)
https://www.amazon.com/Koala-Natural-History-Uncertain-Future/dp/1324036834
Koalas regularly appeared in Australian biologist Danielle Clode’s backyard, but it was only when a bushfire threatened that she truly paid them attention. She soon realized how much she had to learn about these complex and mysterious animals.
In vivid, descriptive prose, Clode embarks on a delightful and surprising journey through evolutionary biology, natural history, and ecology to understand where these enigmatic animals came from and what their future may hold. She begins her search with the fossils of ancient giant koalas, delving into why the modern koala has become the lone survivor of a once-diverse family of uniquely Australian marsupials.
Koala investigates the remarkable physiology of these charismatic creatures. Born the size of tiny “jellybeans,” joeys face an uphill battle, from crawling into their mother’s pouch to being weaned onto a toxic diet of gum-tree leaves, the koalas’ single source of food.
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.
Deeply researched and filled with wonder, Koala is both a tender and inquisitive paean to a species unlike any other and a call to ensure its survival
Transcript
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| 0:20.0 | This is CBS Eye on the World with John Bachelor. Here's John Bachelor. |
| 0:32.0 | Koala, a natural history and an uncertain future. |
| 0:36.0 | A welcome Professor Daniel Claude, a biologist in South Australia, whose new book about koalas, |
| 0:44.0 | has answered questions not only about where they come from, they're not bears, they're marsupials, |
| 0:50.0 | where they come from, how long they've been adapting to the conditions of the Australian continent, |
| 0:57.0 | even back to the with time when it included other parts of the globe. |
| 1:02.0 | But also what they've faced here in the 21st century with climate change, with natural disaster, |
| 1:09.0 | and with people in their habitats. Professor, a very good evening to you. |
| 1:15.0 | Congratulations. It is wonderful to speak of the koala because all I ever knew was the advertising campaign back in the 20th century by the Australian Airlines. |
| 1:27.0 | So now that I've met the koala, I want to go right to a chapter you helped me understand what is very different about a koala. |
| 1:36.0 | This is a marsupial. We mammals, humans, monkeys, everybody or every mammal around me here in New England is a euthoreed. |
| 1:47.0 | A marsupial does things very differently. So let us begin with the mating process of marsupials, koala males and koala females. |
| 1:58.0 | It is springtime. September is your springtime in Australia. It is September. |
| 2:04.0 | And you hear bellowing all around you. What are you hearing Daniel? Good evening to you. |
| 2:09.0 | Good evening. Thank you for having me, John. It's lovely to be with you. |
| 2:13.0 | Yes, the bellowing of koala is a really distinctive sound and it confuses lots of people when they first hear it because it's not a hugely attractive sound. |
| 2:23.0 | It has to be said. But if you can, the best way I can describe it is to imagine the bellowing of the brain of a donkey. |
| 2:31.0 | So if you do it, if you make a donkey noise and you slow it right down, it's not too really slow. |
| 2:37.0 | And then only make it as deep as absolutely possible. That sounds like a koala bellowing from the tops of the trees. |
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