The Tale of the Hungry Koala

Tumble Science Podcast for Kids

Tumble Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 October 2019

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How does a koala eat eucalyptus leaves? Eucalyptus is toxic to most animals, but they’re a koala’s only food. In this episode, we look past the cuddliness to discover how koalas manage to chow down on the Australian tree species. Biologist Michaela Blyton shares the story of how she convinced some extremely picky koalas to try new foods in the midst of a conservation crisis. Spoiler alert: It involves starting a koala hotel, and inventing a pill with an unusual ingredient. Today’s episode is a longer one, in celebration of our first day back from a long break! But don’t worry, our next episodes will be back to our usual time. For more resources about koalas and the conservation crisis at Cape Otway, visit our blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com Want to hear more of our interview with Dr. Michaela Blyton? We have an exclusive interview episode for our Patrons! Just pledge $1/month (or more) on patreon.com/tumblepodcast. You’ll get these special bonus episodes for every interview we feature this season!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Lindsay.
0:03.5	Hi, Marshall.
0:04.4	Welcome to Tumble, the show where we explore stories of science discovery.
0:08.0	Today, we're talking koalas.
0:10.6	We're looking past the cutlinus to discover how they eat a food that's toxic to most animals.
0:17.2	Wait, koala food is toxic?
0:19.7	It is!
0:21.2	So today, we're going to hear the story of some very picky koalas,
0:25.8	and the scientists who came up with a weird way to get them to try new foods.
0:34.1	Tumble is brought to you with support from Spotify for podcasters.
0:37.4	Do you want to make a podcast but don't know where to start?
0:40.2	Spotify for podcasters has got you covered.
0:42.8	They have all the tools all included in one great platform
0:46.4	with an interface so easy to learn that fourth graders can get started
0:49.6	making their own show in only a matter of minutes.
0:53.0	Not only can you get recording, but you can also edit your show,
0:56.5	add music, and even publish to Spotify.
0:59.3	Get started by going to Spotify.com slash podcasters
1:02.7	or downloading the Spotify for podcasters app.
1:07.5	So, most people think of koalas as one of the most legitimately adorable creatures on the planet.
1:15.0	But I talk to a scientist who sees them quite differently.
1:19.1	They're basically just a big bag of guts.
	...

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