Some regions outside of Australia have plenty of wild eucalyptus trees, including California, Uruguay, Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Could there be "feral koala" populations in these locations due to either inept zookeeping or eccentrics wishing to spread the species elsewhere? If not, why not? Feel free to use a Before 1900 point of divergence if you prefer, though I think a 20th century is more likely.
Silly AHC: Wild koalas outside of Australia
- Thread starter Herman Gigglethorpe
- Start date
SinghKing
Banned
Hey, why not. After all, Koala fur's supposed to be some of the softest and plushiest in the animal kingdom. Why not have some enterprising individuals in one or two of these regions attempting to ship the koalas over, and breeding them for the potentially lucrative koala ranches?
Wow, you may be on to something! Koalas were once hunted at the turn of the 20th century for their fur. . .
They don't exclusively eat leaves of these 30 trees; they just seem to prefer them, as far as I can tell. Still, eucalyptus tereticornis, one of the 30, is widespread outside of Australia. . .
Eucalyptus camaldulensis, another favorite of the koala, is a common plantation crop.
In the wild outside Australia koalas would be highly vulnerable to local predators. Every location listed above has native meat-eating mammals that would include koalas to their menu. Even Madagascar has fossas (and massive deforestation that is threatening nearly all of the remaining native lemur species with extinction). So it's hard. Perhaps a koala population could prosper on an island with suitable eucalyptus trees and without predators to threaten them.
There is (or used to be) a colony of feral Wallabies in Yorkshire/Derbyshire. They apparently cope with the cold weather pretty well.
Although it's from the Daily Mail, it's possible the wallabies in the Peak District are still alive
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...arsupials-hopped-oblivion--Peak-District.html
Koalas though would be unlikely to survive for long anywhere that there are moderate sized predators. But NZ is a possibility.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...arsupials-hopped-oblivion--Peak-District.html
Koalas though would be unlikely to survive for long anywhere that there are moderate sized predators. But NZ is a possibility.
There's plenty of Eucalyptus trees here, Koalas live in the Zoos quite happily and we have wild Wallabies on some islands. Predators only really include wild dogs, stoats and feral cats, pittance compared to Australia. I guess it depends on how well they cope in colder weather.
In the 1920's when koalas here still hunt for their fur, 18 koala where relocated to Kangaroo Island to help the species survive where there had previously been none. http://natgeotv.com.au/tv/koalas-of-kangaroo-island/koalas-of-kangaroo-island-teachers-notes.aspx There are now about 27 thousand there.
There is, or at any rate was, a feral population of the same wallabies here in Sussex (although not in the part of the county where I live) too... and even a population up in Scotland, on an island in Loch Lomond! I think that Ireland might have them, too.
Clearly the best option is Malayasia. Why, they'd only have to change one letter in the name of the capital.
Hence its description by one scientist I heard on radio of Kangaroo Island being the "Tenessee" of koalas; he even reckoned you could hear the banjos
."Clearly the best option is Malayasia. Why, they'd only have to change one letter in the name of the capital."
Thanks, I needed a smile. Merry christmas.
Thanks, I needed a smile. Merry christmas.
according Wikipedia
are natural big Eucalyptus forrest next to Australia:
on Papua New Guinea, the island group of Timor, the island of Sulawesi and Philippines island of Mindanao.
introduce Eucalyptus into area and now consider as invasive species
California and Hawaii in USA, Uruguay, Portogal, Spain, Greece, italy (the islands of Sardinia and Sicily)
All of this site the climate is good for a Koalas population
so someone could bring Koalas to have cute furr balls in the tree for tourist or some source for meat and Fur
on Predators so long they sit in a tree is not problem for it, only if move on ground between there problem...
...for that what try to attack a koala
contradictory on believing Koala are cute harmless creature, they use sharp claws to attack
there another thing that worry me some of species introduce to new habitat start become very aggressive and expand radical.
try to imagine highly aggressive Koalas attacking tourist and hikers...
are natural big Eucalyptus forrest next to Australia:
on Papua New Guinea, the island group of Timor, the island of Sulawesi and Philippines island of Mindanao.
introduce Eucalyptus into area and now consider as invasive species
California and Hawaii in USA, Uruguay, Portogal, Spain, Greece, italy (the islands of Sardinia and Sicily)
All of this site the climate is good for a Koalas population
so someone could bring Koalas to have cute furr balls in the tree for tourist or some source for meat and Fur
on Predators so long they sit in a tree is not problem for it, only if move on ground between there problem...
...for that what try to attack a koala
contradictory on believing Koala are cute harmless creature, they use sharp claws to attack
there another thing that worry me some of species introduce to new habitat start become very aggressive and expand radical.
try to imagine highly aggressive Koalas attacking tourist and hikers...
This could be an problem, but it is very possible that people who don't know much about koalas could be the ones who end up shipping them over. There is also not a huge amount of information and experience of koalas outside Australia Maybe somebody has some good luck, doesn't get attacked by them (by setting up traps for capturing them), and tries to sell them as pets? Similar bad decisions have been mad with animals in the past - and there are those who want lions and tigers as pets in OTL.