To create back-up populations of koalas in Europe away from their native Australia where they're now deemed vulnerable, five koalas landed in England last month and currently reside at Longleat Safari Park (https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-45831410).
The Australian Koala Foundation estimates that only 43,000 are left in the wild down-under which is a massive decrease from a population of 10 million at the turn of the 18th century, before European settlement (https://www.savethekoala.com/about-koalas/koala-endangered-or-not). So, we Europeans are now trying to make good and help stop them from becoming endangered. Step by step.
Did you know that 'koala' means 'no drink' in Aborigine culture as koalas get most of their moisture from the leaves they eat - mainly eucalyptus - so rarely drink water (https://koalainfo.com/koalas-and-their-aboriginal-names)? Incredible.
To welcome our new furry friends my best girl and I created this picture where she coloured in the London bus, as well as the koalas giving them high energy in shades of colour, and I added a bit of oil pastel. We hope the newly British Koalas enjoy the sunshine and rain of England, along with the unplanned scribbly wind that my two-year-old son did when I wasn't looking; but here's to a little artistic charm from my best little man too. He does, after all, love anything to do with buses.
If interested in finding out more, you might like to visit https://www.wwf.org.au/what-we-do/species/koala#gs.stGc3nU.
Please visit Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots https://www.rootsnshoots.org.uk for more info.
