Feeding a Koala

Here's me feeding the wee koala (a boy named Siren Gem) I posted about recently:


You can see him leaning towards me anxiously while I'm refilling the syringe...he absolutely loves the formula and is so greedy! When I fed him again later that day, he was so greedy he kept grabbing the syringe. He wound up scratching me when he did that, so I just let go of the syringe each time he grabbed it. He'd then hold the syringe in his mouth, sucking on it and not understanding why no formula was coming out. Cute! You can also notice in the video that I only release a little amount of formula at a time. (It takes a while to give him all 50ml!) He's only wee, and he'd make a mess if he took too much formula in too quickly (or, worse, he could choke on it). Try telling him that, though! It's why he kept grabbing the syringe!

Another cute koala moment happened recently. I was feeding Kempsey Carolina, a much older koala. She's one of the hospital's few permanent residents because she's missing one eye and is blind in the eye she has. She uses her sense of smell to make up for the lack of vision. (Whenever I go into her enclosure, I approach her gently and let her sniff my hat so she's aware someone is in there.) I was feeding her, and suddenly she lost interest in the formula (unusual for her). She let go of the syringe and started sniffing my hand delicately (very ladylike!). She then sniffed her way along my wrist and arm up to my elbow, then was sniffing her way back down my arm when she decided to take a wee nibble above my wrist! She didn't hurt me at all, but I automatically took my arm away. I reckon she fancies my sunblock, but Iff thinks she smelled leaves on me from when I was putting new food in for koalas that morning! Who knows, but it was so cute to feel her smooth nose on my arm and then the gentle nibble! Too cute!!!