tollhousecookie

...koala bears are bumming water from cyclists. Found this on a blog this morning. I thought someone might get a kick out of it. I've never been approached by wild life seeking hydration but I guess there is always a first.

acaurora

Awww, how cute.

/waits for someone to comment "cyclist was giving water out to reduce weight"

tugrul

How long before they start throwing sticks between our spokes and grabbing our water when we are down?

ComesATime71

You'll know it's hot when they are giving polar bears water..

Bianchigirll 

I just hope that water is steroid free! last thing we need is Koalas going through "roid rage" LOL

HigherGround

If I remember correctly, that was taken during a period of extensive wildfires in Australia.

ComesATime71

I do recall seeing firemen giving bears water.

Machka 

Yes. This photo was taken in early February 2009 in South Australia. South Australia and Victoria were in a massive extended heatwave with temperatures reaching 45C during the for days on end. The weather last year was exceptional. On February 7, 2009 ... Victoria burst into flame with what ended up being the 5th worst fire in recorded history in the world. 173 people were killed, and more than 2000 people lost their homes ... including Rowan who narrowly escaped with his life.

I moved to Victoria last June, and we have all been greatly relieved that the weather has been MUCH cooler and wetter this year. By this point in 2009, this area of Victoria (and much of Victoria in general, and likely South Australia too) had only received about 12-14 mm of rain. This year, however, we've received 198 mm of rain ... A LOT more than last year. And our temperatures are signficantly cooler. We had a couple days in January where the temps hit about 40C, but February has been generally cool with temps in the 20-30C range.

Recovery here is a very slow process. One of my "usual" cycling routes takes me out to Marysville which was almost entirely destroyed by the fire. It was a really cute little town, but it just doesn't exist anymore. There is some attempt to rebuild, but government delays on permits have forced people to give up and move elsewhere.

sqharaway

Cyclist was giving water out to reduce weight... (I am shameless.)

rollin

See now that's just wrong, the bear will become reliant on cyclists, it's like throwing an apple core into a desert.



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HigherGround

Machka - Thank you for elaborating on that. Believe it or not, when I was making my original post, I almost added a comment about you probably being able to confirm or correct my original statement. I'm glad that Rowan is ok, and I wish everyone who was affected the best with their recovery.

rollin

That poor bear didn't make it

Machka 

Koalas aren't bears ... they are marsupials.

rollin

Thanks, I know.

Machka 

I've actually never even heard them called bears here ... they just call them koalas.

nahh

really? that's really interesting, here in the states it's definitely Koala Bear. We'll just add that to the list of things we have wrong.

SharpStone30888

Thanks Machka, being a biologist it really gets to me when people call them bears..... they just aren't!!!

Though if you pissed one off I guess it would act like a bear.

stevegor

...... just don't mention the killer bunyips to the Yanks, they'll probably come over here and try to catch one.

Singh

Awwwww (snap). That's awesome....speechless. Thanks for the share, seriously.

rollin

I'll try explaining that to my 3 year old niece

Machka 

Thanks ... slowly but surely things are returning to "normal".

Machka 

Even seeing the name "koala bear" in print looks really weird to me ... as does calling koalas "bears". When ComesATime71 said, "I do recall seeing firemen giving bears water." ... my first thought was "Bears? There are no bears in Australia." and it took a moment to realize that he/she meant koalas.


And as for the temperature ... it's actually cooling down now. According to the Australian calendar, tomorrow is the first day of autumn. On today's ride here in the area just north of Melbourne it was a cool, windy, cloudy 18C. And in the Adelaide area (where that photo was taken) it reached 23C today.

Trek89

HAHA that is so awesome. Im in Arizona down in the Phoenix Valley; it can reach 115 f here easy. I have never been lucky enough to hydrate the wildlife though