The Witness[_id]=19368

How clever koalas beat the heatwave
05 Feb 2009

SYDNEY - A family's snapshot of an orphaned baby koala taking refuge from Australia's heatwave in a bucket of water is charming people worldwide.

The tiny marsupial, dubbed Star, is vying in the celebrity stakes with another plucky koala photographed in South Australia that flagged down a bunch of cyclists and demanded a swig from their water bottles.

"Even though we had heard that native animals had been suffering in the heatwave conditions of the last week in Adelaide, it came as a surprise to be stopped ? by a thirsty young koala," reporter and cyclist Tim Noonan told ABC television.

"The koala uncharacteristically approached us, and it became clear by the manner in which he grabbed the water bottle and the enthusiastic way he gulped it down that his thirst was a priority," Noonan said.

Wildlife Service spokesman John Dengate said koalas usually get liquid from the gum leaves they eat, but the heat has dried the leaves up.

:bigsmile: