koala

We're calling it the greatest Christmas gift ever! One lucky family in Australia had quite the unexpected visitor this holiday season, all thanks to one unusually large and furry ornament hanging from their Christmas tree - a real-life koala! 

The McCormick family discovered the koala tangled in the lights and the plastic branches of the tree last Wednesday, Amanda McCormick shared in a Facebook post, "Well that's something you don't see every day... we just came home to a real-life koala up our Xmas tree in our lounge room!"

McCormick told The Guardian how she believes the koala found its way into their home and tree, "must have crawled in when the doors were open. It would have been in our house for at least three hours." 

So, what do you do when you happen to find a koala in your Christmas tree? The family called the local Adelaide and Hills Koala Rescue, and when the rescue first heard their story, they thought it was a prank call. Adelaide and Hills Koala Rescue wrote on Instagram, "But no, a koala desperate to get in the Christmas spirit had wandered into Amanda McCormick's house and decided it wanted to be the fairy on the Christmas tree. Tis the season to be jolly... Koalalalala Lalalala."

And this past Friday, McCormick's daughter shared a video of the koala on TikTok which has since gone viral because let's face it -- a koala in your Christmas tree is pretty darn special! 

Story via The Guardian

It's your necessary daily prescription of tiny animal cuteness, this time starring the softest, most adorable, one of the only animals in Australia who don't want to eat you (unless you scare them)... the koala! A harmless, eucalyptus-eating fluffball that every animal lover wants to experience holding at least once in their life - just to be fully certain that they are indeed as soft as they look. 

We have yet to make that confirmation ourselves, so we have to sustain ourselves and our endless curiosity by simply looking at pictures of the soft-looking creatures. And since we know that there is nothing cuter than baby animals, and there is (almost) nothing as soft looking as koalas, we put the two of them together and created the biggest adorableness explosion yet, with tiny baby koalas. 

Everyone's favorite animal calendar is back! And this time, we're getting a whole six of them - hunky firefighters posing with some adorable animals for charity - cats, dogs, koalas, and kangaroos. What more could we possibly ask for? This is exactly the kind of lighthearted and wholesome content we need to brighten up this year and the next one - handsome men with even more handsome animals. 

Check out some of the pictures below!

There are certain pictures that, when you look at, you feel absolutely speechless. Those pictures, a lot of times, are the most incredible ones. They make you think, they make you wonder about all the details that led to that weird, funny, beautiful, or simply wholesome moment. And words, even 1000 words, are not enough to describe them.

Those kinds of pictures are some of our favorites because they truly get our imagination running. So, every single week, we bring you a new collection of pictures like that in the hope that they inspire you as much as they inspire us, that they give you the creative energy that we all thrive on. 

Fun tip for this week's list: not everything that is a leaf is a leaf. 

Be still our tender hearts! There is absolutely nothing more precious than when two different animal species become best friends! 

During the COVID-19 lockdown at the Australian Wildlife Park, a koala named, Elsa, and a wombat named, Hope, shared an enclosure together. 

It was during that time that they two struck up the most adorable friendship. They're now being called, "lockdown BFFs." The two marsupials were hand raised by the keepers at the Australia Reptile Park, wombats are actually the closest relative species to the koala, so their keepers figured it would be a friendship match in heaven... they were right. 

Now that the park has re-opened, the keepers are making sure that the two are able to see each other every day! 

Congratulations to the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, New South Wales, and to the mother, Rosie!

A ray of hope is lit in the land down under as Ash, the first koala to be born months after the devastating bushfires that gripped the continent. Up to 85% of the koala population was wiped out between November 2019 and February 2020. 

Australian Reptile Park Zookeeper, Dan Rumsey told BuzzFeed News, "Ash represents the start of what we're hoping to be another successful breeding season. It was such an incredible moment when we saw Ash poke her head out of her mum's pouch for the first time!"

And while it is the first time the world (and zookeepers) have seen the baby, Ash is already 5 months old. 

"Ash is estimated to be 5 months old and is right on track to be emerging from the pouch for the first time. Her mother Rosie has shown exemplary parenting skills and we know that Ash is in good paws," Rumsey added.

The park is said to reopen on June 1st and just in time for visitors to see the ray of hope themselves! 

In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak and in perfect timing in case you needed reminding of the good in the world, comes this good news from Australia. 

Following the devastating bushfires of the 2019-2020 "Black Summer", during which more than 12.6 million hectares of land were scorched, 33 lives were lost and more than 1 billion were animals killed in the blazes, the positive headlines are focusing on the Koalas.     

One of the areas that were hit the hardest was the koala habitats in the mid-north coast region of NSW. According to Federal Environment Minister, Sussan Ley, up to 30% of koalas in this region were killed during the bushfires and many more were hospitalized.

Now, five months on, the endangered critters are finally returning home. 

26 koalas will be released over the next few days, with habitats having recovered much earlier than expected due to significant rainfall in the mid-north coast area.

The brand new "Bushfire Heroes" figure was created for two major reasons- honoring those heroic firefighters fighting against the devastating bushfires in Australia but also as part of a fundraiser campaign. Pre-orders for the figurine are now open, with delivery expected in June. What a cute figurine and an awesome initiative! 

Owen Colley is a six-year-old boy from Massachusetts who, according to his parents: "Was upset by the Australian bushfires so we wanted to provide an outlet for him to feel like he could do something to help. He's a huge animal lover and has been making clay characters for a while so together we thought out the clay koalas and offered it to friends and family as a "thank you" for donations for bushfire affected animals. Then his gran shared it with the local paper, so here we are...

Owen and his parents created a page on GoFundMe called "Owen's Australian Creature Rescue" through which they have raised more than 277,000$ so far. 

Well done, Owen!

Meet the goodest boy we know of right now -- Bear! 

Bear is a koala detection dog. That is his job. And since the fires started raging in Australia this past September, Bear has been hard at work scouring the Earth for koalas. 

Bear is a blue-eyed border collie/koolie mix who works with the University of Sunshine Coast (USC) Detection Dogs for Conservation. Bears job is to sniff out sick, orphaned and injured koalas across New South Wales and Queensland (both of which had taken on the fires rampage the hardest). 

According to the USC site, Bear was rescued from a shelter and has an endless supply of energy, an obsessive nature, and is completely uninterested in humans -- which turns out doesn't make for a great pet, but they're the exact qualities he needs to locate and track koalas. (Sometimes he looks for other marsupials, like the endangered Northern quoll.) 

USC Detection Dogs for Conservation Senior Research Dr. Celine Frere said in a news release, "Bear is highly focused and brilliant at focusing on one thing – his ball which is his reward, which makes him perfectly suited for the job. He also has zero prey drive which is essential for a wildlife detection dog as they need to focus purely on the scent and not the animal, ultimately ignoring the animal."

Bear was trained by USC academic and also works in partnership with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

Story via Mother Nature Network

 A water tanker driver in the fires zone in Australia got an unexpected cab mate who he called: "Ray of sunshine after nightmare"

Story via: Sydney Morning Herald

Here are some of the cutest koala memes that ever roamed the earth.