Koala
by Tom Blodgett Jr
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Dimensions
20.000 x 14.000 inches
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Title
Koala
Artist
Tom Blodgett Jr
Medium
Painting - Watercolor
Description
Since Australia became its own land mass roughly 50 million years ago, evolution has created such creatures as the koala. Koalas are refined machines, able to extract the water they need from Eucalyptus leaves that are poisonous to others. Their stomachs are home to a special kind of bacteria that breaks down the toxins in the eucalyptus oil. Their low nutrient, high fiber diet is made possible by their slow metabolic rate. Through their feces, koalas provide vital nutrients to the eucalyptus trees and soil that supports them.
The Australian Koala Foundation estimates �that there are approximately 100,000 koalas in the wild. We can only compare this figure to the fact that in the 1920s approximately 3,000,000 koala skins went to market for the fur trade. There is conjecture that a further 7,000,000 koalas were shot, many of which rotted because the pelts had been damaged.�
University of Sydney researchers have also found evidence of the changing composition of the Eucalyptus leaves on which koalas depend. Higher carbon dioxide levels are reducing the levels of nutrients that are beneficial to the koalas while increasing the levels of toxic nutrients. The leaves are less nutritious now.
Roughly 80% of the Koala habitat has been lost to development and farming since the European settlers arrived. The distress of displacement has also lead to increased rates of disease.
Uploaded
December 10th, 2010
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