The koala, also called the Australian bear, is probably the world’s most loved wild animal. This is easy to understand, since it looks like a live teddy bear. It is also gentle and lovable and is sometimes raised as a household pet.
The koala is not a bear; it is actually a marsupial since the mother has a pouch for carrying her young. This mammal weighs about ten pounds, is about two feet long and a foot high at the shoulder, and has almost no tail. Part of the reason people love this little animal is its inquisitive expression. Its little mouth always seems to be smiling as its round eyes look you over while wrinkling its shiny, black nose. Its thick, soft, woolly, gray fur covers even its small head and large tufted ears, and its soft arms will hug anyone holding it.
A baby koala weighs just a few ounces at birth and spends six months in the mother’s pouch. After that, it rides on her back for about a year, holding on with hand-like paws. During this time, the mother introduces the cub to a diet of eucalyptus leaves. It is interesting to see how the Creator has given them wisdom to know to eat from only about a dozen kinds of eucalyptus rather than the 600 varieties that are not suitable as food. While riding on its mother’s back, the cub learns which of these are safe, but the ability to tell the plants apart is actually given by the Creator who made both the trees and koalas.
A koala is rather lazy. Once it finds a good eucalyptus tree, it is content to stay in the tree until all the tender leaves and buds are eaten. It sleeps during the day in the top of the tree, often hanging with its back downward, like a sloth. Life in these tall trees again shows the special provisions of God for His creatures. Sharp claws and rough padded feet are just right for climbing and holding onto branches while it feeds.
In the hot, dry climate of Australia, what does the koala do for water? The Creator has given this animal a special stomach that not only enables it to get nourishment from the bitter eucalyptus leaves, but also to get from those leaves all the water it needs.
The koala does not know of God’s care over it, but we can know His care over us. The Bible tells us, “The Lord searcheth all hearts. . . . If thou seek Him He will be found of thee” (1 Chronicles 28:99And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. (1 Chronicles 28:9)). If you have accepted Him as your Saviour, then you can also say, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits” (Psalm 68:1919Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. (Psalm 68:19)).
ML-07/08/2001