crashes24

This is what can happen when you are quiet and still in the bush! Echidnas are sensitive to movement, especially from people's feet, so its best to stay completely still if you see an echidna walking by. He/she may even approach you if you are lucky, like I was this day!!

I'm Koala Clancy and I'm a real wild koala, living free in the You Yangs Range near Melbourne, Australia. I'm a 5 year old male, and I've been part of Echidna Walkabout's Wild Koala Research Project since I was born. In fact, my mum Pat has been part of the research since she was a joey too, with her mum Smoky. Follow me to learn about what life is like for a wild koala. Through education we can be saved from the extinction predicted by experts!

Its been an exciting year for Koala Clancy! A fight in September/October 2015 led to a nasty wound on his lower back. The wound became fly-struck and Clancy started losing weight before our eyes. He was taken into care, his wound cleaned, antibiotics administered.

He was healing well, but his testosterone got in the way. Naturally during breeding season, male koalas have a spike in testosterone. They become very active, singing, chasing females, defending their home range. Clancy, at 5 years old, was in his prime and didn't want to be held back from his territorial and breeding duties. Poor fella was climbing the walls of his enclosure and his stress levels were causing a decline in his health.

His carers conferred with the vets and made the difficult decision to release him, even though his wound was not as thoroughly healed as they would like. The danger of him dying from stress was high, where the danger of his would re-opening was low.

Clancy spent a happy 3 months of breeding season out in his home range. In that time he mated with Ngardang, a young female.

But the flies eventually got into his wound and re-infested it. By February 2016 he was scratching again, and we knew we had to intervene. He went back into care.

Luckily by this time his testosterone had dropped, and he was more content in care. He stayed until late May, when his wound was completely healed, fur had grown back. He was released with a clean bill of health from the vet, and at a whopping 11kg in weight.

A month later we discovered that his mating with Ngardang had been successful - tiny Wurdi emerged as a 6 month old, healthy, cheeky joey.

Clancy is still looking fantastic, and has even taken over more high quality real estate recently! Ngardang and Wurdi are living in part of Clancy's home range and are seen often.

Visit the You Yangs, and possibly meet Koala Clancy, Ngardang & Wurdi on an Echidna Walkabout Koalas & Kangaroos IN THE WILD day tour or 3 day Great Ocean Road tour. Or, if you're a Melbourne/Geelong local, come out on a Koala Conservation Day for Locals which runs 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month.

http://www.echidnawalkabout.com.au
http://koalaclancyfoundation.org.au/y...

Note: Clancy's care and treatment was managed by fully licensed, highly experienced wildlife carers and veterinarians.