Nature
PUBLISHED
Do you know what a koala mating call sounds like? If not, then you’re in luck: The video below shows a dramatic transition from a regular, adorable Phascolarctos cinereus to a relatively randy teddy bear-like beast. This particular specimen, from Taronga Zoo in Sydney, is called Storm, according to Mashable.
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Adult males typically communicate with loud, unusual-sounding calls that scare off rivals and attract males, and this little fella is no exception. Whether or not Storm actually attracted the attention of a female in the end hasn’t been confirmed, but he should be careful: It’s well-known that koalas are often infected with chlamydia.
Of course, koalas have a range of emotional states other than horny; in fact, some of them seem quite melancholy. In one notably sad image from 2013, a koala sits among the remnants of its former forest home, downtrodden to say the least. Another koala was recently forced out of a tree by another of its marsupial cousins, where it begins to cry, vanquished in a territorial battle.
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