Koala Research
Meet ... Ingrid
Update April 2007: Seeing Ingrid at the start of April was an amazing and wonderful experience. We had not been able to find her for some weeks and Janine had become worried about her wellbeing. And she is well and looking happy! She was even hanging around with a new fella who was relaxing in a nearby tree. The breeding season for this year is over but great to see her enjoying some male company.
Update December 2006:
Ingrid is an amazing lady who stayed in her area during and after the bushfire. We have kept an eye on her throughout and she is doing very well.
Ingrid is looking and feeling so well that she has attracted the attention of a male! She was seen sharing a tree with him on 24 November. He was alarmed by my approach (like he had been caught out!), but she was quite calm - resigned almost! We wish the happy couple well. If there are any positive results of their union (a baby???) we will keep you updated.
Bushfire update 16 March 2006:
We are regularly seeing Ingrid who is moving around normally in the good trees in her home range and looking well. She appears to be without burns, smoke inhalation or any other signs of injury!
She is a very smart girl, and always has been. Since the fire she has stayed around her area, giving moral support to the other koalas in the bush. Jamie, a young male we met in December 2005, also survived, and was found sharing a tree with a rival male! He is doing well now, but it was touch and go for a while as his burns healed. Ingrid stayed close to him while he was suffering. It was very sweet to see how much comfort they gave each other.
Bushfire update 12 February 2006: We are seeing quite a lot of Ingrid and she is looking well and active. She was smart enough to find the best high tree in the bush straight after the fire - with some green leaves to eat. We couldn't check her properly as she was so high but through the binoculars her paws were looking fine.
One of our best & longest-known koalas, Ingrid is a very distinctive lady. Elegant, reserved and demure - a bit like a queen who rules ever so gently. She is always high in a tree, well out of reach, and often difficult to see. It has taken us years to get even these poor quality pictures of her! In fact, we suspect she moves up the tree when she hears we are in the Bush, to prepare herself. She would hate to be caught out and have to scramble up the tree in any sort of rush - it's just not ladylike!
She has the most beautiful nose, with a perfectly symmetrical white nose pattern. Her ears are lovely and fluffy. All her proportions are perfect - she is tall, but most elegantly put-together - she could be a model! Her eyes are deep-set and dark, set above high cheekbones. We first met her in December 2001, and we named her after a friend with all the same qualities.
Ingrid's world is one of Manna Gums and Cherry Ballarts (a native fruit tree - good shade in summer for koalas), with a few Swamp Gums in the gully nearby. No walking tracks or roads cross her country, so we always feel very lucky to see her. Now she shares part of this country with Bear and Alpie, and Poppy and Daisy and close by to the south. We are hoping that she will get some new neighbours soon, now that the drought is sort-of over (at last!)
In 2004 she lost her good friend Tess, who was her nearest neighbour. We felt they were great friends as they were so often close together - like two girls gossiping high in the trees! After Tess passed, Ingrid seemed strange - we couldn't find her at all in her normal area, and eventually found her wandering far away. Since then we have seen her south of Poppy's area, near Clarence; in Daisy's country near the road and near Poppy quite a lot.
This can't be explained by breeding behavior - often girl koalas will leave their home briefly to find their perfect man - as it happened at the wrong time of year. We think she was lonely without Tess, and travelled to be closer to koalas she knows. Now, after nearly a year, she is starting to get closer to her original home range, but is still staying close to Poppy and Daisy.
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