SWEDEN : STOCKHOLM ZOO RECIEVES ITS FIRST KOALAS

Record ID: 657206

  • Title: SWEDEN : STOCKHOLM ZOO RECIEVES ITS FIRST KOALAS
  • Date: 16th May 2005
  • Summary: (L!1) STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (MAY 16, 2005) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) WIDE OF PHOTOGRAPHER TAKING PICTURES OF KOALAS SLV KEEPER PLACING KOALA ON SCALES CLOSE UP ON KOALA CLOSE OF A MINIATURE PLANE WITH TWO KOALAS SITTING ON IT HANGING FROM ROOF SLV KEEPER LIFTING UP KOALA AND WALKING OUT OF ROOM SCU (SOUNDBITE)(English) KOALA KEEPER MY WALDSTROM SAYING: "I hope they understand how
  • Embargoed: 31st May 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN/ SAN DIEGO, UNITED STATES
  • Country: Sweden
  • Topics: Environment,Politics,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA24UVUL3DF7EH4KWT8F07Y2IM2
  • Story Text: Scandinavia gets its first ever Koalas, at Stockholm's Skansen Zoo.
    Two, Two-year-old male koalas named Teddy and Freddy are a long way from their native Australia.
    They have become the first two koalas to ever arrive in Scandinavia, when they landed in Stockholm, Sweden.
    Both are doing well in their new habitat, they have have gained about 200 grams each since arriving. The pair will spend this summer in Sweden living in a specially built enclosure before going home to the San Diego Zoo in September.
    Their keepers said they did not expect the pair to gain weight that quickly after a stressful journey but in a new environment koalas sleep less, that gives them more time to chew on eucalyptus leaves, their favourite and only diet.
    "I hope they understand how magnificent it is too see them like this. Two young boys in this beautiful exhibit and I hope they will enjoy it as much as we do, because they are beautiful and they are the model for the teddy bear as we now it today," said Skansen Zoo's koala keeper My Waldstrom.
    The cuddly tree-dwelling animals, a symbol of Australia, eat only fresh eucalyptus leaves that are flown in direct from their home country, which is quite an expensive operation. The costs involved with keeping koalas is often the reason they are not seen in more zoos around the world.
    It will cost Skansen Zoo about 8000 Swedish crowns (USD 1,100) a week to feed Teddy and Freddy.
    San Diego Zoo boasts the largest population of koalas outside of Australia with about 30 of the animals in the zoo itself and another 70 on loan to other zoos across the world.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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