hree koala joeys have headed off to pre-school. Olaf, Regina and Petal settled in well as they explored their new yard and got to know each other. The three fluffy bundles of joy were born into the Australian Reptile Park's koala breeding program last year.
With all three joeys being between 9 and 12 months old, they are at the stage where they start to become independent from mum and are ready to go off exploring on their own. Olaf and Regina are the two oldest joeys to join pre-school.
Since they were the first koala joeys to be born in this year’s breeding season and are close in age, they’ve become inseparable ‘best friends’, and now Petal is joining the group.
Head of Mammals, Hewin Hochkins said, “It’s so heart-warming to see the friendship that these three have. They’ll be able to build their confidence together of exploring a different environment without their mum by their side.”
Once the joeys are older, they’ll join the koala breeding program and act as ambassadors for saving this iconic Aussie animal. Koalas have now been classified as endangered, and numbers have plummeted dramatically in the last 20 years, due to habitat destruction, deforestation, fragmentation, car strikes and dog attacks. After the devastating ‘Black Summer’ bushfires that ravaged Australia in 2019/2020, wild populations are incredibly low.