This summer, two Queensland Koalas will be on exhibit at the Indianapolis Zoo from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend. These animals are on loan from the Sand Diego Zoo, so come check them out while you can, as they may not be back for many years.
I asked my wife if she was excited about the return of the koalas to our zoo and to my surprise she claims she isn’t. Usually, she’s ecstatic about any new zoo exhibit, as she takes more visits to the zoo than any other person I know. However, in this case, she claims that the last time the koalas came to the zoo back in 1994, all they did was sleep all day. You see, koalas are nocturnal and tend to hide in trees during the day and snooze, so they don’t make for interesting viewing during the day when the zoo is actually open. If you’re lucky enough to be there after hours, I’m sure they’re quite interesting to watch.
I’ve noticed this same problem with the red pandas and other nocturnal animals at the zoo, and the solution seems to be to visit either first thing in the morning or as late in the evening as possible. These animals may be more active at those hours. If not, try to visit on cloudy, overcast days when it’s so dark outside that the nocturnal animals are more active because they think it’s late evening. The only time I’ve ever seen the red panda at the Indianapolis Zoo active is during a visit to the zoo last summer when it had been raining all day and was very dark outside.
Hopefully, my wife and I will have the same luck with the koalas this summer.
