In all of eastern Europe, koalas are able to be seen at Budapest Zoo for the first time. This is so cool because outside of Australia, koalas can only be found at a small number of zoos. This is largely because koalas have such specific dietary needs and there is a huge cost to keeping them.
Planning for the arrival of these koalas in Budapest began way back in 2009. Firstly a spacious enclosure for the cute animals had to be created - of course they'll be within the zoo's "Australian zone." Then the staff needed to be trained in how to care for koalas. Finally, the right food had to be sourced for the koalas - something, which proved to be the most challenging. Each week two deliveries of fresh eucalyptus arrives from England, and there's even a special fridge at the zoo to store the special leaves.
Koalas eat eucalyptus (specifically Corymbia and Angophora) leaves, and while there's something like 500 different types, koalas only eat about 70 of these.
It's also interesting that koalas aren't related to bears or plush toys, but are in fact marsupials, and are probably closest to the wombat family group.
The koalas arrived in February, but as of March 6 the public can see them at the Budapest Zoo. One more interesting note is that both of the koalas are male, and there are rules in place that for a few years at least this is the way it has to be, before a female can perhaps be introduced.
