affected
Guru status reached
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2013
- Messages
- 16,096
- Reason
- Lost a loved one
- Diagnosis
- 05/2013
- Country
- OZ
- State
- AU
- City
- lala land
blitzc I use nose pattern recognition to identify them - looking for patterns made where there are patches with no pigment. I totally need this and refer to a file I have of all nose patterns I have seen here when I am not sure. Also when a new koala comes I sometimes have to really get a lot of photos and check hard to be sure it's not just one I haven't seen for a year or two (which sometimes happens!)
Once I get to know a particular koala well, ones that are part of the colony and live her, I can usually identify them quickly by sight, sometimes without even seeing their face. They all look the same yet quite different, and there are size differences you can't see well in the photos. Jordan who is the alpha male must weight 8-9kg, but Bullet only weighs around 6kg, so he is close to 1/3 less weight. Bullet ripped his ear tag out so the wedge missing from his ear is an easy clue when I can spot it too.
Krissy only weighs are 3.5 kg, and Dewdrop, Frankie, Phoenix and Summer are a similar size.
Here are a couple of my nose file images that show you how different their noses can be. There is also quite a range of fur colours from pale grey Krissy to dark burnt brown Jordan so that helps a little too
Once I get to know a particular koala well, ones that are part of the colony and live her, I can usually identify them quickly by sight, sometimes without even seeing their face. They all look the same yet quite different, and there are size differences you can't see well in the photos. Jordan who is the alpha male must weight 8-9kg, but Bullet only weighs around 6kg, so he is close to 1/3 less weight. Bullet ripped his ear tag out so the wedge missing from his ear is an easy clue when I can spot it too.
Krissy only weighs are 3.5 kg, and Dewdrop, Frankie, Phoenix and Summer are a similar size.
Here are a couple of my nose file images that show you how different their noses can be. There is also quite a range of fur colours from pale grey Krissy to dark burnt brown Jordan so that helps a little too