Sydney - A family's snapshot of an orphaned baby koala taking refuge from Australia's heat wave in a bucket of water made it into newspapers worldwide.
The tiny marsupial, dubbed Star, was vying on Thursday in the celebrity stakes with another plucky koala photographed in South Australia that flagged down a bunch of cyclists and demanded a swig from their water bottles.
"Even though we had heard that native animals had been suffering in the heat-wave conditions of the last week in Adelaide, it came as a surprise to be stopped on the side of the road during a bike ride by a thirsty young koala," reporter and participant Tim Noonan told the national broadcaster ABC.
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"The koala uncharacteristically approached us, and it became clear by the manner in which he grabbed the water bottle and the enthusiastic way he gulped it down that his thirst was a priority," Noonan said.
Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman John Dengate said the behaviour was unusual and showed that four days of above 40-degree heat in Adelaide was not only taking its toll on the animals but also prompting koalas to learn new survival skills.
"Normally, they get their fluids from the gum tree leaves they eat, but the heat means the leaves are so dry that they're being forced to find water wherever they can," Dengate said.
Star, who came down from her tree in a garden and seemingly begged for water on a house's verandah, was doing well in an animal infirmary and was to be returned to the wild when she's fully recovered from the torrid temperatures that set records on the south coast last week.
The koala that baled up the cyclists has been nicknamed Lance after Lance Armstrong, who returned to professional cycle racing last month in Adelaide's Tour Down Under.
Lance was also destined to be another cyberspace celebrity after Noonan's images began flashing around the world at big_red_roving. - Sapa-dpa
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