Koalas: Moving Portraits of Serenity

Joanne Ehrich
Koala Jo Publishing (2006)
ISBN 0976469804
Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (4/06)

What a beautiful book! When I opened the package containing “Koalas: Moving Portraits of Serenity,” I just gasped because this gorgeous piece of art blew me away. The other thing that impressed me was the fresh smell of the print on the glossy pages. The first thing I did was feel the cover – I wanted to pet the Koalas!

“Koalas: Moving Portraits of Serenity” by Joanne Ehrich is a 260 page coffee-table book that is filled with 315 photographs of koalas that depict their life cycle, characteristics, types, and feeding. But, there is more. Ehrich explains, in detail, each of the unique attributes that koalas have.

There are fewer than 100,000 koalas that only can be found only in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. Ehrich enlightens the reader by explaining the Aboriginal myths around this nocturnal mammal. If the humans disrespect the tree-dwelling gods, the earth with suffer from drought. There is also a belief that koalas are reincarnated spirits of little children because of the whimpering sound they make when in distress.

Ehrich explains that there are three types of koalas weighing between nine and thirty-two pounds. The size depends on the weather factors and location. However, depending on the migration patterns traits do overlap. Plates of the three types give the reader a close up of the differences.

A marsupial species, baby koalas are born after a 35-day gestation period weighing less than a gram (0.035 ounces) and less than 2 cm (-1 inch) in size – about the size of a gummy bear. The baby koala continues to stay in the mother’s pouch until it is about six or seven months. At that time it weighs about fourteen ounces and is about eight inches long.

The koala diet consists only of eucalyptus leaves and flowers. Although there are nearly 600 species of eucalyptus in Australia, the koalas will only eat about twenty-five types. However, they prefer about twelve species, favoring only two to four.

The photographs, a collection from 120 photographers from 24 countries, are impeccable. Each plate gives the reader a close “up and personal” account of the koala, whether in a tree, eating, sleeping, or carrying the joey (offspring.) The explanation of each trait is concise and complete. Joanne Ehrich gives us a gift like none other – a gift of serenity vicariously experienced through the koala.

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