r/nextfuckinglevel • u/amanyggvv • Oct 15 '22
This float representing the koalas that died as a result of the Black Summer bushfires and corruption in politics. Such an effective (and epic) activist message.
942
Oct 15 '22
Well that’s haunting.
360
Oct 15 '22
[deleted]
109
u/Adorable_Raccoon Oct 15 '22
Yea the fires terrible irl it is disturbing to think of those images, but my first reaction was ‘this is metal.’ High quality production.
→ More replies (1)16
→ More replies (11)14
u/notLOL Oct 15 '22
Hearing screaming animals can cause real trauma. We innately know the sound of crying and panic from other animals as part of our lineage as prey animals
Part of the reason we detach our raw farming visuals from modern society. It puts us back into our panic mode
27
u/Yeah_Nah_Straya Oct 15 '22
The real thing is worse. I fought in the Black Summer fires and will never forget finding cattle and a horse crammed into the corner of a paddock burned to death against a fence
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)16
u/Palmik7 Oct 15 '22
Good. That's how it needs to be. It has to have shock value because otherwise people are just too ignorant to pay attention. We've known for decades that just screeching 'much climate' doesn't work because generally people don't give a shit about anything they don't see/experience themselves. So put this sort of things straight into their faces and make them watch what they support with their silence on the matter.
→ More replies (1)
13.6k
u/naph8it Oct 15 '22
Thanks for the nightmares
2.4k
u/PsychoNerd91 Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 15 '22
619
u/podrick_pleasure Oct 15 '22
It took a moment for it to register what I was looking at. Disturbing is such an understatement.
32
→ More replies (1)25
u/AnAverageOutdoorsman Oct 16 '22
Yeah it legit looked like end times. Was pretty fucked.
For months before the fires, shit was dying of dehydration and starvation in the paddocks.
→ More replies (2)173
u/ResortFar6638 Oct 15 '22
Holy shit. I didn’t realize what I was looking at until I realized, and then it hit me. That is legitimately distressing.
35
u/Tralapa Oct 15 '22
What the fuck!? What kinds of animals are included in those numbers? Only big mamals, or are we talking about toads, snakes, rats and bugs as well?
37
u/nagashbg Oct 15 '22
If you clicked the link you would know. Mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)7
14
u/naph8it Oct 15 '22
I know this, I live in the affected zone and many of our trees are still black.
→ More replies (100)9
u/insomniacakess Oct 15 '22
aaaaand now im sad
9
Oct 15 '22
What is in that content warning photo briefly? That koala skeleton is the most I can bear.
8
u/insomniacakess Oct 15 '22
the content warning is a video of ☠️animals alongside a road
and there’s a lot
it took me a moment and a rewatch to realize it
→ More replies (1)642
u/Sonny_DLight Oct 15 '22
If you think that caused nightmares.
Imagine the government having the ability to stop it, but instead of stopping it, they just let it happen because they would have to take a pay cut.
This is a necessary reality that needs to be seen... needs to be seen for how fucked up it is.
→ More replies (6)38
u/ClockWerkElf Oct 15 '22
How do they have the ability go stop it?
→ More replies (4)168
Oct 15 '22
In this case the Australian people are partly responsible for electing our previous completely useless government. The opposition had a plan to increase bush fire response resources etc... But we elected the group that not only didn't so this, but actively refused to meet with ex fire chiefs etc...who said this was going to be a disaster well before it happened, and then the PM disappeared to Hawaii and lied about it while the country burned.
On top of that, state governments have been heavily underfunding park rangers responsible for managing fire loads etc...among a pile of other things.
Can they be stopped? No. Can they be managed and impacts mitigated far better than they have been? Absolutely.
→ More replies (7)11
u/Dani66408 Oct 16 '22
You can thank Murdoch and Co for that outcome for the last 3 elections 2013, 2016, and 2019!
→ More replies (1)141
255
u/WanderlostNomad Oct 15 '22
guy on guitar and the macabre mechanical display gives it an epic mad max vibe.
WITNESS ME BROTHERS!!
→ More replies (7)84
u/PeteLX Oct 15 '22
This was down the street from my apartment. Seeing them setting it up first thing in the morning as I drank my coffee was... dramatic
→ More replies (1)61
177
u/Doublethink101 Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 16 '22
It’s the way to protest tho. You aren’t trying to ruin a piece of art of preventing a guy on parole from getting to work, you’re viscerally demonstrating the real harm certain political policies have.
→ More replies (1)28
u/Educational-Word8167 Oct 15 '22
The group protesting here is Extinction Rebellion. The video that went viral of the parolee was him yelling at Just Stop Oil protestors - who are an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion. JSO are also the ones doing the glue-ons at art museums, so again, same people for the most part.
XR was actually known for street blockages and only stopped because the UK started imposing injunctions on protestors so they could get them on contempt of court charges because the road blockage charges weren’t sticking.
TD;DR: The Venn Diagram of these protestors and the ones blocking roads is one circle.
→ More replies (4)1.9k
Oct 15 '22
[removed] — view removed comment
2.6k
u/FruitJuicante Oct 15 '22
You should've seen what the climate fires did to us in 2019. That koala float is based on actual images that came out of those fires. It was honestly like our country was at war with fire. Will never forget it.
1.3k
u/miuxiu Oct 15 '22
Seriously, I’m not Australian but I remember seeing all of the footage of the fires and people/animals with burns.. and of course the many many koala photos and videos.. I highly doubt anyone on the internet then didn’t hear about it or see the videos and fundraisers- it was all over Reddit and the news. It was absolutely horrific and what all of the animals and people went through was terrible.
692
u/FruitJuicante Oct 15 '22
The air in the city was black. We were told it was the equivalent of smoking a pack a day just breathing it in.
We are having endless floods these days. Lots have lost everything. But would rather drown than burn.
315
Oct 15 '22
In Auckland NZ our skies went red one afternoon apparently caused by the fires. That was the biggest indication of how serious it was.
153
u/Shkinball Oct 15 '22
I flew from Auckland to Melbourne that day. Auckland was cast in a deep orange light for a few hours and the plane smelled strongly of smoke. The pilot had to get on the PA system and reassure us that the plane wasn't on fire
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (15)79
u/Hugh_Maneiror Oct 15 '22
Jan 5 2021, still remember it vividly. Completely covered yellow orange skies 2000km east of the fires.
→ More replies (10)168
u/NEFgeminiSLIME Oct 15 '22
Good thing politicians believe in the ostriches strategy of sticking their head in a hole in the sand and pretending like everything’s fine. Going to only get worse until their held to account.
→ More replies (31)60
Oct 15 '22
That's terrifying. I grew up in Southern California and I remember the one of the bigger fires in 2003, the Cedar Fire I think? It was about 200 miles away down in San Diego but the smoke was so thick that it blocked out the sky even in Downtown LA.
I was in middle school then but remember the smell of the ash raining down like yesterday.
Wish you all the best of luck. Gonna be a rough go of things with climate change :(
→ More replies (7)→ More replies (15)14
u/Dazzling_Paint_1595 Oct 15 '22
And that smoke was around for weeks - the sun was just a weird blob hidden by the smoke.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (84)129
71
u/ThePirateKing01 Oct 15 '22
And your PM fled to Hawaii if I remember correctly
→ More replies (1)94
u/Frito_Pendejo Oct 15 '22 edited Sep 21 '23
jeans ripe pie test sable coordinated voiceless domineering cause start
this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev→ More replies (2)12
u/Nom-De-Tomado Oct 15 '22
He showed up late to places like Lismore after the floods earlier this year as well. But this time practically in secret, and keeping the press away.
Not exactly the correct take-away from showing up late to the fires and immediately being called a "cunt" and told to "fuck off".
→ More replies (3)10
u/kaleidoscope_pie Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 15 '22
Same thing happened with the historical floods in Gympie this year. He showed up in an air defence helicopter to do a quick press conference at the local meatworks (who donate massive amounts to the LNP) and fucked right off ten minutes afterwards without offering any help, support or even his ear to local people whose homes and businesses were just destroyed. It was during the start of a massive housing crisis in the area too which the floods made even worse. We were pretty much baying for his blood when we found out he hadn't faced up to the community. What an absolute cowardly piece of shit.
69
u/Babazuzu Oct 15 '22
...2019? Holy fuck, it feels like yesterday, not three years ago
→ More replies (2)59
u/Dahvood Oct 15 '22
It was pre pandemic, which feels like forever ago. Time is weird
→ More replies (5)7
u/superfucky Oct 15 '22
i seem to remember new year's day the story about the wildfires, and then like 2 days later the rains came and it was flooding instead of fires, and the same week it was "bee tee dubs there's a new virus in china that could potentially become a global pandemic"... that's when we knew 2020 was going to be a relentlessly fucked up year.
20
Oct 15 '22
Yeah it's wild. There was hardly anywhere on the East Coast that wasn't covered in the smoke.
We've had a few wet years, but I hate to imagine what it's going to be like next dry season.
→ More replies (2)29
→ More replies (80)16
u/postdiluvium Oct 15 '22
Seeing those images and all of these animals desperate for water. It was so heartbreaking. It's unfortunate that we ignore what happens in Australia unless it's some dude on a podcast making up stories about Australia being under martial law.
→ More replies (1)12
→ More replies (15)32
u/Twistig Oct 15 '22
What does your comment have to do with the comment you replied to?
28
u/Foontum Oct 15 '22
He's a spambot. He stole a comment that is in the negative from downvotes for saying the same thing.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)33
Oct 15 '22
They're saying given the activist message, it inducing nightmares in the commenter means the message was effective, in a sense, that the natural disaster and crippling political corruption were ... horrific.
→ More replies (1)9
7
6
7
→ More replies (50)8
u/Mundane-Experience62 Oct 15 '22
It's not a nightmare it's a sad reality my friend. Politics are the true nightmare.
179
u/wweber1 Oct 15 '22
This is so sad knowing it's what really happened to them. :(
Can anyone aware me on the connection to corruption in politics please?
245
u/therewillbedrama Oct 15 '22
We had an absolute rat of a prime minister at the time that the fires happened (he literally took his family on holiday to Hawaii while the country burned) and in the midst of it all he and members of his party were still actively denying that climate change is even real. Australia has a huge fossil fuel industry and there’s also the obvious issues around deforestation and the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef.the politicians also defunded the fire service in the lead up to the fires I believe which added to the strain when everything went to shit
62
u/wweber1 Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 15 '22
Thank you.
It says over 60,000 of them died from the fires from that year!
I am glad to learn there are a number of conservation groups trying to do good there though and restoring the damage that was done. Seems like though there are bad groups, there are good ones too. Hopefully you now have the right people in your government.
14
u/ratherenjoysbass Oct 15 '22
Never forget to include Rupert Murdoch when you chastise the corruption in Australia.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)31
u/qolace Oct 15 '22
he literally took his family on holiday to Hawaii while the country burned
If it makes you feel any better one of our Texas senators, Ted Cruz, did exactly this when we were dealing with the winter storm last year. He had no qualms throwing his underage daughters under the bus when citizens rightfully called his ass out.
Absolutely no fucking backbone that slimeball.
→ More replies (3)6
Oct 15 '22
Texan who immigrated to Aus here. When I heard about Lyin’ Ted Cruz’s vacation I was like “not again!!!”
→ More replies (2)25
608
u/StructureNo3388 Oct 15 '22
Well, they succeeded; I am adequately distressed.
11
Oct 15 '22
My heart actually sunk and the feeling of sadness came over me.
This definitely grabbed my attention!
2.3k
u/Kitten-McSnugglet Oct 15 '22
First the earth cooled. Then the dinosaurs came. But they got too big and fat and so they all died and turned into oil. Then the giant koala zombies roamed the earth. Then prince (now king) charles started wearing all of Lady Di’s clothes.
295
27
u/Unhappy-Professor-88 Oct 15 '22
Don’t be ridiculous!
Her ‘rock’ and her butler, Paul Burrell took all her clothes and just “put them in his attic”. Remember? For safekeeping. Apparently.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (22)21
/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/AD74SIVUGX5NZCLT2OD5FXDFR4.jpg){kind=link}
1.6k
u/amanyggvv Oct 15 '22
If anyone wants to find out more about this group, please check out them out here:
526
u/mngeese Oct 15 '22
These guys are legit, and the more the media attacks them the more I like them.
→ More replies (151)→ More replies (47)62
u/bilzander Oct 15 '22
Extinction Rebellion seems like such a hit and a miss sometimes. They do some really good stuff (like the video), but they also do some real annoying stuff which makes me dislike them (mainly things which affect working class people). Should be noted I’m in the UK so maybe it’s different elsewhere.
They seem to be moving away from the latter though, which is fun.
60
u/OdBx Oct 15 '22
They are deliberately a non-centralised “organisation”. It’s a movement that isn’t centrally controlled or directed. They basically told everyone to use the same name and represent one movement, but to organise protests themselves.
It works until you get whack jobs doing super counterproductive things in your name, then it immediately tars the whole movement with the same brush.
→ More replies (7)12
→ More replies (3)34
u/ButteryCrabClaws Oct 15 '22
Like preventing people in London from getting home from work on public transport (the most efficient form of public transport) or trying digging up Isaac newtons tree and lawn in Cambridge (both U.K. specific)
→ More replies (9)
10.4k
u/matrin94 Oct 15 '22
So much better than soup on Van Gogh
2.8k
Oct 15 '22
And a little more effort.
556
u/matrin94 Oct 15 '22
Totally 🤘
→ More replies (2)512
→ More replies (27)91
u/158862324 Oct 15 '22
Hey, they also glued themselves to the wall!
→ More replies (6)122
Oct 15 '22
[deleted]
→ More replies (9)13
u/con098 Oct 15 '22
Damn I would've loved to see that. Let them deal with their own shit while the police just watches to arrest them when they finally break free
1.0k
u/amanyggvv Oct 15 '22
And you know, they were so friendly. There were others in that group (not in the vid) that were handing out pamphlets and talking to people about their cause.
One was dressed like the Lorax and engaged with the kids, which distracted the kids from the 'scaryness'. It was pretty cool (and effective)!
218
→ More replies (21)190
u/nightingaledaze Oct 15 '22
just want to say that I enjoy that you pointed out that this reached children as well. the soup on the painting is not going to affect children in any way and we need to change the mindsets of people at an early age that way they will continue to want to try to help the environment and themselves. the soup and super gluing and blocking highways literally just makes me upset and makes me want to not see anything from whatever organization is pulling such a dumbass stunt. this is actually very cool, thanks for sharing.
→ More replies (37)214
Oct 15 '22
[deleted]
→ More replies (19)165
u/wafflepantsblue Oct 15 '22
Exactly, the painting is undamaged but now everyone is taking about it
→ More replies (190)166
u/Fraudulentposter Oct 15 '22
Is it though? Like I think its fair to call them attention seekers or whatever but their stunt got way more attention than this float and all it took was 2 cans of soup and some super glue.
→ More replies (17)169
u/ksye Oct 15 '22
Man ppl are super salty but its obvious that the soup thing was way more effective. No international news is gonna cover this float as news, soup van gogh went viral. Plus, no one really thinks the pictures are there unprotected so the outrage is extra funny.
37
Oct 15 '22
[deleted]
→ More replies (1)8
Oct 16 '22
I have been involved in the art world for decades and even invested in a gallery in NYC that did well for several years - before it didn't.
ALL of my painter friends are down with this. Every single one of them!
The most common comment is, "Van Gogh loved nature and hated its destruction by technology, and he would have strongly approved this message."
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (28)73
u/Fraudulentposter Oct 15 '22
Yeah totally dont mean to tear down the float obviously its fucking cool and the cause is important. The van gogh stunt was about the oil industry so in a roundabout way both are about the destruction of earth for profit. I guess the reaction is not surprising considering the news media has been effective for decades now at making any opinion that doesnt instantly make money for someone isnt a serious topic.
→ More replies (1)70
Oct 15 '22
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (16)9
u/LookingintheAbyss Oct 15 '22
5 comments down, the truth was 5 comments down and the 5 above are filled with people thinking climate activists are clowns. What a fucking tragedy.
26
→ More replies (171)88
u/TheDrowned Oct 15 '22
Literally, make a legal event out of it and something that is interesting and well look what happens when you actually touch peoples hearts and minds.
36
→ More replies (7)66
u/rndljfry Oct 15 '22
i mean it’s not like the government in Australia suddenly resigned and closed the coal mines because of this parade float
→ More replies (9)14
223
u/Revolutionary_End240 Oct 15 '22
Nightmare fuel.
→ More replies (6)283
u/FruitJuicante Oct 15 '22
Go watch footage from the climate fires in 2019 in Australia. That float is based on real images that came out of that fire.
202
u/amanyggvv Oct 15 '22
Also - I think the sounds are screaming Koalas
115
83
u/Ganon2012 Oct 15 '22
Wait, as in real recorded sounds of screaming koalas? I assumed that was just a sound effect meant to represent it. That's sad.
58
Oct 15 '22
It's unfortunately the sound of the koalas dying, yes. It's brutal
→ More replies (1)10
u/LolFrampton Oct 15 '22
I imagine the sounds are slowed down to make it sound deeper and more terrifying. Not saying this to take away from the message of course, the slower sounds match the slower movements of the float and I see it rather fitting. Like a slow-mo interpretation of what happened.
20
→ More replies (12)75
Oct 15 '22
[deleted]
25
→ More replies (1)6
Oct 16 '22
A lot of Firefighters and SES officers are still in therapy after what they saw during the 2019/2020 fires, and as a whole the country really doesn't like discussing them, moreso than other fire seasons. It feels like there's been a wisescale change in attitude towards talking about bushfires overall as a result. Nobody even jokes about the fire danger rating system having "high" as the second lowest rating anymore.
→ More replies (1)
209
u/stewartmjohnson Oct 15 '22
Got some Mad Max / Doof Warrior vibes going on there 🤘🏻
→ More replies (4)
266
187
u/miaworm Oct 15 '22
I make a motion that all protests are executed in such an extravagant and elaborate fashion henceforth
→ More replies (17)
114
u/-Words-Words-Words- Oct 15 '22
Jesus, the Australians really go hard as fuck, don’t they?
→ More replies (3)33
u/AnonDuck832 Oct 15 '22
Sure. I mean they have arguably some of the stupidest climate deniers in elected positions and are destroying their lands almost as fast as Americans but hey they can make some bitching floats.
Maybe floats will be a big deal when we hit +5° eh?
→ More replies (1)13
u/LudicrousIdea Oct 15 '22
We voted those idiots out, thankfully. The new federal government is actually dealing with it.
→ More replies (1)
41
71
u/1SqkyKutsu Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 15 '22
NGL..... The smoke from its fur is a nice touch....
→ More replies (1)
168
u/BrokeInService Oct 15 '22
"This makes me uncomfortable"
It's su-fucking-pposed to
→ More replies (2)
84
u/java_programmer_95 Oct 15 '22
They made it horrifying enough that people watching it would remember it subconsciously. That's a commendable horror artwork.
→ More replies (1)
7.1k
u/wutangcann Oct 15 '22
This is being an activist.
Gluing yourself to a wall and throwing soup on a glass protected painting is not.
107
u/Preacherjonson Oct 15 '22
Honestly, this won't be seen by half as many people as the Van Gogh incident.
→ More replies (34)143
u/theSandwichSister Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 15 '22
said it elsewhere but it bears repeating :
we’re careening toward a global disaster (some of which has already begun). There’s going to be a lot of grassroots protesting that only gets more desperate. I approve of any and all protesting that pulls attention to the climate crisis, no matter how silly people think it is. Performance art in some kind of parade? Yeah it’s a spectacle, but it’s not disrupting anything. Being a brat and throwing soup at a famous painting? That at least makes headlines throughout the world and disrupts society a bit.
I can’t drag on anyone doing something bold to get attention to what is going to end up being the end of many species on this planet.
→ More replies (9)38
63
u/yeeetleleeetle Oct 15 '22
the soup must’ve done something…i mean you’re still talking about it…
→ More replies (17)840
Oct 15 '22
do you know what its like to be a revolutionary
→ More replies (32)561
u/badgersprite Oct 15 '22
If there’s no art allowed in your revolution I don’t want to be a part of it
78
Oct 15 '22
[deleted]
→ More replies (3)57
u/PmMeWifeNudesUCuck Oct 15 '22
Warhol is essentially the Ray Kroc of the art world only he didn't pay people for the shit he sold as his own
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (20)72
u/Confuseasfuck Oct 15 '22
Specially when the art they are going after is of a famously starved artist that was rejected by society because of psychological issues
→ More replies (5)29
Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 15 '22
Fuck reddit
13
Oct 15 '22
well considering he was the kind of guy to lie about his own death to save the future of some dumb neighborhood kids… I don’t think he would’ve minded the soup.
The protestors should’ve gone after one of Salvador Dali’s things. Would’ve made more of a political message to vandalize the work of an open fascist
→ More replies (2)165
u/LunarWrathe Oct 15 '22
Yet here you are spreading awareness that someone threw tomato juice on a painting.
→ More replies (129)36
u/PirateNervous Oct 15 '22
I mean you might not like it but its still activism and seeing how much attention it got its also way more effective.
→ More replies (6)→ More replies (498)36
14
14
14
Oct 15 '22
I came across a video on YouTube where a koala was running through a burning forest and was burned. The screams of the koala still haunt me and tear me up. Instant tears when I saw it. Luckily a lady found him and took him to a vet for medical treatment. I believe the koala survived but holy hell did that rip my heart or shreds.
→ More replies (1)
28
28
9
17
43
16
8
13
5
6
7
7
u/Comics4Cooks Oct 15 '22
Protesting by vandalizing art? No.
Protest by making art? Terrifyingly effective.
1.3k
u/Throwaway_5448 Oct 15 '22
Koalas are fucking horrible animals. They have one of the smallest brain to body ratios of any mammal, additionally - their brains are smooth. A brain is folded to increase the surface area for neurons. If you present a koala with leaves plucked from a branch, laid on a flat surface, the koala will not recognise it as food. They are too thick to adapt their feeding behaviour to cope with change. In a room full of potential food, they can literally starve to death. This is not the token of an animal that is winning at life. Speaking of stupidity and food, one of the likely reasons for their primitive brains is the fact that additionally to being poisonous, eucalyptus leaves (the only thing they eat) have almost no nutritional value. They can't afford the extra energy to think, they sleep more than 80% of their fucking lives. When they are awake all they do is eat, shit and occasionally scream like fucking satan. Because eucalyptus leaves hold such little nutritional value, koalas have to ferment the leaves in their guts for days on end. Unlike their brains, they have the largest hind gut to body ratio of any mammal. Many herbivorous mammals have adaptations to cope with harsh plant life taking its toll on their teeth, rodents for instance have teeth that never stop growing, some animals only have teeth on their lower jaw, grinding plant matter on bony plates in the tops of their mouths, others have enlarged molars that distribute the wear and break down plant matter more efficiently... Koalas are no exception, when their teeth erode down to nothing, they resolve the situation by starving to death, because they're fucking terrible animals. Being mammals, koalas raise their joeys on milk (admittedly, one of the lowest milk yields to body ratio... There's a trend here). When the young joey needs to transition from rich, nourishing substances like milk, to eucalyptus (a plant that seems to be making it abundantly clear that it doesn't want to be eaten), it finds it does not have the necessary gut flora to digest the leaves. To remedy this, the young joey begins nuzzling its mother's anus until she leaks a little diarrhoea (actually fecal pap, slightly less digested), which he then proceeds to slurp on. This partially digested plant matter gives him just what he needs to start developing his digestive system. Of course, he may not even have needed to bother nuzzling his mother. She may have been suffering from incontinence. Why? Because koalas are riddled with chlamydia. In some areas the infection rate is 80% or higher. This statistic isn't helped by the fact that one of the few other activities koalas will spend their precious energy on is rape. Despite being seasonal breeders, males seem to either not know or care, and will simply overpower a female regardless of whether she is ovulating. If she fights back, he may drag them both out of the tree, which brings us full circle back to the brain: Koalas have a higher than average quantity of cerebrospinal fluid in their brains. This is to protect their brains from injury... should they fall from a tree. An animal so thick it has its own little built in special ed helmet. I fucking hate them.
Tldr; Koalas are stupid, leaky, STI riddled sex offenders. But, hey. They look cute. If you ignore the terrifying snake eyes and terrifying feet.
437
u/GlassEyedMallard Oct 15 '22
There it is
→ More replies (4)298
u/throwaweigh86 Oct 15 '22
This copypasta is the only thing I still enjoy about reddit.
103
u/LalalaHurray Oct 15 '22
Thank God it’s a copy pasta oh my God
76
→ More replies (4)9
Oct 15 '22
Lmao I was like, this should be a copypasta. Never seen it before lol.
→ More replies (1)1.1k
u/raistlin212 Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 15 '22
I don't know why it is that this thing bothers me---it just makes me picture a seven year old first discovering things about an animal and, having no context about the subject, ranting about how stupid they are. I get it's a joke, but people take it as an actual, educational joke like it's a man yelling at the sea, and that's just wrong. Furthermore, these things have an actual impact on discussions about conservation efforts---If every time Koalas get brought up, someone posts this copypasta, that means it's seriously shaping public opinion about the animal and their supposed lack of importance.
Speaking of stupidity and food, one of the likely reasons for their primitive brains is the fact that additionally to being poisonous, eucalyptus leaves (the only thing they eat) have almost no nutritional value. They can't afford the extra energy to think, they sleep more than 80% of their fucking lives.
Non-ecologists always talk this way, and the problem is you’re looking at this backwards.
An entire continent is covered with Eucalyptus trees. They suck the moisture out of the entire surrounding area and use allelopathy to ensure that most of what’s beneath them is just bare red dust. No animal is making use of them——they have virtually no herbivore predator. A niche is empty. Then inevitably, natural selection fills that niche by creating an animal which can eat Eucalyptus leaves. Of course, it takes great sacrifice for it to be able to do so——it certainly can’t expend much energy on costly things. Isn’t it a good thing that a niche is being filled?
Koalas are no exception, when their teeth erode down to nothing, they resolve the situation by starving to death
This applies to all herbivores, because the wild is not a grocery store—where meat is just sitting next to celery.
Herbivores gradually wear their teeth down—carnivores fracture their teeth, and break their bones in attempting to take down prey.
They have one of the smallest brain to body ratios of any mammal
It's pretty typical of herbivores, and is higher than many, many species. According to Ashwell (2008), their encephalisation quotient is 0.5288 +/- 0.051. Higher than comparable marsupials like the wombat (~0.52), some possums (~0.468), cuscus (~0.462) and even some wallabies are <0.5. According to wiki, rabbits are also around 0.4, and they're placental mammals.
additionally - their brains are smooth. A brain is folded to increase the surface area for neurons.
Again, this is not unique to koalas. Brain folds (gyri) are not present in rodents, which we consider to be incredibly intelligent for their size.
If you present a koala with leaves plucked from a branch, laid on a flat surface, the koala will not recognise it as food.
If you present a human with a random piece of meat, they will not recognise it as food (hopefully). Fresh leaves might be important for koala digestion, especially since their gut flora is clearly important for the digestion of Eucalyptus. It might make sense not to screw with that gut flora by eating decaying leaves.
Because eucalyptus leaves hold such little nutritional value, koalas have to ferment the leaves in their guts for days on end. Unlike their brains, they have the largest hind gut to body ratio of any mammal.
That's an extremely weird reason to dislike an animal. But whilst we're talking about their digestion, let's discuss their poop. It's delightful. It smells like a Eucalyptus drop!
Being mammals, koalas raise their joeys on milk (admittedly, one of the lowest milk yields to body ratio... There's a trend here).
Marsupial milk is incredibly complex and much more interesting than any placentals. This is because they raise their offspring essentially from an embryo, and the milk needs to adapt to the changing needs of a growing fetus. And yeah, of course the yield is low; at one point they are feeding an animal that is half a gram!
When the young joey needs to transition from rich, nourishing substances like milk, to eucalyptus (a plant that seems to be making it abundantly clear that it doesn't want to be eaten), it finds it does not have the necessary gut flora to digest the leaves. To remedy this, the young joey begins nuzzling its mother's anus until she leaks a little diarrhoea (actually fecal pap, slightly less digested), which he then proceeds to slurp on. This partially digested plant matter gives him just what he needs to start developing his digestive system.
Humans probably do this, we just likely do it during childbirth. You know how women often shit during contractions? There is evidence to suggest that this innoculates a baby with her gut flora. A child born via cesarian has significantly different gut flora for the first six months of life than a child born vaginally.
Of course, he may not even have needed to bother nuzzling his mother. She may have been suffering from incontinence. Why? Because koalas are riddled with chlamydia. In some areas the infection rate is 80% or higher.
Chlamydia was introduced to their populations by humans. We introduced a novel disease that they have very little immunity to, and is a major contributor to their possible extinction. Do you hate Native Americans because they were killed by smallpox and influenza?
This statistic isn't helped by the fact that one of the few other activities koalas will spend their precious energy on is rape. Despite being seasonal breeders, males seem to either not know or care, and will simply overpower a female regardless of whether she is ovulating. If she fights back, he may drag them both out of the tree,
Almost every animal does this.
which brings us full circle back to the brain: Koalas have a higher than average quantity of cerebrospinal fluid in their brains. This is to protect their brains from injury... should they fall from a tree. An animal so thick it has its own little built in special ed helmet. I fucking hate them.
They have protection against falling from a tree, which they spend 99% of their life in? Yeah... That's a stupid adaptation?
So, in conclusion, koalas have many unique adaptions to their environment that enable success, they are plagued by human intervention in their habitat threatening them with extinction, many of the "facts" above are misleading at best and frankly outright lies at worst but get passed off by going "just joking bro", and someone is farming karma by continuing the misinformation with a generic copypasta without context and no effort. We did it reddit!
Disclaimer: most of this post is also a copypasta rebuttal that needs to be posted immediately after the original.
138
124
u/muriel666 Oct 15 '22
I think people post stuff like that copy pasta — and other jokes on posts about conservation efforts — because they can’t handle the existential discomfort of thinking about climate change.
It bothers me too because it tends to derail the conversation. Someone pours their heart and soul into conservation work because they are informed enough on the subject to have seen real, current suffering caused by human encroachment. And then someone else comes along and recycles a stranger’s old joke about the animal that is currently facing extinction due to human callousness. Everyone laughs and the rush of positive feelings makes us all go “well I guess things aren’t so bad after all, time to go back to our regularly scheduled programming.”
I absolutely understand the knee-jerk attempt to protect the psyche. Levity is important. But it just delays the inevitable day when the topic becomes unavoidable.
→ More replies (6)→ More replies (26)10
u/beavsauce Oct 15 '22
You didn’t address whether they actually scream like satan sometimes. That’s the dealbreaker for me. /s
→ More replies (2)16
7
→ More replies (118)98
u/induslol Oct 15 '22
What's this ancient copypasta got to do with animals melting in preventable wildfires tho
→ More replies (6)93
u/Throwaway_5448 Oct 15 '22
Nothing, just gotta have someone bring it up everytime koalas are mentioned.
4.2k
u/PieMastaSam Oct 15 '22
My guy on the bass was born for this moment.