Koala Bear

Is the Koala Bear unpalatable?

Many species which subsist on toxic or unpalatable diets absorb the chemicals so that they become toxic or unpalatable themselves to potential predators. It has been asserted (see Garcia and others) that koalas are also unpalatable, because the absorb the oil of the eucalyptus. I've found it difficult, however, to track down a solid account of what a koala tastes like.

On the Nourished magazine site, Sally Fallon reported (with references!) that the Australian "Aborigines did not hunt at night, but extracted nocturnal animals such as possum and koala bear - both prized foods - from their daytime resting places in various ingenious ways."

The Australian Natural Botanic Gardens has a list of references on Aboriginal foods and cooking.

Beth Gott of Monash University has a description of Melbourne seasons, stating that in "Deep Winter" people moved to the uplands to catch koalas, citing "Autumn, Winter, Pre-spring, True Spring, Early Summer and Late Summer" Glen Jameson (Victorian Naturalist 1996, Vol. 1 13 pp.26,67,123,269,313. 1997, Vol. 1 14, p.4S.

There is apparently a dreamtime myth that the Koala can be eaten but "his skin may not be removed or his bones broken until after he is cooked"; if the taboo is broken drought will come. But I can't find a primary source for this...

Cassell's Dictionary of Slang includes "Gundaroo bullock n. [late 19C] (Aus.) cooked koala meat" (Gundar is a town in SE New South Wales). There is a poem of the this name by AB Banjo Paterson (1864-1941) that is probably the source. "An old man bear for breakfast is a treat in Gundaroo."

In 1840, the Polish explorer Count Paul Strzelecki survived a diasterous trek through the mountrain range named after him . "Starvation was only kept at bay by anindigenous member of the group hunting koalas, which the men cooked and ate." Haven't found their report on what it tasted like.