Koala Bears, after all - not Gowachin!

[Kalessin]

In FoH, when we finally reach Samara on the Ghealdan side of the river, we see the animals Valan Luca has in his menagerie. RJ's slipped it in, so quietly you'd never notice, but I am re-reading the series, and this leaped out at me:

Quote

and some waddling, brown-furred creatures with big eyes and round ears that sat placidly eating leaves from branches gripped in their forepaws. Luca’s tale on where they came from varied- she supposed he did not know-and he had not been able to make up a name for them that pleased him.

I've seen them in Tidbinbilla in ACT. They're koalas. I suppose RJ may have had a visit or two to Australia, and perhaps visited Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney, or so.

[Andra]

The bigger question is - where did Luca get eucalyptus to feed them?

Perhaps they were a brown species of pandas, and the "branches" were bamboo?

Edited May 23 by Andra

[DojoToad]

Eucalyptus in endemic to eastern Cairhein...  

 

😉

[Samt]

Maybe during the age of legends, a zoological Aes Sedai realized that animals with very specific and restrictive diets, like Koalas and Pandas, should be modified to be more flexible.  Maybe Aginor before he went off the deep end.  

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

But koalas are neither placid or brown. Cannot say I find it particularly convincing. I'm sure something more fitting passed briefly through my brain, but it is gone now. So I cannot improve on the suggestion, thus koalas it is for now.

 

Edit: I did some research into waddling animals and a wombat would appear to more fitting to the description, though not sure they would hold leaves as described. Either that or a duck, which possibly is stretching plausibility. Maybe.

Edited May 24 by HeavyHalfMoonBlade

[Samt]

So I just read the Wikipedia article on Wombats and today I learned that Wombat poop is cube shaped.  We don’t fully understand how or why, but it is suspected that wombats poop in cubes so that they can stack their poop to mark their territory.  

[Andra]

3 hours ago, Samt said:

So I just read the Wikipedia article on Wombats and today I learned that Wombat poop is cube shaped.  We don’t fully understand how or why, but it is suspected that wombats poop in cubes so that they can stack their poop to mark their territory.  

Obviously, a use of the One Power in the natural world.

Saidin or Saidar?

[Figs and Mice]

After many years resident in Australia I have rarely seen a Koala move at all unless it has to , let alone "waddle" ; though they do a lot of placid leaf chewing...also I'd call them grey more than brown.

 

Though heaven knows what Aginor might have done in the way of modifications !

 

This big eyed creature sounds more like some sort of Lemur to me .

[Samt]

Koala Trollocs

Gemini_Generated_Image_cmvqncmvqncmvqnc.jfif

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

Those "all too human" eyes. 

[Kalessin]

On 7/3/2024 at 9:26 AM, Samt said:

Koala Trollocs

Gemini_Generated_Image_cmvqncmvqncmvqnc.jfif 369.92 kB · 4 downloads

Yes, you just have to wathc out for those Jaws that bite, those Claws that catch ... very well done!

[Apple]

I think it could be a reference to Blinky Bill (the koala).

 

He's coloured brown in a lot of the older illustrations that were coloured at all. If you're not too familiar with actual koalas you might describe them the way he has. Also, the first story about Blinky Bill has his parents coming up with a name for him since they wanted him christened finally when he's one year old.

Quote

He soon reached the age of one year, and measured ten inches, while his weight was about three pounds. Strange as it may seem, Mrs. Koala had not thought of a name for her baby.

 

Edit to add: Blinky Bill gets caught by hunters and lives in a zoo for a while in the books. Remembering this woke me up in the middle of the night, so clearly it was important 😄

Edited September 18 by Apple
Including relevant quote