Post #14473

Koala: Life is completely inadequate. The stupidity of this beast is beyond belief. But that's the advantage The koala could become the only marsupial monkey of its kind. It is perfectly adapted to life in the trees and has two opposable toes - an excellent basis for tool activity. And there are simply no other contenders for this title in Australia. But, unfortunately, she has one problem: the koala is impossibly stupid. The relative size of the koala's brain is as much as 60% smaller than that of other marsupials, and they are not very smart anyway. Besides, her brain is as smooth as a polished pebble. The cortex of his hemispheres is undeveloped, and there are no convolutions at all. As if that weren't enough, the koala is the only animal whose brain hangs out in its skull without completely filling it. And such deplorable characteristics of the brain lead to deplorable intellectual abilities. For example, koalas do not always realize that plucked eucalyptus leaves are just as edible as those growing on the tree. Therefore, they will not even feed from their hands. They often forget which tree they came from and can spend half an hour or an hour finding a familiar trunk and returning back. They are also not smart enough for social connections. Their maximum: this is the care of females for their children in the first six months after birth. Otherwise, koalas live on their own and avoid contact with each other outside of the mating season. After all, communication is too difficult for their scanty brains. And the stupidity of koalas is incurable. After all, it is a consequence of their diet. I'm sure you're well aware that koalas feed exclusively on eucalyptus leaves, which are not only low in calories and have very few nutrients. But they are also toxic, because essential oils and their metabolites (decomposition products in the body) are very dangerous to health in large quantities. Therefore, the koala's liver has to spend a lot of resources on the production of disinfecting enzymes. And although the animal copes, there are very few resources in the body’s possession. To survive on such a diet, the koala not only reduced its brain size, but seriously slowed down its metabolism. It is about 50% slower than the average mammal. The koala is so weak that it is forced to sleep 20 hours a day, fortunately the digestive system continues to extract crumbs of calories from the leaves even while the owner is sleeping. In this regard, the question arises: how is such a stupid and slow animal not yet extinct? But because no one needs him. The koala has no competitors for food and no natural enemies. Yes, it couldn’t be easier to catch, but the meat soaked in essential oils tastes unpleasant, so predators choose any other prey. And yet the koala is on the verge of extinction. Habitat destruction has greatly undermined its numbers and the species' ability to recover. And the Australian fires of 2019-2020 caused simply monstrous dama