Teen offers baby koala a leaf – and baby crawls off mom’s back right onto his arm
Have you ever dreamed of seeing a koala in the wild? Or even better, getting a chance to touch one? I think we’ve all probably had that thought at some point in our lives. On this day, that dream became a reality for South Australian residents Meagan Pfitzner and her son Tanner. Meagan was able to capture this incredible moment at a small stream just outside their home in Adelaide.
Recently, the koala has been hitting the front page of news outlets across the world. Unfortunately, not for the cuteness we all know the marsupial for, but for the recent wildfires Australia has been enduring.
2019 was so bad for fires, never in our recorded history have our friends from ‘down-under’ dealt with a worse fire season. Over 1 billion animals are believed to have perished and 27 billion acres burned.
But not all was bad. The koala, in all of its adorableness, became the face for donations and relief efforts. People from around the world were captivated, and raised over 30 million dollars.
Tanner is seen in the video kneeling down by a mother koala with her joey on her back. The birds are singing in the background and you can’t help but feel the tranquility. The boy holds a leaf towards the baby koala, hoping for an interaction.
The mother doesn’t seem to be bothered by his presence and continues drinking water from the stream.
The leaf certainly keeps the koala’s attention but doesn’t seem to want to leave its mothers back. Not just yet. After a couple of minutes go by, the baby has built up the courage to leave its mother and approach the boy. But he doesn’t seem to go for the leaf.
Catching Tanner off-guard, the koala climbs right onto his arm. He looks back at the camera and gives a huge smile. No one expected this! He continues to try and offer the leaf but the koala seems more interested in examining the human face.
Meagan doesn’t seem to forget that these are wild animals and can be dangerous. So she warns Tanner to keep an eye on the mother in case she attacks. However, the mother koala continues to enjoy the water from the stream. The joey’s claws can clearly be seen starting to dig into the boy’s arm and Tanner starts to wonder if the Joey will ever get off his arm. With just a little more patience, and the koala climbs down.
Tanner takes a few more seconds to say thanks and gives the little guy a pet. As the boy gets up to walk away, it looks like the koala doesn’t want to say goodbye. He starts to follow the boy. As much Tanner would probably love a pet koala, he stops the baby and directs him back to the mother.
The two are reunited and the baby climbs up onto the mother’s back. Now it’s time for everyone to go back to their own lives. The Pfitzners had an incredible wild encounter and luckily we can all enjoy this amazing video too! Since 2016 when this video was uploaded, it has been viewed over 7 million times and gained 227k likes. The internet can’t get enough of this mother koala and her baby.
Watch the full video below.
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Source: Meagan Pfitzner