Koala[1]
Male Koala
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)[2][3][4][5]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Diprotodontia
Family:	Phascolarctidae
Genus:	Phascolarctos
Species:	P. cinereus
Binomial name
Phascolarctos cinereus (Goldfuss, 1817)
Koala range (pink – introduced)

The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae.

The koala is found in coastal regions of eastern and southern Australia, from Adelaide to the southern part of Cape York Peninsula. Populations also extend for considerable distances inland in regions with enough moisture to support suitable woodlands. The koalas of South Australia were largely exterminated during the early part of the 20th century, but the state has since been repopulated with Victorian stock. The koala is not found in Tasmania or Western Australia.

Names[link]

The word koala comes from the Dharuk gula. Although the vowel /u/ was originally written in the English orthography as "oo" (in spellings such as coola or koolah), it was changed to "oa" possibly due to an error.^[6] The word is erroneously said to mean "doesn't drink".^[6]

The scientific name of the koala's genus, Phascolarctos, is derived from Greek phaskolos "pouch" and arktos "bear". Its species name, cinereus, is Latin and means "ash-coloured".^[7]

Although the koala is not a bear, English-speaking settlers from the late 18th century first called it koala bear due to its similarity in appearance to bears. Although taxonomically incorrect, the name koala bear is still in use today outside Australia^[8] – its use is discouraged because of the inaccuracy in the name.^{[9][9][10][11][12]} Other descriptive English names based on "bear" have included monkey bear, native bear, and tree-bear.^[6]

Variation[link]

A Southern koala on Kangaroo Island, not native to the island

Although three subspecies have been described, these are arbitrary selections from a cline and are not generally accepted as valid. Following Bergmann's Rule, individuals from the southern cooler climates are larger.

A typical Victorian koala (formerly P. cinereus victor) has longer, thicker fur; is a darker, softer grey, often with chocolate-brown highlights on the back and forearms; and has a more prominently light-coloured ventral side and fluffy white ear tufts. Typical and New South Wales koala weights are 12 kg (26 lb) for males and 8.5 kg (19 lb) for females. In tropical and sub-tropical Queensland, however, the koala is smaller (at around 6.5 kg (14 lb) for an average male and just over 5 kg (11 lb) for an average female); a lighter often rather scruffy grey in colour; and has shorter, thinner fur. In Queensland, the koala was previously classified as the subspecies P. cinereus adustus, and the intermediate forms in New South Wales as P. cinereus cinereus. A fourth variation, though not technically a subspecies, is the "golden koala", which has a slight golden tinge to the fur as a result of an absence of the melanin pigment that produces albinism in most other mammalian species. The variation from one form to another is continuous and there are substantial differences between individual koalas in any given region such as hair colour. Koalas may also have white fur in rare cases due to a recessive gene.

The origins of the koala are unclear, although almost certainly they descended from terrestrial wombat-like animals. Koala fossils are quite rare, but some have been found in northern Australia dating to 20 million years ago. During this time, the northern half of Australia was rainforest. The koala did not specialise in a diet of eucalypts until the climate cooled and eucalypt forests grew in the place of rainforests. The fossil record indicates that before 50,000 years ago, giant koalas inhabited the southern regions of Australia. The koala fills the same ecological role as the sloths of South America.

Physical description[link]

The koala is broadly similar in appearance to the wombat (its closest living relative),^[1] but has a thicker coat, much larger ears, and longer limbs. The koala has large, sharp claws to assist with climbing tree trunks. Weight varies from about 14 kg (31 lb) for a large southern male, to about 5 kg (11 lb) for a small northern female. The koala's five fingers include two opposable thumbs, providing better gripping ability. The first two fingers are positioned in apposition on the front paws, and the first three fingers for the hind paws.^[13] The koala is one of the few mammals (other than primates) that have fingerprints. Koala fingerprints are similar to human fingerprints; even with an electron microscope, it can be quite difficult to distinguish between the two.^[14] The teeth of the koala are adapted to their herbivorous diet, and are similar to those of other diprotodont marsupials, such as kangaroos and wombats. They have sharp incisors to clip leaves at the front of the mouth, separated from the grinding cheek teeth by a wide diastema. The dental formula for koalas is Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \tfrac{ 3.1.1.4}{ 1.0.1.4}

The male koala, like many marsupials, has a bifurcated penis. The female has two lateral vaginas and two separate uteri, which is common to all marsupials.^[15]

Koalas walk on all four legs when walking on the ground, joey clinging to the back

The brain in the ancestors of the modern koala once filled the whole cranial cavity, but has become drastically reduced in the present species, a degeneration scientists suspect is an adaptation to a diet low in energy.^[16] One of the smallest in marsupials with no more than 0.2% of its body weight,^[17] about 40% of the cranial cavity is filled with cerebrospinal fluid, while the brain's two cerebral hemispheres are like "a pair of shrivelled walnut halves on top of the brain stem, in contact neither with each other nor the bones of the skull. It is the only animal on Earth with such a strangely reduced brain."^[18]

It is generally a silent, nocturnal^[19][20] animal, but males have a very loud advertising call that can be heard from almost a kilometre away during the breeding season.^[21] Females glean clues regarding a male's suitability as a mate from these calls, showing a preference for larger males.^[22] When under stress, koalas may issue a loud cry, which has been reported as similar to that of a human baby.^[23] There is little reliable information about the lifespan of the koala, but in captivity they have been observed to reach the age of 18 years.^[13]

Life cycle[link]

A young joey, preserved at Port Macquarie Koala Hospital

Baby koala on a mother's back

Females reach maturity at 2 to 3 years of age, males at 3 to 4 years. A healthy female koala can produce one young each year for about 12 years. Gestation is 35 days. Twins are very rare; the world's first confirmed identical twin koalas, named "Euca" and "Lyptus", were born at the University of Queensland in April 1999.^[24][25] Mating normally occurs between December and March, the Southern Hemisphere's summer.

A baby koala is referred to as a joey and is hairless, blind, and earless. At birth the joey, only 20 mm (0.79 in) long, crawls into the downward-facing pouch on the mother's belly (which is closed by a drawstring-like muscle that the mother can tighten at will) and attaches itself to one of the two teats.

Young remain hidden in the pouch for about six months, feeding on only milk. During this time they grow ears, eyes, and fur. The joey then begins to explore outside of the pouch. At about this stage it begins to consume small quantities of the mother’s "pap" (formerly thought to be excrement, but now thought to come from the mother's cecum) in order to inoculate its gut with the microbes necessary to digest eucalypt leaves.^[26] The joey will remain with its mother for another six months or so, riding on her back, and feeding on both milk and eucalypt leaves until weaning is complete at about 12 months of age. Young females disperse to nearby areas at that time; young males often stay in the mother's home range until they are two or three years old.

Diet and behaviour[link]

Koala with joey in pouch

The koala lives almost entirely on eucalypt leaves. This is likely to be an evolutionary adaptation that takes advantage of an otherwise unfilled ecological niche, since eucalypt leaves are low in protein, high in indigestible substances, and contain phenolic and terpene compounds that are toxic to most species. Like wombats and sloths, the koala has a very low metabolic rate for a mammal and rests motionless for about 16 to 18 hours a day, sleeping most of that time. Koalas can be aggressive towards each other, throwing a foreleg around their opponent and biting, though most aggressive behaviour is brief squabbles.^[27] Handling koalas may cause them stress,^[28] and the issue of aggression and stress from handling is a political issue in Australia.^[29][30]

Koalas spend about three of their five active hours eating. Feeding occurs at any time of day, but usually at night. Koalas eat an average of 500 g (18 oz) of eucalypt leaves each day, chewing them with powerful jaws to a very fine paste before swallowing. The liver deactivates the toxic components ready for excretion, and the hind gut (especially the cecum) is greatly enlarged to extract the maximum amount of nutrient from the poor quality diet. Much of this is done through bacterial fermentation: while young are being weaned, the mother passes these essential digestive aids on to her offspring.

A koala eating eucalyptus

The koala will eat the leaves of a wide range of eucalypts, and occasionally even some non-eucalypt species such as Acacia, Leptospermum, and Melaleuca. It has firm preferences for particular varieties of eucalypt and these preferences vary from one region to another: in the south Manna Gum, Blue Gum, and Swamp Gum are favoured; Grey Gum and Tallowwood are important in the north, and the ubiquitous River Red Gum of the isolated seasonal swamps and watercourses that meander across the dry inland plains allows the koala to live in surprisingly arid areas. Many factors determine which of the 680 species of eucalypt trees the koala eats. Among trees of their favourite species, however, the major factor that determines which individual trees the koala chooses is the concentration of a group of phenolic toxins called formylated phloroglucinol compounds.^{[citation needed]} Researches on koalas by keepers at 13 wildlife parks and zoos in New South Wales show that the most preferred group of Eucalyptus foliage had the lowest content of condensed tannins.^[31]

Conservation status[link]

Koala in tree, scratching & grooming

The Australian government currently lists the koala as a priority species for conservation status assessment.^[32] Government estimates of the national koala population numbers in the hundreds of thousands, although other studies have estimated as few as 80,000 koalas left in the wild.^[33] The Australian Koala Foundation in 2008 estimated there are around 100,000 koalas left in the wild.^[34]

As with most native Australian animals, the koala cannot legally be kept as a pet in Australia or anywhere else. The only people who are permitted to keep koalas are wildlife carers and, occasionally, research scientists. These individuals are issued with special permits to care for koalas, but have to return them to the wild when they are either well enough or, in the case of joeys, old enough.^[12]

The IUCN lists the species as "Least Concern".^[35]

In April 2012, it was announced that koalas in NSW, Queensland and the ACT will be classified as vulnerable under a protected listing by Federal Environment Minister of the Australian government Tony Burke.^{[36][37][38][39]}

The US government has declared the koala a threatened species.^[40]

The koala inhabits four Australian states. Under state legislation, the species is listed as:

• Queensland – Listed as "vulnerable".^[2]
• New South Wales – Listed as "vulnerable".^[3]
• Australian Capital Territory – Listed as "vulnerable".^[4]
• South Australia – classified as rare (although the population on Kangaroo Island is thriving).^[41]
• Victoria – The koala population in Victoria was considered large and thriving, according to an article which was last reviewed on 29 October 2007.^[42]

The koala was hunted almost to extinction in the early 20th century,^[43] largely for its fur. Millions of furs were traded to Europe and the United States, and the population has not fully recovered from such decimations. Extensive cullings occurred in Queensland in 1915, 1917, and again in 1919 when over one million koalas were killed with guns, poisons, and nooses.^[44] The public outcry over the cullings was most likely the first wide-scale environmental issue that rallied Australians.^[44] Despite the growing movement to protect native species, the poverty brought about by the drought of 1926–28 led to another 600,000 koalas being killed during a one-month open season in August 1927.^[44]

Today, habitat loss and the impacts of urbanisation (such as dog attacks and traffic accidents) are the leading threats to the survival of the koala. In recent years, some colonies have been hard hit by disease, especially chlamydia.^[45] 2011 surveys in Queensland show that chlamydia has caused symptoms in at least 50 percent of the koala population. Chlamydia of koalas is not the same as the human form, but can cause blindness, respiratory infections to all koalas and infertility of female koalas. Moreover nearly all of the koalas in Queensland are infected with koala retrovirus which suppresses the koala's immune system and interferes with its ability to fight off chlamydia.^[46] The koala requires large areas of healthy, connected forest and will travel long distances along tree corridors in search of new territory and mates. The increasing human population of the coastal parts of the continent continues to cut these corridors through agricultural and residential development, forestry, and road-building, thereby marooning koala colonies in decreasing areas of bush. The long-term viability of the koala is therefore threatened by genetic weakness^{[citation needed]}. The Australian Koala Foundation is the principal organisation dedicated to the conservation of the koala and its habitat, mapping 40,000 km² (15,000 sq mi) of land for koala habitat and claiming strong evidence that wild koala populations are in serious decline throughout the species' natural range.^[41] Local councils in growing urban areas with koala populations that have established or are in the process of establishing planning overlays and controls to preserve habitat for koalas include the Victorian councils of City of Ballarat,^[47][48] Macedon Ranges Shire^[49] and Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority^[48] as well as the Queensland councils of Moreton Bay Regional Council and Redland Shire Council.

Although the species covers a large area, only portions of koala habitat remain. Presently, many habitats are lost to weeds, clearance for agriculture, or carved up by developers. Other threats come from logging, poor management, attacks from feral and domestic animals, diseases, and roads.

See also[link]

• Fauna of Australia
• Koala emblems and popular culture
• List of monotremes and marsupials

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Koala

Wikispecies has information related to: Phascolarctos cinereus

Wikisource has the text of the 1920 Encyclopedia Americana article Koala.

• Australian Koala Foundation
• Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
• The Koala
• Listen to the sound a male koala makes in order to attract females during mating season on australianscreen online
•  "Koala". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921. 

Natsume Sōseki
Natsume Sōseki in 1912
Born	(1867-02-09)9 February 1867 Tokyo, Japan
Died	9 December 1916(1916-12-09) (aged 49) Tokyo, Japan
Occupation	Writer
Genres	novels, short stories, poetry
Notable work(s)	Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat
Influenced virtually all subsequent Japanese novelists, Karatani Kōjin

Natsume Sōseki (夏目 漱石^?, February 9, 1867 – December 9, 1916), born Natsume Kinnosuke (夏目 金之助^?), is widely considered to be the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji period (1868–1912). He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, Chinese-style poetry, and fairy tales. From 1984 until 2004, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1000 yen note.

Early years[link]

Born as Natsume Kinnosuke in the town of Babashita in the Edo region of Ushigome (present Kikui, Shinjuku), Natsume began his life as an unwanted child, born to his mother late in her life, forty years old and his father then fifty-three.^[1] When he was born, he already had five siblings. Having five children and a toddler had created family insecurity and was in some ways a disgrace to the Natsume family.^[1] In 1868, a childless couple, Shiobara Masanosuke and his wife, adopted him until the age of nine, when the couple divorced.^[1] He returned to his family and was welcomed by his mother although regarded as a nuisance by his father. His mother died when he was fourteen, and his two eldest brothers died in 1887, intensifying his sense of insecurity.^{[citation needed]}

Natsume attended the First Tokyo Middle School (now Hibiya High School),^[2] where he became enamored with Chinese literature, and fancied that he might someday become a writer. His desire to become an author arose when he was about fifteen when he told his older brother about his interest in literature.^[1] However, his family disapproved strongly of this course of action, and when Natsume entered the Tokyo Imperial University in September 1884, it was with the intention of becoming an architect. Although he preferred Chinese classics, he began studying English at that time, feeling that it might prove useful to him in his future career, as English was a necessity in Japanese college.^[1]

In 1887, Natsume met Masaoka Shiki, a friend who would give him encouragement on the path to becoming a writer, which would ultimately be his career. Shiki tutored him in the art of composing haiku. From this point on, he began signing his poems with the name Sōseki, which is a Chinese idiom meaning "stubborn". In 1890, he entered the English Literature department, and quickly mastered the English language. Natsume graduated in 1893, and enrolled for some time as a graduate student and part-time teacher at the Tokyo Normal School.^{[citation needed]}

In 1895, Natsume began teaching at Matsuyama Middle School in Shikoku, which became the setting of his novel Botchan. Along with fulfilling his teaching duties, Natsume published haiku and Chinese poetry in a number of newspapers and periodicals. He resigned his post in 1896, and began teaching at the Fifth High School in Kumamoto. On June 10 of that year, he married Nakane Kyoko.^{[citation needed]}

Natsume Sōseki's lodgings in Clapham, South London

In the United Kingdom, 1901–1903[link]

In 1900, the Japanese government sent Natsume to study in Great Britain as "Japan's first Japanese English literary scholar".^[3] He visited Cambridge and stayed a night there, but gave up the idea of studying at the university because he could not afford it on his government scholarship.^[4] He studied instead at University College, London (UCL). He had a miserable time of it in London, spending most of his days indoors buried in books, and his friends feared that he might be losing his mind.^[5] He also visited Pitlochry in Scotland.

He lived in four different lodgings, only the last of which, lodging with Priscilla and her sister Elizabeth Leale in Clapham (see the photograph), proved satisfactory. Five years later, in his preface to Bungakuron (The Criticism of Literature), he wrote about the period:

The two years I spent in London were the most unpleasant years in my life. Among English gentlemen I lived in misery, like a poor dog that had strayed among a pack of wolves.^[6]

He got along well with the one Leale sister, who shared his love of literature (notably Shakespeare—his tutor at UCL was the Shakespeare scholar W. J. Craig^[7]—and Milton) and spoke fluent French, much to his admiration. The Leales were a Channel Island family, and Priscilla had been born in France. The sisters worried about Natsume's incipient paranoia and successfully urged him to get out more and take up cycling.

Despite his poverty, loneliness, and mental problems, he solidified his knowledge of English literature during this period and returned to Japan in 1903.

After his return to the Empire of Japan, he replaced Koizumi Yakumo (Lafcadio Hearn) at the First Higher School, and subsequently became a professor of English literature at Tokyo Imperial University, where he taught literary theory and literary criticism.^{[citation needed]}

Literary career[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)

Natsume's literary career began in 1903, when he began to contribute haiku, renku (haiku-style linked verse), haitaishi (linked verse on a set theme) and literary sketches to literary magazines, such as the prominent Hototogisu, edited by his former mentor Masaoka Shiki, and later by Takahama Kyoshi. However, it was the public success of his satirical novel I Am a Cat in 1905 that won him wide public admiration as well as critical acclaim.^[8]

He followed on this success with short stories, such as Rondon tō ("Tower of London") in 1905 and the novels Botchan ("Little Master"), and Kusamakura ("Grass Pillow") in 1906, which established his reputation, and which enabled him to leave his post at the university for a position with Asahi Shimbun in 1907, and to begin writing full-time. Much of his work deals with the relation between Japanese culture and Western culture. Especially his early works are influenced by his studies in London; his novel Kairo-kō was the earliest and only major prose treatment of the Arthurian legend in Japanese.^[9] He began writing one novel a year until his death from a stomach ulcer in 1916.

Obverse of a 1984 series 1000 Japanese yen banknote

Major themes in Natsume's works include ordinary people fighting against economic hardship, the conflict between duty and desire (a traditional Japanese theme; see giri), loyalty and group mentality versus freedom and individuality, personal isolation and estrangement, the rapid industrialization of Japan and its social consequences, contempt of Japan's aping of Western culture, and a pessimistic view of human nature. Natsume took a strong interest in the writers of the Shirakaba (White Birch) literary group. In his final years, authors such as Akutagawa Ryūnosuke and Kume Masao became close followers of his literary style.^{[citation needed]}

Major works[link]

Natsume's major works include:

See also[link]

• Anglo-Japanese relations
• Japanese literature
• List of Japanese authors
• Fusanosuke Natsume – Natsume's grandson
• Minae Mizumura – finished Natsume's last, unfinished novel, Light and Darkness

Sources[link]

• Bargen, Doris D. Suicidal Honor: General Nogi and the Writings of Mori Ogai and Natsume Sōseki. University of Hawaii Press (2006). ISBN 0-8248-2998-0
• Brodey, I. S. and S. I. Tsunematsu, Rediscovering Natsume Sōseki, (Kent: Global Oriental, 2000)
• Doi, Takeo, trans. by W. J. Tyler, The Psychological World of Natsume Sōseki. Harvard University Asia Center (1976). ISBN 0-674-72116-0
• Gessel, Van C. Three Modern Novelists: Soseki, Tanizaki, Kawabata. Kodansha International, 1993
• Keene, Donald. Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era: Fiction, Chapter 12. 2nd Revised Edition, Columbia University Press, 1998.
• Milward, Peter. The Heart of Natsume Sōseki: First Impressions of His Novels. Azuma Shobo (1981). ASIN: B000IK2690
• Olson, Lawrence. Ambivalent Moderns: Portraits of Japanese Cultural Identity. Savage, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield (1992). ISBN 0-8476-7739-7
• Ridgeway, William N. A Critical Study of The Novels of Natsume Sōseki, 1867–1916. Edwin Mellen Press (January 28, 2005). ISBN 0-7734-6230-9
• Yu, Beongchoeon. Natsume Sōseki. Macmillan Publishing Company (1984). ISBN 0-8057-2850-3

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Natsume Sōseki

	Novels portal
	Japan portal

• natsumesoseki.com
• Natsume Sōseki at かまくら GreenNet, the website of Kamakura City
• Natsume Souseki at Meisaku Live
• Video: House of Ogai Mori & Soseki Natsume
• Natsume Souseki at Amazon Kindle Store
• Works by Natsume Sōseki at Project Gutenberg
• Sōseki page including links to the entire text of Kokoro
• Natsume Sōseki on aozora.gr.jp (complete texts with furigana)
• Tohoku University: Natsume Soseki Library
• Natsume Sōseki's grave

Kid Koala
Kid Koala performing in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Eric San
Born	1974
Origin	Vancouver Montreal
Genres	turntablism
Occupations	DJ
Instruments	turntables
Labels	Ninja Tune
Associated acts	Deltron 3030 Bullfrog Lovage The Slew
Website	kidkoala.com

Eric San (born 1974),^[1] who records under the name Kid Koala, is a Canadian DJ, turntablist, musician and an author of graphic novels. He is signed to the British record label Ninja Tune, is a member of alternative hip hop supergroup Deltron 3030, and The Slew with Dynamite D and former members of the Australian rock band Wolfmother, bassist and keyboardist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett. He has also made appearances with many other artists from Amon Tobin to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and has made contributions to Lovage,^[2] Peeping Tom,^[3] Gorillaz^[4] and numerous other projects.

Biography[link]

San attended Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, but graduated from Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School, in Rockville, Maryland, U.S., and went on to study elementary education at McGill University, in Montreal, Quebec.^[5] He would eventually distribute copies of his demo tape Scratchcratchratchatch to students living in residence at McGill. He is well known for his enigmatic style of turntablism, which uses an unusual collection of samples. He has been known to use samples of music from Charlie Brown television specials, old comedy sketch routines (including those that mock turntablism), people sneezing, and people reading a menu in Cantonese. He is well known for his cheerful demeanor at concerts and having a good sense of humour.

San is also an illustrator and an artist, having designed all of his own album covers. A comic book he drew is included as the liner notes to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Following the release of the album, Kid Koala toured extensively, during which time he opened for some of his favorite artists, including Radiohead and Björk.^[6][7]

He has also released a full length graphic novel, Nufonia Must Fall, which includes a soundtrack CD he composed. Some of my Best Friends are DJs includes a chess set as part of the packaging.

This album was supported by a cabaret-style tour throughout North America, Europe and Australia known as The Short Attention Span Theatre, which featured an unpredictable opening act—3 Djs (Kid Koala, P-Love, and DJ Jester the Filipino Fist) on 8 turntables set up like a band, and a bingo game at intermission among other tremendously quirky surprises. Following this tour Kid Koala has performed DJ sets all over Asia, as well as in Iceland, Eastern Europe, Russia, and South America whilst working on a new book (apparently about a mosquito trying to play a clarinet) and a unique puppet show set to take place in 2008.

San popularized a method of playing the turntable like a melodic instrument, where a long, single note is dragged under the needle at different speeds, creating different pitches. Since this method of adjusting pitch is imprecise, the resulting notes waver and bend. Thus, in the song "Drunk Trumpet," San uses this method with a trumpet note to simulate a drunken trumpet player, interspersing drunken vocals to complete the effect.

San released the Kid Koala album, entitled Your Mom's Favorite DJ (ZENCD127), on 25 September 2006.

As of October 2006 San was married and had recently embarked on a 90-city tour.

In 2008 he toured as the opening performer for DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist's "The Hard Sell" tour where he ended his set with a now legendary mix of "Moon River" where he essentially creates and edits in an extended violin solo by playing various long violin notes from the song's instrumental section at different pitches on four turntables, all live.

During San Diego Comic-Con 2010, Kid Koala performed before a special free showing of the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The next year at Comic-Con, he performed before a special premiere of the television series NTSF:SD:SUV::.

Discography[link]

Solo Projects[link]

Albums[link]

• 1996: Scratchcratchratchatch - mixtape demo album, limited to 500 copies and initially released on cassette only (CS001)
• 2000: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (Ninja Tune ZENCD34) UK#182
• 2003: Some of my Best Friends are DJs (Ninja Tune ZENCD82) UK#196
• 2006: Your Mom's Favorite DJ (Ninja Tune ZENCD127)

EPs and Singles[link]

• 1996: Scratchappyland - selections from the "Scratchcratchratchatch" - 10" released by Ninja Tune (ZEN10KK)
• 2000: Emperor’s Main Course In Cantonese (Ninja Tune ZEN1093)
• 2003: Basin Street Blues (Ninja Tune ZEN7142)

DVDs[link]

• 2005: Live from the Short Attention Span Audio Theater Tour!! - 5 track live EP with accompanying DVD containing the video of the live performance plus 4 Music videos (ZENCD101, Ninja Tune)

Books[link]

• 2003: Nufonia Must Fall - Graphic novel with accompanying 17 minute audio CD (ECW Press)
• 2011: Space Cadet - Graphic novel with accompanying soundtrack CD (Uni Books)

Mixtape[link]

• 2010: Solid Steel: Music To Draw To... (Ninja Tune)

Remixes[link]

• 1997: Coldcut - More Beats And Pieces (Obsessive Behaviour Version)
• 1998: DJ Vadim - Vad Forgive Me (Bullfrog Kid Koala Mix)
• 2001: Kalyanji-Anandji - Third World Lover (Kid Koala and Dynamite D remix)
• 2002: Fog - Check Fraud (Kid Koala's Space Cadet E002 Mix)
• 2004: Lederhosen Lucil - Semi-Sweet
• 2004: Noveltones - The Gonk
• 2005: The Free Design - An Elegy (Kid Koala and Dynamite D remix)
• 2005: Yusef Lateef - Bamboo Flute Blues (Kid Koala Remix)
• 2007: Pierre Lapointe - 25-1-14-14
• 2008: Jack Johnson - Angel
• 2009: Bell Orchestre - Icicles / Bicycles (Kid Koala Remix)
• 2011: Amon Tobin - Ruthless (Kid Koala Remix)

Appearances[link]

• 2001: Gorillaz - Gorillaz (Parlophone)
• 2004: Handsome Boy Modeling School - White People (Elektra)
• 2006: Peeping Tom (band) - s/t (Ipecac Recordings)
• 2007: Josh Haden - Devoted (Diamond Soul Recordings)

Group Projects[link]

• 1998: Bullfrog - Bullfrog Theme (Independent)
• 2000: Bullfrog - EP1 (Independent)
• 2000: Bullfrog - EP2 (Independent)
• 2000: Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030 (75 Ark)
• 2000: Deltron 3030 - Virus (75 Ark)
• 2001: Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030: The Instrumentals (75 Ark)
• 2001: Deltron 3030 - Positive Contact (75 Ark)
• 2001: Lovage - Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By (75 Ark)
• 2001: Lovage - Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By: The Instrumentals (75 Ark)
• 2001: Bullfrog - s/t (Ropeadope Records)
• 2004: Bullfrog / Robertson - Deeper Shade of Green (Independent)
• 2007: Martin Tétreault & Kid Koala - s/t (Phon-O-Victo)
• 2009: The Slew - 100% (Puget Sounds)

Film[link]

Composer[link]

• 2005: Strum (short) - Original music ^[8]
• 2005: A Girl's Guide to Modern Dating (short) - Original music ^[9]
• 2006: Jaime Lo, Small and Shy (short) - Original music ^[10]

Contributor[link]

• 2010: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (feature) - Contributor to the original score ^[11]

See also[link]

• Lovage (band)
• List of Quebec musicians
• Music of Quebec
• Peeping Tom (album)
• Deltron 3030

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kid Koala

• Official website
• Kid Koala on Twitter
• Kid Koala's channel on YouTube
• Kid Koala on Facebook
• Kid Koala at the Internet Movie Database

This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (February 2009)

Jesús Manuel Rodríguez, also known as El Koala (October 15, 1970) (Spanish for "the koala"), is a Spanish musician.

He started in the music world in 1986, creating a punk-rock group called "Santos Putos". Later he got involved in several projects, including "Los Ducati" music group. In 2006 he released his first music disc as El Koala, titled Rock Rústico de Lomo Ancho ("Wide loin rustic rock"). Its first single video clip, Opá, yo viazé un corrá, is one of the most ever viewed videos at YouTube, with more than 2 million views only in the first month after its release, currently more than 18.5 million views (March 29, 2009). A new version of the song, under the title Opá, vamo a por el mundiá, is used by the Spanish television station La Sexta to advertise its World Cup progammes.

El Koala has defined a new musical concept: "rustic rock music", in which simple style typical of country life lyrics got mixed with rock and pop melodies.

External links[link]

• Official Site
• http://scolas.skyrock.com/article_1142186014.html