Koala emblems and popular culture

"Koalo" 1810 print

Koala emblems and popular culture deals with the uses which have been made of the image of the Koala, such as coins, emblems, logos, mascots and in the naming of sports teams.

Australian emblems and logos

• The Koala is the official fauna emblem of Queensland, Australia.^[1][2]
• The Koala is the official fauna emblem for the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland.^[3]
• Rugby union team Queensland Reds has the Koala as its logo.

United States mascots

• The Koala is the official mascot of Columbia College, a women-only college in Columbia, South Carolina.
• The Koala is a student newspaper at the University of California, San Diego.

In popular culture

• Blinky Bill is the koala star of several books, TV shows, a movie and games.

TV and films

• Qantas airlines used a Koala who continually complains about the airline's reliability in a series of television commercials.
• An Australian children's show has animated characters headed by The Koala Brothers.
• Coojee Bear was the koala friend of Australian entertainer Rolf Harris in his 1960s UK Television shows
• Adventures of the Little Koala and Noozles are two anime that were shown on Nickelodeon in the late 1980s. Viewers often confuse the two.
• In the animated series American Dad!, the character Reginald is a koala who was originally a homeless man that had his mind swapped with a koala in a CIA experiment.
• In the 90's Nickelodeon cartoon Rocko's Modern Life, in the episode Pranksters, the tannoy at the airport suggests the name of the airline is called Koala Airlines.
• An airline of the same name was used in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.

Games

• Koala Lumpur: Journey to the Edge is a PC game with a koala as the main character.
• Koala Kong appears as a boss in Crash Bandicoot and as a playable character in Crash Bash.

Other

• Release 9.10 of the Ubuntu operating system (codenamed Karmic Koala), a distribution of Linux.
• Caramello Koalas are a popular Australian chocolate.
• In the United States, a talking Koala in a racing firesuit is paired with Tasmanian race car driver Marcos Ambrose in commercials for Little Debbie snack cakes. The commercials take place in front of or in the #21 Little Debbie Ford Fusion from Wood Brothers Racing.
• Kid Koala is the stage name of the Canadian DJ Eric San.
• "Koala Infestation" is one of the more popular bits performed by comedian Mitch Hedberg.
• During the Vietnam War, conscripted Australian soldiers were derisively called "Koala soldiers" by regular army personnel. The rationale behind this name was that they were 'not to be exported or shot at.' It is now commonplace within the civilian population to use this nickname to refer to any deployment of troops with restricted rules of engagement.
• In Terry Pratchett's book The Last Continent, there is a description of a koala-like animal referred to as the "drop-bear."

References

1. ↑ Australian Geographic - Koala, the official state fauna emblem of Queensland
2. ↑ Australian Wildlife - Koala, the official animal emblem of the state of Queensland
3. ↑ Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland