被灑水器淋醒的小考拉
They're known for their love of sleep, so it's not surprising this koala was far from happy when it was rudely awakened with a drenching from a garden sprinkler.
The furry creature, which rests for up to 18 hours a day, was fast asleep in a tree when it was soaked by a gardener watering his trees.
And as these images show, the koala was more than a little peeved at its unexpected soaking.
The images were taken by Matt Wilkinson, 39, in the garden of his home in Adelaide, Australia. He said: 'There was a particular bad heatwave in Adelaide recently and temperatures reached up to 40C.
'The koalas hang around in a tree in my garden when it is hot, it's on the southern side of the house and relatively cool.
"We use the sprinklers and garden hose to wet the house and surrounding trees when it's hot to avoid a bush fire but when I watered one of the trees, this koala got a bit of a soaking.'
But while the koala may look far from happy about his soaking, Mr Wilkinson said it would have helped it cool off. He said: 'It was a boiling hot day so I'm sure it helped the koala cool down.
'Koalas usually don't need to drink, as they get their moisture requirements from gum leaves but on that day, the koala's were licking at the trunk of the tree where the water was trickling down. They were quite thirsty.'
After accidentally drenching the animal, Mr Wilkinson quickly grabbed his camera before heading to the end of his garden to take these pictures.
'Either the koala was curious, or wanted to thank me, as it climbed out along the tree branch and stayed at the end of it just looking at me. It even stuck its tongue out which helped me get some great photos.'
我們都知道考拉喜歡睡覺,所以當被花園的灑水車淋個溼透吵醒之後,這隻考拉當然一點都不高興。
毛茸茸的考拉據說每天要睡上18個小時,當時正在樹上酣然入睡,結果被澆水的園丁沒注意淋了它一身。
從照片中我們可以看到,這隻考拉被意想不到的”天降奇雨”淋著了之後可是相當得不高興。
照片的拍攝者是來自澳大利亞39歲的馬特-威爾金森,照片是在他位於阿德雷德市的家中花園裡拍的。他表示:“阿德雷德著最近天氣奇熱無比,溫度直逼40攝氏度。”
“天氣很熱的時候,考拉們會在我家花園的樹上呆著,因為樹在房子的靠南位置,所以相對會比較清涼。”
“天氣比較熱的時候,我們會用灑水器和花園用的澆水軟管來給房子和周圍的樹木灑水,防止灌木發生火災。不過在我給其中一棵樹澆水的時候,這隻考拉就溼透了。”
不過雖然考拉因為被淋溼了看起來很不爽,威爾金森先生表示澆水可以讓它涼快一些。他說道:“那天熱得跟火爐一樣,所以我敢肯定有幫他涼快一些。”
“考拉一般不需要喝水,樹膠樹葉就可以滿足它們的水分需求,但那一天,我看到當水從樹上滴下來的時候,那隻考拉在舔樹幹。他們真的非常渴。”
不小心把考拉澆到溼透,威爾金森先生迅速抓起相機衝到花園的另一端拍下了這些照片。
“考拉也許是很好奇,也許是想感謝我,它沿著樹枝爬出來,停在樹枝的末端看著我。它甚至還伸出了舌頭,這可幫我拍到了不少很讚的照片。”