Amorous koala eats, shoots and leaves

An amorous koala that was sent from Edinburgh Zoo to bolster a breeding programme in Austria has proved a success.

Chumbee was flown to Schonbrunn Zoo in Vienna earlier this year to encourage the zoo's under-performing resident koalas to breed.

And the Austrian zookeepers have said Chumbee had succeeded where romantic music and aphrodisiac foods had failed.



Zoo manager Helmut Pechlaner said that the scheme had proved so successful that they were confident it would produce new baby koalas within the next year. She said: "Chumbee hasn't stopped since he got here. It has been almost non-stop sex in the Koala enclosure ever since, and now even our own male is joining in."

The zoo's veterinarian Hanna Vielgrader added: "The only break is to eat or sleep - other than that there's no stopping them."

Chumbee's loan deal was set up when managers at Schonbrunn Zoo contacted Edinburgh Zoo after hearing that they had a male koala who was "sexually active".