KOALA

• - Koalas are not bears. They are not placental

or 'eutherian' mammals, but MARSUPIALS,
which means that their young are born
immature & they develop further in the safety
of a pouch. It’s incorrect to call them ‘Koala
bears' - their correct name is simply 'Koalas'.
- Koalas are mostly nocturnal. Nocturnal animals are
awake at night and asleep during the day. Koalas,
however, sleep for part of the night and also sometimes
move about in the daytime. They often sleep for up to
18-20 hours each day
- Koalas have 5 digits on each front paw, two of which
are opposed to the others, much like our thumbs are able
to be moved differently from the fingers. This helps
them to hold firmly onto the branches and to grip their
food. The 2nd and 3rd digits on their hind paws are
fused together to form a grooming claw
- Koalas in the southern parts of Australia (left) are
considerably larger and have thicker fur than those in
the north (right).This is thought to be an adaptation to
keep them warm in the colder southern winters.
- Each Koala’s ‘home' is made up of several trees called HOME TREES.
They visit these same trees regularly. The area covered by these trees is called
the Koala’s HOME RANGE. Each Koala has its own home range, which
overlaps those of other Koalas. Unless breeding, they don’t normally visit
another Koalas home trees. The size of each home range depends upon a range
of factors including the quality of the habitat and the sex, age and social
position in the population of the Koala.
- A mature male has a dark scent gland in the centre of
his white chest which exudes a dark, sticky substance.
He rubs this on his trees to indicate to other Koalas that
this is his territory
- Baby Koalas are known as ‘Joeys'. Scientists
often refer to them using terms like ‘juveniles',
‘pouch young' and ‘back young'.
- Younger breeding females usually give birth to one
Joey each year, depending on a range of factors.
However, not all females in a wild population will breed
each year. Some, especially older females, will produce
offspring only every two or three years.-
 - When the Joey is born, it’s only about 2 centimetres long, is blind and
furless and its ears are not yet developed. On its amazing journey to the pouch,
it relies on its well-developed senses of smell and touch, its strong forelimbs
and claws, and an inborn sense of direction. Once in the pouch, it attaches
itself to one of the two teats which swells in its mouth, preventing it from
being dislodged from its source of food.
- The Joey stays in its mother’s pouch for about 6 or 7 months, drinking only
milk. Before it can tolerate gumleaves, which are toxic for most mammals, the
joey must feed on a substance called ‘pap' which is a specialised form of the
mother’s droppings that is soft and runny. This allows the mother to pass on to
the joey special micro-organisms from her intestine which are necessary for it
to be able to digest the gumleaves. It feeds on this for a period of up to a few
weeks, just prior to it coming out of the pouch at about 6 or 7 months of age.
- After venturing out of the pouch, the Joey rides on its mother’s
abdomen or back, although it continues to return to her pouch for
milk until it is too big to fit inside. The joey leaves its mother’s
home range between 1 and 3 years old, depending on when the
mother has her next joey
- Koalas have an unusual fibre-digesting organ called a caecum. Other
mammals, including humans, also have a caecum, but the Koala's is very long
(200 cms) and it has a blind end. It contains millions of bacteria which break
down the fibre into substances which are easier to absorb. Even so, the Koala
is still only able to absorb 25% of fibre eaten, hence their need to eat large
amounts of leaves.
- An adult Koala eats about half a kilogram to one
kilogram of leaves each night, depending on many
factors, including the size and sex of the koala and
where the Koala lives.
- Koalas don’t normally need to drink as they get all the
moisture they need from the gumleaves. However, they
can drink if necessary, such as in times
of drought when the leaves may not contain sufficient
moisture.
- Female Koalas are fully mature by about 2 years of
age and males by their third or fourth year. By this
time they need to have found their own home range,
either in a home range left vacant by a dead Koala or in
a new area of the forest. This is one reason why Koalas
need quite large areas of habitat.
• - Koalas do not live in rainforests or desert areas.
They live in the tall eucalypt forests and low
eucalypt woodlands of mainland eastern
Australia, and on some islands off the southern
and eastern coasts. Queensland, NSW, Victoria
and South Australia are the only states where
Koalas are found naturally in the wild.
- Koalas also communicate with each other by making a range
of noises. The most startling and unexpected of these in such a
seemingly gentle animal is a sound like a loud snore and then a
belch, known as a ‘bellow'