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Koalas are only found in small bush land habitats on the eastern coast of Australia.
- The word “koala” is aboriginal for “no drink.”
Koalas get the water they need from their food.
- Their scientific name “phascolarctos
cinereus” was given by Europeans and means “ash gray pouched bear.” However, they
are not related to the bear family at all. They are marsupials.
- The koala baby is called a “joey.”
- Gestation for koalas is only
35 days, and only one koala bear is born at a time.
The baby koala bear is earless, blind, hairless and about the size
of a jelly bean! It uses its sense of touch and smell
to get into the mother koala’s
pouch. It also has strong
front legs and claws. The joey stays inside
the mother’s pouch for about 7 months.
- A koala can weigh 6 to 10 kilograms.
Females are smaller than
males. Southern koalas are larger and have browner fur than northern koalas.
- The koala does not have an external tail.
- Koalas live to be 8 to 10 years of age.
- Koalas eat the leaves of about 50 of the 600 species of eucalyptus trees in Australia.
Eucalyptus leaves would be poisonous to most animals, but koalas
have bacteria in their stomach
that breaks the leaves down.
 - Koalas
sleep about 18 to 19 hours a day, and they are active at night.
- A koala can climb 45 meters to the top
of a tree, and can leap from treetop to treetop.
- Koalas have a thick woolly fur. It protects them from temperature changes. It also
helps repel moisture when it rains.
- When afraid, koalas cry like a
baby screaming. They may also
hum, murmur and grunt. All koalas make a
sound like a snore called a “bellow.”
- Koalas once numbered in the millions.
But they were hunted for their fur in the
1920s. It caused a huge decline in their population. They are also
often killed by cars when they come down from trees. Today, there
are less than 100,000 koalas left.
- Australian laws prevent the harming of koala bears. |
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