Go to Australia for visit a inhabitant of this territory. Everyone know beyond doubt who is. Yes of cause, it is koala. Koalas aren’t bears as many people are led to believe. They aren’t even related to bears. The koala is related to the kangaroo and the wombat. The koala is a mammal. The reason the koala is called a koala bear is because the koala looks like a teddy bear. The koala’s scientific name is Phasclarctos cinereus.
Today koalas live only in eastern Australia. Once millions roamed many areas of the country. By the early 1900s, hunters had shot most of them for their fur. Killing koalas is now illegal, but the koala population continues to decrease as houses and other development take over their habitat.
The koala is well suited to life in the trees. The koala has an excellent sense of balance and its body is lean and muscular and its quite long, strong limbs support its weight when climbing. The arms and legs are nearly equal in length and the koala’s climbing strength comes from the thigh muscle joining the shin much lower than in other animals.
The fur on the koala’s bottom is densely packed to provide a ‘cushion’ for the hard branches it sits on, and has a ‘speckled’ appearance which makes koalas hard to spot from the ground.
An adult male koala can weigh between 8 and 14 kilograms and a female between 6 and 11 kilograms.
The koala’s nose is one of its most important features, and it has a very highly developed sense of smell. This is necessary to differentiate between types of gum leaves and to detect whether the leaves are poisonous or not. The koala’s digestive system is especially adapted to detoxify the poisonous chemicals in the leaves.
Koala seldom drinks water obtaining it from the eucalyptus leaves, which are 50% consisting of water. Although, they can drink water if due to drought the leaves water content is reduced.
Koalas consume eucalyptus leaves and bark from 12 different eucalyptus tree species. They also consume mistletoe and box leaves.
Each koala eats approximately 200 to 500 grams of leaves per day.
The young koala drinks only mother’s milk for the first six to seven months.
At about 30 weeks, it begins to feed upon a substance called “pap” which the mother produces in addition to milk. Pap is a specialized form of droppings, which forms an important part of the young koala’s diet, allowing it to make the transition from milk to eucalyptus leaves.
Pap is soft and runny. It allows the mother to pass on micro-organisms from her digestive system.
Koalas live in societies, just like humans, so they need to be able to come into contact with other koalas. It is because of this they need to have areas of suitable eucalypt forest which are large enough to support a healthy koala population and to allow for expansion by maturing young koalas. Koalas are highly territorial and in stable breeding groups, individual members of koala society maintain their own “home range” areas.
