The Koala

The Koala

      Koalas are a unique Australian animal – they are cute and look cuddly but they are not bears! Koalas are mammals and marsupials. (http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/marsupial/marsupial.html)

      Have you ever seen a koala running around in your backyard? Even if you live in Australia it’s unlikely that you have, as koalas spend most of their time sleeping! In fact, koalas may spend up to 20 hours of each day snoozing their time away. The remaining 4 hours of the day are spent eating and looking for food, most of this activity happens at night time when we’re all sleeping.

      Koalas are arboreal – this means they live in trees and hardly ever spend time down on the ground. You might wonder how a koala could spend 20 hours a day sitting on hard branches without getting a sore bottom - imagine how uncomfortable you would feel after spending a whole day sitting in a tree! Fortunately for koalas they are lucky enough to have a special cushion-like bottom that is padded with extra layers of fur to help keep them comfy all day long.

      Some people think that koalas are lazy because they spend so much time sleeping but that is not true. The reason koalas are so inactive is linked to their diet. Koalas are herbivores which means they only eat plant material, they never eat meat, and their favourite food is the leaves from some kinds of eucalyptus or gum trees. These leaves are very nutritious but do not provide the koalas with much energy. If you didn’t have energy you would want to sleep all day too!

      Something that makes koalas very special is that the females have a pouch. This pouch is where she raises her young, feeding them milk and protecting them from danger. Even more special is that the koala’s pouch is upside down! Don’t be worried that the baby will fall out though because mum has very strong muscles in her pouch that keep the baby from falling out. When koalas are born they are tiny – about the size of a jellybean! They are pink and hairless and really don’t look anything like a koala at all. At this stage they are quite fragile so mum keeps them in her pouch, feeding them her milk, until they have developed and are ready to climb out onto her back and nibble some gum leaves. This usually happens when they are about 6 months old. At the age of one they usually leave their mum for good. Baby koalas are called joeys.

      Koalas are excellent climbers and their sharp, strong claws help them to grip onto the bark of trees. They also have two thumbs on each hand, which they use like we use our thumbs and these make it even easier for them to hold on and keep themselves from falling. Very handy!