by Brittany Mayes

Created on: July 21, 2010   Last Updated: December 15, 2010

Koalas can't be kept as pets, however they are one of the most interesting animals to research or to just simply enjoy.  Koalas, (scientific name- Phascolarctos cinereus), are long-limbed marsupials native to Eastern Australia. These bear-like sloth-resembling marsupials have leather-like noses and ash colored fur. Their fur has a special woolly quality that protects them from extreme heat, cold, and moisture. The females are generally smaller and have longer lifespans compared to the males. Male koalas usually live to be about ten years old and females usually outlive them by only a few years.

These creatures have been dated back to over twenty four million years ago. Bones of these prehistoric animals show that they would have been much larger than our modern fuzzy koalas.  Those we see in zoos are barely the size of a fat cat. Of course, they would've been much bigger if they had lived in the dinosaur ages.

The koala was named after the Aboriginal word for "does not drink" because these animals rarely need to drink. They get their nutrients from their diet of eucalyptus leaves. These leaves, poisonous to most other animals, give koalas all the nutrients they need. They often consume as much as three pounds a day, which is a lot for their slow metabolic rate. Because they eat a lot of these leaves, koalas often will smell like cough drops.

During the day, a koala may sleep between seventeen and twenty hours. Because they are nocturnal animals, these naps usually occur during the day in tall eucalyptus trees.  In the tall trees, they are safe from lurking predators.

For koalas, mating season comes in late March and ends in September. Once a female koala is pregnant, her gestation period will last approximately thirty five days. When born, the baby is the size of a jelly bean. Joeys are born blind, deaf, and without fur. Once born, the baby uses its instincts to crawl out of the birth canal and into its mother's pouch. It stays in the pouch for about seven months. Once out of the pouch, the baby joey's diet consists of nursing milk and eucalyptus leaves. At one year of age, nursing milk is cut out of its diet and it only eats eucalyptus leaves.

Though each grown female koala can produce one joey a year, this species was considered endangered before 2010. One of the most lethal dangers to koalas to koalas is an incurable disease called Chlamydia. Chlamydia spreads through koala colonies through mating and close contact. This disease sometimes causes infertility in females, bladder and kidney infections, and eye infections that may lead to blindness.

Other dangers to koalas are sometimes caused by humans. Sometimes, koalas are hit by vehicles and injured by domestic animals such as dogs. Other harm done to koalas are not actually caused by humans. Sometimes a stray koala may wander into an uncovered swimming pools and drown or crawl up a telephone pole and fall.  Because of this specie's previous endangerment, people have carted them off to zoos and animal sanctuaries. This helps them to live without the danger of being flattened by a car.

Learn more about this author, Brittany Mayes.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.