2 of 30

Write now Article Tools

A broad face, big fluffy ears and a round nose, koalas are often a favorite teddy bear of many children around the world. The name 'koala bear' is actually misleading since the koalas are not even close to being a bear, but are marsupials. They have a pouch to carry their young as other marsupials do.

A 'phascolarctos cinereus', known as the koala bear lives in areas of Australia such as Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. In the past their range was all across the Australian continent until they became subject to poachers for fur. Today there are fewer than 100,000 koalas left.

These lovable looking mammals are gray and white in color and their fur is soft, almost wool-like. The tips of their ears have long white hairs. Koalas closely resemble the wombat but has thicker fur, larger ears and longer limbs. They also possess very sharp claws that help them climb trees. Looking even closer at this interesting creature, they are the only mammals besides primates that have their own fingerprints, meaning each koala's print are unique.

A female koala will reach maturity at ages 2 to 3 while the males will at 3 to 4 years. Mating usually occurs during Australia's summer months (December to March) and koalas only have one offspring each year. Twins are very rare.

Like a kangaroo, a baby koala is called a 'joey'. A joey is born blind, hairless and ear less. It is only a quarter of an inch long. The joey will crawl into the mother's poach for about 6 months feeding off of only milk and the mother's pap. The pap helps the joey build up the defense to digest the eucalyptus leaves when it leaves the pouch.

A koala's diet consists of mostly eucalyptus leaves which can be a toxic to other animals. Eucalyptus is rather indigestible and very low in proteins. The liver has the ability to counteract the toxins and the cecum is enlarged to absorb as much of the nutrients as possible. Even though the main diet consists of eucalyptus leaves a koala will eat other things such as manna gum, blue gum, swamp gum, gray gum, tollowwood, and red river gum.

Koala bears have a very low metabolism which results in many sleeping hours meaning they are nocturnal. They will sleep about 75 percent of their time and if disturbed can be rather vicious.

A very interesting fact about these marsupials is the theory of an animal's weird 'drug addiction'. Since a koala tends to appear rather lethargic and move slow at times this theory is based on the fact that eucalyptus oils contained a sedative drug which turned them into addicts. This theory was debunked seeing as the eucalyptus contained no drugs.

Today koala bears are not on the verge of extinction but they are a watched animal for preservation in Australia since many of their environments are being damaged. Their lifespan can exceed 10 years and have been known to live up to 15 years in captivity. The males have a lower lifespan because they can become victims to moving vehicles, dogs and fights with other koalas.

Learn more about this author, Nicole Oickle.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Animal facts: Koala bear?
We want to hear your view. Write now!