by Clara Batton Smith

How much can a koala bear?

They may the cutest, teddy bear looking animals but koalas aren’t bears at all.  Infact, their closest living releative is a wombat.  Koalas are marsupials which means they carry their babies in a pouch.  When baby koalas are born they are hairless, eyes closed and the size of a jellybean.  The “joey” lives in her mother’s pouch for 5-6 months.  After leaving the pouch the joey rides around on her mother’s back until she has learned to take care of herself and moves away to another tree. 

Two Thumbs Up

We humans are different from a lot of other animals because of our opposable thumbs.  We have one thumb but koalas have TWO!  The thumbs along with long, sharp claws provide extra help for the koalas when climbing trees.  When a koala is ready to climb a tree he will spring up from the ground and grab onto the trunk with his claws.  He uses his front arms and back legs to pull himself up to the top branches to find a comfortable spot.    

Leaves for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Most of the time the tree a koala climbs will be a eucalyptus tree because eucalyptus leaves are all a koala ever eats.  There are over 600 types of eucalyptus but koalas can be rather fussy eaters and only like to eat about 40-50 different types of eucalyptus.  Some koalas are REALLY picky and only eat 4-6 different kinds.  Koalas rarely need to drink water because they get all the liquid they need from the eucalyptus. 

The leaves the koalas eat aren’t very nutritious so they have to eat a whole bunch of them to stay healthy.  Koalas also sleep a lot to conserve energy.  By sleeping a lot, I mean koalas sleep A LOT!  They sleep up to 20 hours every day.  The other four hours are spent eating or moving around trees in the eucalypt forest. 

Where did that noise come from?

Koalas like to spend lots of time alone.  In a koala habitat each koala usually has a certain group of trees that they will stay in.  Male koalas have a scent patch on their chests that they will rub against trees to mark their territory.  When koalas do want to talk to each other the noise that they make is quite startling.  The loud grunting, bellow comes out deep from the inside of the koala and can be heard many, many yards away.  The first time people hear a koala they are usually very surprised such a loud noise can come out of such a cute, furry animal.  Mother and baby koalas also communicate with soft clicking and humming noises as well as the occasional grunt of disapproval. 

No Tree No Me

Koalas are protected by the Australian government.  Unfortunately the places they live and the trees they live in are not.  What does this mean for the koala?  We must save the eucalyptus trees if we want to save the koalas.  One group trying to do this is the Australian Koala Foundation.  If you would like to read more about what you can do to save the koalas click here www.savethekoala.com .

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