The koala is a cute, round ball of fluff with sharp claws and a big nose. This popular marsupial is Australia抯 premier icon. Despite the misconception that they live all over Australia, they are only found in small fragmented habitats on the eastern coast of Australia.
This habitat fragmentation is due to land clearing for cattle, crop production and housing.
Koalas are fussy eaters. They eat 50 species of the 600 species of eucalyptus trees in Australia. The belief that the koala is drunk on these leaves is actually a myth. Eucalyptus leaves contain 50% water and 5% sugars and starches. This is a low energy diet therefore they conserve their energy by sleeping about 19 hours a day, which makes them appear intoxicated.
Koalas have rough pads and sharp claws to climb trees. They have two opposable digits on their front paw and one claw on the hind paw and also fused digits for grooming on their hind paw. Like people, koalas have fingerprints.
The word koala is aboriginal for 搉o drink丒 This name came about because koalas hardly ever go down to the ground for water as they obtain most of it from the eucalypt leaves that they eat.
If you live in a koala habitat area and would like to help conserve this unique animal, the best thing for you to do, is plant koala food trees. To find out which type of eucalypt (gum) trees to plant, please click on the icon below.
