What is Koala?

They are soft, furry lovely animals just like teddy bears. Yes! But shall we find out more about them? Sure!

Last summer I have been to Australia to visit these lovely animals. I still remember that when I touched it, the feeling was special. They were softer than I thought. They were lovely and well behaved too.

Native animals in Australia

European who visited Australia first discovered koala. The aborigines (native Australia) called these furry gentle animals by names such as Koobor, Colo and Koala. Europeans added names Bangaroos, native bear. Nowadays in biology textbooks, these lovable little animals are called Phascolarcots Cinereus. However, we all named it as Koala, which means ‘no drink’.

The appearance

Adult male Koala are about sixty-one centimeter tall when they are standing on all four and weighs between eleven to fourteen kilograms. Females are slightly smaller.

Koala’s heavy coat makes it look bigger. The brownish Grey fur grows in two layers, called guard hair and under fur. The fur on its belly is lighter in colour and is not as thick.

Koala have soft thick fur, a large hairless nose, fuzzy ears, a pair of bright, yellow-brown eyes and a very short tail which almost invisible.

Its front legs are slender and more heavily muscled. They have sharp, curved claws and leg toes

Marsupials

Koalas are marsupials. Like most marsupials, young koalas are born after growing for only a few weeks in their mother’s bodies. The tiny, hairless newborn climbs into pounches on their mother’s bellies. Safe in the pounch, they complete their development after seven months.

Activity

Most of the days, the koala sleeps in a fork of tree. They move about and feed at night though most of their activity takes place just after sunset.

Diet

Koalas love gum leaves but these contain no drugs. Only a few species of eucalyptus are suitable for food trees. The koalas should be avoided from those poisonous trees.

Eucalypt leaves have a high water content, so koalas normally don’t need to drink as they obtain enough water for the leaves.

Adult koalas can eat as much as 1 kg of leaves a day. The koala is never without food because eucalyptus never sheds all its leaves.

Habitat

Temperature seldom goes over 30 degree C in the areas where koalas live. When a storm blow in, the koalas curl into ball and turn their back to the wind. Its thick fur insulates it from extreme of heat and cold. Koalas tend to spend their life within a few miles of where they were born unless there are disasters.

A body built for eucalyptus

The koala’s mouth, teeth and digestive system are adapted to eating eucalyptus leaves and bark. They nip off leaves and chew them with 8 incisors, 2 canines, and 20 molars. The koalas have cheek pounches for storing leaves until it’s ready to finish chewing.

Eucalyptus leaves are hard to digest, even when they are young and tender. Nature solved this problem by giving the koalas an extra-long storage area in the small intestine, called the caecum.

If pulled straight, a koala’s caecum would be four times longer than its body. Leaves are kept in the cecum that gives bateria time to turn the cellulose into useful carbohydrates.

Lonely Koalas

Safely tucked away in these trees, koalas are content to be alone. They don’t seem to need much social content. When there are two adult koalas in a tree. They will ignore each other. Only in the breeding seasons (from November to February) male koalas become more active.

Natural Enemies

Threatened only by fires and droughts, millions of koalas once lives are almost predator free life. Wild dogs and owls preyed on young koalas only if the mothers weren’t careful. So, koalas live as long as twenty years.

However, the greatest enemies were hunters at one time. The hunter needed their fur but luckily, they become protected animals. Anyone who killed them is illegal. So, their life is well protected.

I hope people can really protect and love them because they are lovely creatures. If they never exist, the world would miss them very much.

Passage written by 5E Li Wing Man Christie