As such, they have to sleep nearly 20 hours a day, conserving energy and allowing time for their bodies and the microbes in their digestive tract to process the eucalyptus leaves. Also, given that they almost exclusively eat eucalyptus leaves, this tends to introduce very little caloric and nutritional value into their diet. In fact, they simply have very slow metabolisms and it takes a long time for their bodies to process these leaves, which are normally poisonous to most animals. They also are very solitary animals, preferring to be by themselves most of the time, so make poor pets.Īnother myth surrounding Koala’s is that they sleep most of the day because they are intoxicated by the eucalyptus leaves they eat. So snuggling with a Koala would feel about like snuggling with sheep, only Koalas have long claws and incredibly strong grips. Their fur is not soft and fluffy like it appears, but rather has more of the consistency of wool. While Koala’s may look cuddly, they are anything but. Around this same time, Koalas were also often referred to as “tree-bear”, “sloth”, “monkey-bear”, and other such names by these same settlers. They frequently would name new animals they saw based on what animal it looked like that they were familiar with. The name “Koala Bear” is thought to come from English speaking settlers around the 18th century. Unlike most marsupials though, a female Koala’s pouch opens downward, rather than upward. Marsupials have the distinctive feature of a pouch, called a “marsupium”. So if they aren’t a member of the family Ursidae (bears), what are they? In fact, they are marsupials, along with kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, and possums, among others. SEEtheWILD also partners with Echidna Walkabout, a tour operator and major advocate for the conservation of koalas.Koala “bears” aren’t a type of bear at all, as it turns out, and their non-scientific name doesn’t include “bear” on the end, as is commonly spoken outside of Australia by the English speaking world. Check out a few of the organizations that are working hard to keep koalas safe and healthy: Many efforts are focused on habitat conservation. While the threats to koalas are very real, there are also a growing number of organizations that are fighting back and working towards conservation of these iconic animals. Koalas are well-known to contract chlamydia, causing blindness, pneumonia, UTIs causing infertility. In addition to habitat loss, koalas are also affected by human disturbance, injury & death by motor vehicles, dog & cat attacks, pesticides, food & territory competition, and increased stress causing disease. Habitat loss is the number one threat to koalas. As eucalypt forests are being cleared to make room for human settlement, mining, forestry, factories, roads, and more, the koala is losing its habitat. Koalas are increasingly susceptible to declining populations for several reasons. She will become very aggressive toward them, forcing them to move on. As soon as the mother becomes pregnant again, the bond with her previous joey is severed. It will learn to climb and begin to spend more and more time away from the mother, and at 12 months will be fully weaned.

For the next 6 months of its life, the joey emerges from the pouch and clings to its mothers back as a mode of transportation. The pap is a supplementary protein source to transition from a milk to leaf diet. When the joey has reached six months of age, the mother will start to prepare it for its eucalyptus diet by pre-digesting the leaves and producing a fecal pap. The joey then crawls to the mother’s pouch where it will finish its development. They are also born as an embryo with well-developed forelimbs, lips, a functional respiratory, urinary, and digestive systems. The average gestation period is from 33-35 days, then the female will birth the joey. The koala is a seasonal breeder and the birth of the joey occurs between October and May. They are pretty asocial, and on average spend about 15 minutes of their 4 hours away conducting social behaviours. Koalas do not receive much energy from their diet, so they sleep up to 20 hours each day.

They can consume about 400 grams of leaves each day, over the course of 4-6 feeding sessions.

Koalas have a diet of mainly eucalyptus leaves, but can sometimes be found in other trees such as acacia, melaleuca, and more.

Koala bear