Koala @koalapo @koalakontrol

#koala
KoalaWild Animal

The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the wombats, which comprise the family Vombatidae.

Family: Phascolarctidae

Lifespan: 13 – 18 years (In the wild)

Scientific name: Phascolarctos cinereus

Class: Mammalia

Mass: 4 – 15 kg (Adult)

Trophic level: Herbivorous

Have you ever heard someone refer to a koala as a "koala bear?" Well, like bears, koalas are mammals, and they have round, fuzzy ears and look cute and cuddly, like a teddy bear.

But koalas are not bears. They are members of a group of pouched animals called marsupials. Marsupials include kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, wombats, possums, and opossums. Koalas look soft, but their fur feels like the coarse wool of a sheep. They also seem cuddly, but koalas are wild animals and don't make good pets.

Biology Of Koala
HABITAT AND DIET
Koalas are native to southeastern and eastern Australia, living in forests of eucalyptus trees. They are basically sedentary animals that need to sleep a lot to give them time to digest their food.

Being on the ground all the time would be a disadvantage, because predators could catch them easily. Instead, they adapted to live way up in eucalyptus trees, rear end firmly planted in the fork of branches, so they can chew leaves and nap all they want to without feeling threatened.

Eucalyptus forests are home, shelter, and food for koalas. The animals are built to live in the crooks of branches: koalas have a reduced tail, a curved spine, and a rounded rear end.

But they do travel on the ground when necessary, to get from tree to tree or to a new area. On hot days, koalas select the coolest trees and the coolest locations in those trees (against the trunk and other low, shaded branches) for resting. On cooler days, koalas are more likely to rest farther away from the trunk where they can absorb heat from the sun.

Koalas have few natural predators, although sometimes a dingo or large owl can take one. The most common direct causes of koala deaths are from motor vehicles and dogs. Koalas are definitely safest high up in trees.

Koala hands and feet are designed to curl around and hang onto tree branches very effectively. Their hands have two opposing thumbs to increase their grip (we only have one), and sharp claws to dig into bark.

The feet have a toe that is really two toes fused together, which they use to groom themselves, and a toe that doesn’t have a claw that acts like a thumb for gripping.

Rough, ridged pads on the hands and feet aid their grip and give them traction. Strong arm and shoulder muscles help a koala climb 150 feet (46 meters) to the top of a tree and enable it to leap between branches in the trees.

FAMILY LIFE
Female marsupials have a pouch in which they carry their baby, called a joey. Many marsupials, like kangaroos, have a pouch that opens upward, toward their head. But koalas have a pouch that opens toward their hind legs.

This adaptation keeps burrowing marsupials like wombats, which are close relatives of koalas, from getting dirt in their pouch when they dig. Although prehistoric koalas eventually stopped burrowing and started living in trees, they still have the primitive, back-facing pouch.

A koala, like other marsupials, begins life in a very unusual way. When it is born, it is only about the size of a large jelly bean and is not yet fully developed. In fact,

a newborn joey can't even see or hear, but it sure can climb! Soon after the joey is born, it uses strong forelimbs and hands to crawl from the birth canal into its mother's pouch.

The joey attaches to one of two nipples in this warm, safe place where it drinks milk and grows during the next six months.

Even after it starts leaving the pouch, a joey returns there when it wants to hide or sleep. Sometimes it rides on its mother's belly. After it grows too large for the pouch, the joey climbs onto its mother's back and holds on with strong hands and feet. After about a year, it can live alone in the trees.

AT THE ZOO
With their bemused expressions and adorably rounded bodies, it’s no wonder that koalas have climbed their way to the top of the “must-see” list for many of our visitors.

People love the koalas’ teddy bear appearance, but our koala keepers consider them complex and sometimes challenging little creatures with a wide range of personalities and attitudes.

Their sole sustenance is eucalyptus, making them hard for many zoos to keep, but perfect for San Diego, as our climate is great for growing the tall, fragrant trees. We have our own browse farm, where we grow and harvest fresh eucalyptus for our koalas to eat.

The San Diego Zoo received its first two koalas in 1925, as a gift from the children of Sydney, Australia, to the children of San Diego.