Things to know about the Koala

Prelog

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Appearance

Coastal regions of Queensland, Newsouthwales, Viktoria and parts of Southern Australia, most in Newsouthwales and Viktoria.

Australien/Australia

Body statistics

Size: 60 - 80 cm
Weight: male up to 11 kg, female 8 kg, in the north part of their habitat a little smaler.

Skelett

Reproduction

Puberty: male with 3-4 years age, female with 2-3 years age
Pairing season: from December up to March (Summer on southern hemispere)
Gestation time: 25-35 days
Number of babies: 1
Albinos are possible from time to time.

Albino

Living

Behaviour: outside the pairing season a solitary tree inhabitant.
Noise expression (sound): rougher, unlovely shout, which sounds like sawing timber.
Food: Eucalyptus-leaves
Lifespan: 15-20 years

Baumbewohner / Tree habitat

Species relative to the Koala

Members of the family Phalangeridae – e.g. Tree-kangaroo, Kusus and Glidebagler.

Habitat

The Koala lives nearly solely in the upper branches of his feeding tree, a eucalyptus-type. Strongly he enfolded the trunk of the tree with his powerful legs, whereupon his sharp claws of his toes drill into the bark. As a night active animal he stays all day sleeping in a crotch. at night he climed the upper branches to eat the young tillers and leaves.

Schlafen / Sleeping

Koala and human

A 100 years ago the Koala was found wide spreaded over Australia, most in Viktoria and Newsouthwales. Sadly the colonisation of these regions have routed to a dramatic decrease of the Koala-population. Due to wide-ranging cultivation, often in form of slash and burn the forests, the Koalas was berefted of big parts of their habitat, and uncounted animals were also killed for fur-trade. In the year 1924 more then 2 million furs were exported. The massacre of the animals in such a dimension had nearly caused the extinction of the whole species.

Männchen / Male

Food and nutrition

During the evolution the Koala developed useful cheek pouches as a food storage. Also he has an alimentary system, which allowed him to live olny from eating eucalyptus-leaves.The Koala eats only 20 out of the about 300 types of eucalyptus in Australia, and also only the leaves from a special growing phase.
Koalas eat so huge quantities – on an average between 500 g and 1 kg a day – so that sometimes the food resources collapse very soon. Then special transport operations have to be made, to bring them in areas where enough food is available. The main problem to have Koalas in protected areas or zoos outside Australia is to provide enough quantities of eucalyptus-leaves from the right type to get them fed up.

Essen / Eating

Sexual reproduction

Koalas couplate between December and March, and 35 days later a single baby will be born. It weight is only 0,3 gram, it is blind and it is complete naked without any coat. Due to his instinct it founds its way trough the coat of its mother, to get into her bag., which is different to the other baged animals because it opens to the rear. In the bag the Koala baby suck at one dug, to drink the mother's milk. For about 6 month the baby grows within this bag and also eat half digested food out of her mothers bowel in the last month.
In the age of 6 month the young Koala deserted from his mothers bag for the very first time and clime to her back to latch onto it. Three month later the young Koala is fully grown and is able to feed himself. The young Koalas stay until the next pairing season at their mothers place.

Geburt / Birth

Did you know it?

	The Koala drink not at any time, but get all the liquid he needs from the eucalyptus-leaves. „Koala“ means „no water“ in the language of the australian original inhabitants the "Aborigines".
	Vocal accompanied from loud grunt, bark and screaming the pairing of these animals take place during the night high up in the trees.
	The Koala smells strong from musk and eucalyptus. You might think, this smell protect from flea and other pest to settle down in the coat.
	The Koala is a perfect swimmer.
	It is irony of fortune, but many Koalas died just in the protection areas; they were killed by the vehicles of the visitors.
	A new born Koala is as large as a bean and his weight is only 0,3 gram. His back legs are hardly developed at that time, but his front arms and claws are already good developed. Following a track of saliva, his mother has leaked for him, he crawl into her bag.

Aufzucht / Grow up

Impressum

Collected by:
Angelika & Klaus Kemmerich, Leinestrasse 4, D-30966 Hemmingen, Germany
Commets apreciated - our elektronic mailbox is post@koala-info.de
Last update was made 20.08.2006
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