Facts about Koalas

Top Koala Facts

The closets living relative of the Koala is the Wombat. They have five fingers with a opposable thumbs on both hands. They are also among the few animals in the world to have fingernails.

They have fingerprints that are extremely similar in nature to those of humans. They can still be extremely similar when a microscope is being used to compare them.

The Koala is a herbivore which means it only eats plants. Eucalyptus leaves make up most of the diet. Eating can take up to 5 hours each day to complete.

A female Koala will have a new baby about every 2 years.  A baby Koala is known as a joey. They are born blind and without ears.

The Koala has a very slow metabolism. They are known to do nothing for about 18 hours a day.

When these animals are handled they experience high levels of stress.

There are approximately 80,000 Koalas that remain in the wild. With the slow rate of reproduction that is a huge concern.

What is interesting is that the United States government has the Koala on the threatened species list. However, in native Australia they aren’t listed as even being in danger.

At one point the Koala was almost extinct. It was being heavily hunted for its fur. It is believed that more than 1 million of them were killed in 1919.

While they Koala has a tail it is very short. You may completely miss it if you aren’t’ looking for it. The tail has little value for them in regards to movement or balance.

A Koala has front limbs that are much longer than the back ones.

These animals are nocturnal which means they spend more of their time awake in the night time hours.

In the wild the life span of a Koala is approximately 10 years. In captivity though they can live twice as long. Females tend to live longer as the males fight among themselves. Those fights can cause plenty of injuries.

The Koala has a very small brain.

While the Koala will spend almost all of its life in the trees, they can come to land to find food when necessary.

Dogs are prime predators of the Koala.

It is believed that the Koala population has declined by half in the past 6 years. It is also believed that they can become extinct in the next 30 years if we don’t pay serious attention to their needs.

You won’t find Koalas going for water as they get all they need from the eucalyptus leaves.

Koalas have trees that they live in as well as those that they consider feeding trees. This is part of how the social network for them is able to work.

There are more than 600 types of eucalyptus in the forests of Australia. However, they will only eat approximately 50 types of them.

When Koalas climb down trees, they do so backwards.

They are able to walk, to run, and even to swim. They are rarely seen swimming though which is why so many people think this is merely a myth.

They use a variety of sounds to communicate with each other. This allows them to call to each other from long distances.

Approximately 4,000 Koalas are killed annually due to accidents with cars. It is believed that 2,000 of them are killed annually by dog attacks.