KOALA

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/animals/pictures/mammals/k/koala/koala_02.adapt.885.1.JPG

About the Koala

Though often called the koala “bear,” this cuddly animal is not a bear at all; it is a marsupial, or pouched mammal. After giving birth, a female koala carries her baby in her pouch for about six months. When the infant emerges, it rides on its mother's back or clings to her belly, accompanying her everywhere until it is about a year old.

Sleepy Behavior and Eucalyptus Diet

Koalas live in eastern Australia, where the eucalyptus trees they love are most plentiful. In fact, they rarely leave these trees, and their sharp claws and opposable digits easily keep them aloft. During the day they doze, tucked into forks or nooks in the trees, sleeping for up to 18 hours.

1. Scientific classification 

Kingdom   : Animalia

Phylum      : Chordata

Class        : Mammalia

Infraclass  : Marsupialia

Order       : Diprotodontia

Family      : Phascolarctidae

Genus       : Phascolarctos

Spesies     : P. cinereus 

2. Life cycle

The breeding season for Koalas is approximately August to February. This is a time of increased amovement for Koalas, with sound levels increasing as males bellow more frequently. This is also when the young from the previous year leave their mothers and disperse. This period is the busiest for Koala carers, as suburban Koalas are on the move, crossing paths with cars and dogs, and higher rates of stress-induced sickness.

Females generally start breeding at about three or four years of age, usually producing one offspring each year. However, not all females in a wild population will breed each year; some produce offspring only every two or three years, depending on factors such as age and habitat quality. In the average female's 12-year life span, she may produce five or six offspring over her lifetime.

Female koalas bear only 1 koala a year. A newborn koala would only be about 2 centimeters long. A baby koala is called a "joey". Once born, it crawls in the mother's pouch for 6-7 months and feeds only on milk. After 22 weeks, the "joey" is able to open their eyes.At one year old, they are able to eat eucalyptus leaves from the eucalyptus trees.

from: https://goo.gl/images/GqeoMr 

Female Koalas generally live longer than males, as the males are more often injured during fights, and occupy poorer habitat. Males also tend to travel longer distances. Putting a life span on the average Koala can be misleading, as Koalas living in an undisturbed habitat would have a greater life expectancy than those living in suburbia. Some estimates for the average life-span of an adult wild male Koala are ten years, but the average survival rate for a dispersing sub-adult male living near a highway or a housing estate is closer to two or three years.

3. Uniqueness

 

 Koalas are unmistakable: they are broadly similar in appearance to the wombat (their closest living relative), but have a thicker, softer coat, much larger ears, and longer limbs, which are equipped with large, sharp claws to assist with climbing. Weight varies from about 14 kg for a large, southern male, to about 5 kg for a small northern female. They are generally silent, but male koalas have a very loud advertising call (a nasal snort that human children delight in imitating) that can be heard from almost a kilometre away during the breeding season.

 Koalas are found all along the eastern coast of Australia from near Adelaide to the base of the Cape York Peninsula, and as far into the hinterland as there is enough rainfall to support suitable forest. The word "koala" comes from the aboriginal word meaning "does not drink". The koalas of South Australia were exterminated during the early part of the 20th century, but the state has since been repopulated with Victorian stock.

 Koalas will eat the leaves of a wide range of gum trees, and even some exotic species, but they have firm preferences for particular varieties, which vary from one region to another: in the south Mana Gum, Blue Gum and Swamp Gum are favoured; Grey Gum and Tallowwood are important in the north, and the ubiquitous River Red Gum of the isolated seasonal swamps and watercourses that meander across the dry inland plains allows koalas to exist in surprisingly arid areas. Of the over 120 species of gum trees, only about 20 are not poisonous to koalas.

 from: https://youtu.be/hoataOsqfhc

Soo.. that's all from me about koala.... Thanks you & keep reading my blogger!!!

                                                                                                                               with love, Alyfa SA












https://goo.gl/images/Wv4ru5