overview:
The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to
Australia. The koala is found in coastal areas of the mainland's eastern and
southern regions, inhabiting Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South
Australia. It is easily recognizable by its stout, tailless body and large head
with round, fluffy ears and large, spoon-shaped nose. Their colour ranges from
silver grey to chocolate brown.
Koalas typically inhabit open eucalypt woodlands, and the
leaves of these trees make up most of their diet. Because this eucalypt diet
has limited nutritional and caloric content, koalas are largely sedentary and
sleep up to 20 hours a day. They are asocial animals, and bonding exists only
between mothers and dependent offspring. Koalas have few natural predators and
parasites
Koalas are marsupials, related to kangaroos. Most marsupials have
pouches where the tiny newborns develop. A koala mother usually gives
birth to one joey at a time. A newborn koala is only the size of a jelly
bean. Called a joey, the baby is blind, naked, and earless. As soon as
it's born, this tiny creature makes its way from the birth canal to its
mother's pouch. Using the two well-developed senses it's born with—smell
and touch—along with its strong front legs and claws and an instinct
that tells it which direction to head, the baby koala reaches the pouch.
There it stays, safely tucked away, growing and developing for about
seven months.
After a baby has been in the pouch for about six months, its mother
begins to produce a special substance called pap. The joey feeds on
this in addition to the milk it's already getting. Pap comes from the
mother's intestines and contains bacteria that the joey needs to have in
its own intestines so that it can digest an adult diet of eucalyptus
leaves.
At about seven months, the joey leaves the pouch to eat leaves, but returns to it to nurse. By the time the joey is about one year old, it stops nursing and eats just leaves.
the life cycle of the koala
At about seven months, the joey leaves the pouch to eat leaves, but returns to it to nurse. By the time the joey is about one year old, it stops nursing and eats just leaves.
Koala facts:
- Koalas are not bears, but MARSUPIALS, which means that their young are born immature & they develop further in the safety of a pouch. It’s incorrect to call them ‘Koala bears' - their correct name is simply 'Koalas'.
- Koalas are not bears, but MARSUPIALS, which means that their young are born immature & they develop further in the safety of a pouch. It’s incorrect to call them ‘Koala bears' - their correct name is simply 'Koalas'.
- Habitat loss is the greatest threat to Koalas.
The main reasons for this are land clearing, bushfires and diseases of the
eucalypts, like ‘dieback' which cause the trees to die.
-The Australian Koala Foundation estimates that there are
likely to be less than 80,000
Koalas remaining in Australia today and it could be as low as 43,000. Much of their habitat
has already been lost. This makes it vitally important to save what is left.
- Koalas in the southern parts of Australia are considerably
larger and have thicker fur than those in the north. This is thought to be an
adaptation to keep them warm in the colder southern winters.
- Koalas also communicate with each other by making a range
of noises. The most startling and unexpected of these in such a seemingly
gentle animal is a sound like a loud snore and then a belch, known as a ‘bellow'
- Baby Koalas are known as ‘Joeys'.
- When the Joey is born,
it is blind until it’s 22 weeks old,, and it’s only about 2 centimetres long, is blind
and furless and its ears are not yet developed. After it was born prematurely,
it stays in its mother’s pouch for about 6 or 7 months,
drinking only milk.
the life cycle of the koala
-first, males starts bellowing to attract female koalas
-Then they mark the trees with their scent
-They fight for their territory and their mate
-They mate with female koalas. The breeding season runs from
august to february
-then the female carry the babies inside their stomach for
35 days before finally giving birth
-the joey stay in their mother’s pouch for 2 weeks, attached
to the nipples
-from about 22 to 30 weeks the babies feed ‘pap’ from their
mother, pap is a milk produced by the mothers until a year old
-young koalas stay on their mother’s back until they are
much older, or at least until they the mother produced the next season baby
koala
so that's it about koalas!! hope you enjoy it and give you more knowledge of animals. thank you..
xx,
putri radityasari
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