Review author: “ZooVita”
These funny animals live in the trees of Australia. The koala is the animal with which this country is primarily associated. With all their cute, toy appearance, they resemble the teddy bears beloved by children.
The photo of the koala animal evokes delight and tenderness. You will learn about the life and habits of these funny creatures belonging to the subspecies of marsupial bears from this article.
Appearance of the animal koala
The animal looks like a bear cub, about seventy centimeters in height. In weight, even large males do not exceed fourteen kilograms, and females do not exceed five kilograms. Animals in the south are larger than their northern relatives.
The photo of the koala shows that the female has a leather pouch on her stomach, in which she carries the cub. Sometimes koalas look completely different in different photos.
The color of a koala is determined by the color of its fur. The mammal has soft, medium-density fur on its back, usually of a smoky gray, reddish or reddish hue.
What color a koala is depends on the specific habitat of the individual. On the belly, the hair is usually of a lighter shade. The fur hairs are about two centimeters long.
The koala has a large head with a flat muzzle, button eyes and mobile, large, splayed oval ears covered with fur. Strong paws with tenacious claws allow these animals to climb trees well.
There are a pair of toes on one side of the paw and three on the other. With the help of this structure of the fingers, the animal can securely fixate on the tree. A distinctive feature of koala finger pads is a unique print, like those of humans or monkeys.
The koala's thirty teeth, some of which are incisors and others are grinding teeth, are so strong and sharp that the mammal is capable of chewing the tough, dense eucalyptus leaves into a pulp.
Origin of the koala species
There is no consensus among scientists about the specific time of appearance of koalas. One group believes that the ancestors of mammals already existed more than five million years ago, while others suggest that animals appeared in Australia only three million years ago.
Due to the lack of family ties in the mammal with other animals, despite some similar features with bears, it is impossible to more accurately determine their ancestors
Where can residents of Russia see it in captivity?
The largest colony outside of Australia, which is carefully protected, is located at the San Diego Zoo. 20 individuals live in the zoo, more than 30 are loaned to other zoos in the USA and Europe. Most zoos in America that have koalas are in tropical climates (3 in Florida, 3 in California).
The first pair in Europe appeared in 1994 at the Duisburg Zoo. A year later, they had a baby. Koalas can be seen in the zoos of Edinburgh, Vienna, Madrid, Lisbon, Beauval Zoo (France, Saint-Aignan), Plankendal (Belgium, Mechelen).
Habitat of the koala animal in the wild
These mammals live only in Australia. Their habitat is the coastal regions of the country. Koalas were introduced in the twentieth century. The northernmost zone where these animals live is Magnitny Island.
A large number of these mammals died in southern Australia about a hundred years ago. The number of animals began to increase, importing them from other lands of the country.
Now mammals are located over a fairly large territory. In areas with dense eucalyptus forests, you can find many koalas. They like the high humidity of these forests, desert lands with small copses.
A sufficient amount of food determines the high population of koalas in the area. Therefore, the southern regions, abounding in rain forests, sometimes number eight individuals per 10,000 square meters, while the western territories are able to feed only one individual on land 100 times larger.
Social structure
Each individual lives in a separate territory, which it pre-marks. Females in most cases are neutral towards uninvited guests appearing on their lands. But if the male sees another koala entering his area, he will definitely attack in order to dislodge the enemy.
Even in zoos, being in the same territory, individuals try to stay away from each other, occupying opposite trees.
Koalas prefer to live alone
Nutrition of koalas in the wild
The basis of the diet of koalas is young growth of eucalyptus. Few animals still eat such vegetation, so here koalas have practically no competitors, which increases the survival factor.
Only thanks to its strong teeth is the animal able to chew foliage and rough shoots, and the special taste and aromatic properties, not to mention the significant amount of phenolic substances, do not contribute to the large number of lovers of this product.
There is practically no protein in it, and in the fall the shoots accumulate real poison. But it does not threaten koalas, since their nose allows them to find for food those eucalyptus trees where the poison content is too low for poisoning. Similar trees grow near rivers.
Lifestyle and behavior of koalas
The animal's entire life is spent on eucalyptus. The koala appears on the surface of the earth only to move to a tree where there is more food. During the day they sleep for a long time, sometimes up to twenty hours at a time.
At night, activity increases, especially in terms of eating. It takes about three hours to feed. Suddenly the animal may freeze motionless and sit in this position for several hours in a row.
Despite its inhibition, at the sight of any serious danger, the koala can quickly run in order to then hide at a height, in the crown of a tree. If necessary, the mammal swims across a river or other small body of water.
Despite the naturally quiet voice, at the slightest danger the animal is capable of emitting a very loud cry.
Koalas are characterized by recluse, loneliness and sedentism. Individuals rarely leave their homes. If a relative appears on the territory of an animal, and especially a male during the mating season, then a fight occurs between competitors.
Reproduction
The female is able to give birth to offspring already at the age of two, but the males finally mature only at the age of four. Childbirth occurs every two years. The breeding season for koalas is from September to February. Since many more females are born in the population, during this time the male visits from 2 to 5 females. To attract attention, he travels through territories, marks trees and makes loud screams. This is how he tries to attract the attention of females living nearby. If two males meet, they can fight for the attention of a female. The latter, in turn, always chooses the larger and louder one.
Baby koala
After the male has done his job, he returns to his territory and does not participate in any way in the further raising of the offspring. The pregnant female remains in place and leads her usual lifestyle: she eats and sleeps. Pregnancy lasts from 30 to 35 days. Most often, one baby is born, very rarely – two.
Interesting fact : a baby koala is born completely hairless. Its length is only 1.5 cm and its weight is 5 g.
For the first six months, the baby sits in the mother’s pouch and feeds on her milk. His body constantly receives nutrients, which it uses to increase weight, growth and organ development. Having become sufficiently strong, the child crawls out of the bag and begins to get accustomed to the world around him. He spends most of his time on the female's back.
Female with cub
Around the seventh month of life, the baby koala stops drinking its mother's milk and begins to feed on her excrement. The latter are a half-digested porridge made from eucalyptus leaves. Such a “diet” is necessary so that the animal’s body gradually gets used to adult food and learns to cope with poison. If a child immediately started eating eucalyptus, his fragile liver would simply fail due to the high load. Absorption of the mother's waste products continues for a month. When an animal feels that it is ready to eat fully, it ceases to depend on anyone for food.
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Young females live with their mother for about a year. At this age, they become independent and go in search of empty territories that they will inhabit. Males, since they develop much more slowly, can stay with their mother for two to three years.
Enemies of the koala animal in the wild
The animal's natural enemy is the wild dog. Dingo rarely attacks, but then medical attention is often necessary. There is a specialized clinic for koalas near Sydney, where they are treated after such attacks and after the animal was hit by a car.
Another enemy of the koala is man, due to the fact that he increases the number of roads in the forests of Australia. Due to their clumsiness and slowness, koalas often die under the wheels of cars.
Koalas often get cystitis, conjunctivitis, sinusitis, and chlamydia. The immunodeficiency virus, the so-called retrovirus, leads to the death of the animal in 80% of cases. It causes lymphoma, malignant tumors and damage to the immune system.
Evolution
It is believed that koalas have degraded in their development compared to their ancestors. Their brains are one of the smallest of all marsupials. And much smaller than the brain of their ancestors. Perhaps such changes are related to their diet. After all, their ancestors ate more meat than leafy foods. The scarcity of the diet could well have affected the brain volume of these animals.
Lack of intelligence often plays a cruel joke on them. For example, during fires they do not climb down from the trees, but press closer to them. Severe fires in eucalyptus forests could wipe out hundreds of koalas. For this reason, during droughts and extreme heat, forests are monitored by local authorities to prevent fires. In addition, man himself poses a great danger to this beast. The problem with koalas is that they do not know how to defend themselves and do not learn this after so many years. If you hit a koala, it will not defend itself, but will run away at best or simply do nothing.
How long do koalas live?
In wild, natural conditions, animals can live for about twelve years, and in captivity, twenty-year-old individuals are sometimes found, albeit extremely rarely.
One can note the special friendliness and calm disposition of these cute animals. They are very trusting and harmless creatures. They can be easily tamed, as the koala quickly gets used to humans.
Contemplating the measured, unhurried lifestyle of this unique mammal, you can take your mind off the hustle and bustle, calm your nerves and lift your spirits.
