Koalas

“Koala Bear” or “Native Bear”. These are some of the names you may have referred to those cute little fuzzy Australian marsupials, koalas, though really koalas have no relation to any bear species. Koalas are marsupials, which means that the females have a pouch, and give birth to very undeveloped babies, or joeys. The joeys stay in their mothers pouch sucking on one of the mothers two nipples for the first seven months of their life. Then they spend the next six months of their life riding on their mothers back, or until they are weaned at one year on eucalyptus leaves.

Koalas eat a diet of mainly eucalyptus leaves. They hardly ever drink. In fact, the word koala means no drink. Koalas get their main source of water from the moisture in eucalyptus leaves. Many animals’ digestive system wouldn’t be able to obtain the oils and poisons in eucalyptus leaves, but koalas digestive system have evolved to accommodate the oils and poisons.

When fully developed koalas have thick gray fur on their back and behind their ears. They have white fur on their stomaches. Their ears are round, and they have hardly any tail. They also have large hairless noses

Koalas live in Eucalyptus tree forests in eastern Australia.

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