It’s been Koala Month this month.
Koalas look so soft and cuddly,
but they’re not.
Their fur is thick and coarse...
It smells from the eucalypt leaves
they eat all day.
Koala is an Aboriginal word
for No Drink
It’s appropriate for the Koala.
All of it’s water comes
from the leaves it eats.
Koalas usually only drink water
during droughts or after bushfires.
Australia has over 600 types
of eucalypt trees.
That should keep the koalas happy...
but, no.
They are fussy little things
and will only eat 40 – 50 varieties.
The fussiest koalas prefer
to eat from only 10 varieties!
They have a strong sense of smell
and know which tree
has the leaves they like,
without having to climb
the trees to taste the leaves.
They can also smell the
poisonous leaves
and know to avoid them.
Their paws have rough pads
to help with climbing trees
and their long claws easily
grip the branches.
They have two “thumbs”
on their front paws!
Males have a dirty brown stripe
down their chest.
(I once thought that was
because they were not clean...
but, no)
That’s their scent gland.
They rub that up against the trees,
letting all other koalas know
that the territory belongs to them.
I used to wonder at how
koalas sit in the trees and
not feel uncomfortable...
they have a thick bottom –
which acts like a cushion!
They have a pretty tough life –
most of it is spent sleeping
and lazing about!
They sleep and rest for about
20 hours a day!
(If they ate something more
nutritious than leaves,
they might have more energy!)
Koalas have babies called joeys.
They’re ugly little things,
at first.
A koala joey is about 2 cm long
and weighs less than a gram!
It’s pink, bald, blind and has no ears.
They are pretty amazing though...
using strong arms,
they use their sense of smell
and climb into their mother’s pouch.
They suck onto a teat,
which then swells,
trapping the baby koala.
And weirdly enough,
the mother contracts her strong
sphincter muscles
at the opening of the pouch,
to stop the joey from
falling out of the pouch.
Once it’s big enough,
it eats pap.
That sounds fair enough –
but pap is faeces...
specialised faeces,
but faeces none-the-less!
Female koalas usually
live longer than males.
The reason...
females are usually content
to rest up in the trees.
The males...
they have to strut their stuff!
They travel further,
looking for females
and running the risk
of meeting dogs and cars.
They also fight more!
They’re an odd little animal...
a smelly one, too...
...But,
September is Koala Month,
So... to celebrate...
... Maybe we could all
try to find a koala
and have a taste of that pap!
Or not!
There’s heaps more Koala information here.
