Koala is a marsupial herbivore. It lives in the south and east of Australia, in some other places where there is enough moisture, eucalyptus trees grow, the leaves of which this animal feeds on.
Description of the animal
Few people can remain indifferent when contemplating a charming animal that looks like a little bear cub. Although the Australian resident has nothing to do with them. Like many other inhabitants of Australia, the koala is a marsupial mammal. It was first described in 1798, when it was found in the Blue Mountains (Australia). Since then, many people have fallen in love with the animal with a wide muzzle and small eyes, a curved nose, soft and silvery fur, shaggy ears.
Koalas are descended from their closest relatives, the wombats. They are similar to them, but differ in softer and thicker fur, their ears are slightly larger, their limbs are longer.
The sharp claws of the beast help it to easily move along the trunks of trees, the shape and size of the limbs also contribute to this. On the hands of the front paws there are two thumbs, which are set aside, next to them there are three more toes. This design of the palms helps the animal to easily grasp the branches, tree trunks and cling tenaciously to them, and young animals to hold onto the mother's fur. The koala, clasping a branch, sleeps on a tree, while it can be held even with one paw.
Interestingly, the papillary pattern found on the fingertips of koalas is very similar to human fingerprints, even an electron microscope can hardly detect the difference.
The size of koalas is very diverse. For example, a female living in the north can weigh 5 kilograms, and a male living in the south can be 14 kilograms.
What do koalas eat?
In the photo, the koala eats eucalyptus leaves Koalas eat only eucalyptus bark and leaves. There are more than 800 species of these trees in the world, but these animals only eat the bark and leaves of 120 of them. Interestingly, these trees are poisonous to most animals. Due to their unique digestive system, colas eat them without tragic consequences. But furry animals try to choose eucalyptus trees growing on fertile soils along river banks. The leaves and branches of these trees contain less poison. Eucalyptus trees, which grow on poor dry soils, contain more toxic substances.
The daily ration of this animal is 500–1100 g of feed
At the same time, they mainly feed on softer and juicy young leaves. Koalas hardly drink water, as eucalyptus leaves contain more than 90% of the liquid they need. Animals drink water only when they lack moisture in the leaves or are sick.
The koala is almost motionless for 18–20 hours a day
At this time, she clasps branches with her paws, sleeps or moves along the trunk in search of food, or chews leaves, which she folds into the inside of her cheeks during feeding. She jumps from tree to tree mainly to find food or to escape danger. Another unique ability of this animal is that it can swim. Koalas are rather slow, this is due to the peculiarities of their nutrition, since the leaves contain little protein. In addition, koalas have a low metabolism, it is 2 times slower than that of other mammals.
Sometimes koalas eat earth to meet their micronutrient needs.
Keeping a koala at home is almost impossible, there will simply be nothing to feed it. In the southern regions of the country, for example, in Sochi, eucalyptus trees grow, but there are no such species that koalas feed on.
Breeding koalas, giving birth to young
The breeding season for koalas is from October to February. At this time, they gather in groups, which consist of several females and one adult male. The rest of the time, each female lives in its own territory, leads a solitary lifestyle.
Koalas are pretty quiet animals. Loud screams can only be heard during the mating season. Eyewitnesses say that these sounds are similar to the grumbling of a pig, the creak of door hinges, and even the snoring of a drunken man. However, females like these sounds very much, and they respond favorably to the calling sound of males.
Another unique distinguishing feature of these marsupials from other animals is their reproductive organs. The male has a split penis, while the female has two vaginas. Thus, nature made sure that this species does not die out.
Pregnancy in koalas lasts 30–35 days. Most often, only one cub is born, which weighs 5.5 grams and has a height of 15 × 18 millimeters. Although there are cases of the birth of two. The baby is in the mother's bag for six months, this time he feeds on her milk. Over the next six months, he gets out of the bag, clinging tenaciously to the mother's fur on her stomach and back, thereby "traveling" through her body.
For the next 30 weeks, he eats semi-liquid maternal excrement, consisting of a slurry of half-digested eucalyptus leaves. Here there are microorganisms valuable for the baby and necessary for his digestive process. After a month, the cubs become independent, but even up to 2–3 years old they are with their mother.
Males enter puberty at 3–4 years, and females at 2–3. Reproduction occurs in them once every 1 or 2 years. Life expectancy is 11–12 years, although there may be exceptions, there are cases when koalas lived for 20 years.
In the wild, the marsupial has no enemies, most likely because its meat smells like eucalyptus. Animals are tamed pretty quickly, they are condescending to the person who picks up. But at the same time, we must not forget about the sharp claws of the animal, so you need to stroke it carefully.
Koala can be like a child, when the animal is alone, he can cry and yearn. In the wild, drought, fires, poachers kill these touching animals. Cutting down eucalyptus trees also contributes to their extermination.
Related videos:
Photos of koalas:
