What do pandas and koalas have in common?

Answer 1

To begin with, a panda is a bear, but a koala is not.

Giant pandas and koalas are both mammals but, apart from sharing common mammalian characteristics, that is where the similarity ends, especially given that koalas are marsupials, not bears like pandas.

Some of the similarities include:

• having fur
• breathe through lungs
• being warmblooded vertebrates
• four limbs
• the ability to climb
• feed their young on mothers' milk
• similar internal organs
• both are herbivores, although bamboo shoots form the primary food source for the panda, while koalas feed almost exclusively on eucalyptus leaves

Answer 2

They look fairly similar. About equally fluffy. Kinda stocky bodies.

But inside, the koala is quite different. Koalas are pure herbivores, plant eaters. Bears retain the ability to eat meat. Koalas are marsupials. Bears and pandas are placental mammals.

Answer 3

Of course. All living creatures have particular characteristics.

Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) are marsupial mammals and indigenous to Australia. Their closest relative is the wombat. As marsupials, characteristics from a "classification" point include:

• the young are born extremely undeveloped, and crawl into the mother's pouch where they latch onto a teat which swells in their mouth, securing them in the pouch
• Koalas give birth to live young, which then feed on mothers' milk
• they are vertebrates
• they breathe through lungs (rather than gills)
• they have fur (mammals have fur, skin or hair)
• they are warm blooded.

They live in eucalyptus trees and eat only a few types of gum leaves from which they get all nutrients and water requirements. Eucalyptus leaves are tough, toxic and low in nutrition, but the koala has developed a stomach which is capable of removing the toxins from where they are filtered out by the liver. The caecum, similar to man's appendix, changes the eucalyptus leaves into digestible nutrients.

Koalas have very strong claws suitable for gripping trees and climbing. Between their first and second "fingers" is a large gap, which enables them to also grip tree branches comfortably, whilst their hind legs have one toe set at a wide angle. They also have toes with thick pads which enable them to sit comfortably in a tree all day.

As with all marsupials, the koala has a pouch, where the joey stays after birth for up to ten months. When the joey leaves the pouch, it stays for several more months on the back of their mother. The pouch opens backwards. After about 30 weeks, the mother produces a substance called pap. This substance is actually a specialised form of the mother's droppings which, having passed through her digestive system, give the joey the enzymes it needs to be able to start digesting the tough gum leaves, making an easier transition for the baby koala to start eating eucalyptus leaves.

Koalas in southern regions have thick, wool-like waterproof fur to keep them warm in cold weather and dry in rain. Koalas in northern regions are smaller, with less dense fur.

Answer 4

The both have fur, climb trees, very nurturing with their offspring, both mammals.

Further information:

Pandas and koalas are both mammals but, apart from sharing common mammalian characteristics, that is where the similarity ends, especially given that koalas are marsupials, not bears like pandas.

Some of the things which pandas and koalas have in common include:

• having fur
• breathe through lungs
• being warm blooded vertebrates
• four limbs
• the ability to climb
• feed their young on mothers' milk
• similar internal organs
• both are herbivores, although bamboo shoots form the primary food source for the panda, while koalas feed almost exclusively on eucalyptus leaves

Answer 5

Pandas and koalas are both mammals but, apart from sharing common mammalian characteristics, that is where the similarity ends, especially given that koalas are marsupials, not bears like pandas.

Some of the things which pandas and koalas have in common include:

• having fur
• breathe through lungs
• being warm blooded vertebrates
• four limbs
• the ability to climb
• feed their young on mothers' milk
• similar internal organs
• both are herbivores, although bamboo shoots form the primary food source for the panda, while koalas feed almost exclusively on eucalyptus leaves

Answer 6

they are cute and adorable to look at