How do koalas produce young?

Answer 1

The mother koala has a pouch in which the young are carried (and fed) until they are old enough to gain some independence. Male koalas have nothing to do with their young, however.

Like all marsupials, koala young (joeys) are tiny, blind and hairless at birth, so they are completely helpless. Using instinct and guided by its acute sense of smell, the koala joey makes its way to the pouch where it latches onto a teat. The teat swells in its mouth, securing the joey in the pouch so that it can continue its development while feeding on a continuous supply of mother's milk.

After 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.

Soon after this, the joey emerges from the pouch and spends more months clinging to its mother's back. It only leaves the parent during the next breeding season.

Answer 2

The mother koala has a pouch in which the young are carried (and fed) until they are old enough to gain some independence. Male koalas have nothing to do with their young, however.

Like all marsupials, koala young (joeys) are tiny, blind and hairless at birth, so they are completely helpless. Using instinct and guided by its acute sense of smell, the koala joey makes its way to the pouch where it latches onto a teat. The teat swells in its mouth, securing the joey in the pouch so that it can continue its development while feeding on a continuous supply of mother's milk.

After 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.

Soon after this, the joey emerges from the pouch and spends more months clinging to its mother's back. It only leaves the parent during the next breeding season.

Answer 3

As with all marsupials, the koala has a pouch, where the joey stays after birth for up to ten months. After birth, the tiny, blind, helpless joey crawls to the mother's backward-opening pouch by instinct, lured by the smell of mothers' milk, where it stays for many months.

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.

When the joey leaves the pouch, it stays for several more months on the back of its mother.

Answer 4

Koalas breed between August and February. 35 days after conception, the tiny, blind, hairless embryo emerges and moves into its mother's pouch, purely by instinct. At this stage it weighs about half a gram. Once in the mother's pouch, it then latches onto a teat, which swells in its mouth, securing it firmly so it does not fall out of the pouch. The koala baby, called a joey, feeds only on mothers' milk for 6-7 months.

To make the transition from mothers' milk to eucalyptus leaves, at about 6-7 months the joey begins to feed on "pap", which is actually a special form of the mother's droppings through which she can pass onto her joey the micro organisms which allow for digestion of eucalyptus leaves. No other animal lives solely on gum leaves, and special proteins are needed to digest them. One of the reasons the koala has a backward-opening pouch is so that the joey can stick its head out and feed on this pap which comes from the mother's own digestive system.

When the joey grows too large to fit in its mother's pouch, it still feeds a bit on mother's milk, lying on her stomach to feed, and spending the rest of its time firmly attached to her back. It only leaves "home" when the next breeding season starts.

Answer 5

Koalas are NOT bears!

They are marsupials, and give birth to their baby long before it even has hair.

The joey lives in its mother's pouch until ready to face the world.

Answer 6

Yes. All female marsupials are particularly good mothers, because their joeys are completely dependent on them, more so than placental young are on their mothers.

Answer 7

In the same fashion as all other mammals.