Koalas

No, koalas do not live in the deserts of Australia. They need eucalyptus trees for food and they do not grow in the deserts.

Koalas have a range of home trees which they move between several times a week.

Koalas have need of strong legs to climb up trees, which is where they spend a good portion of their lives. Their legs also help keep them balanced as they move around in the trees, they help support them as they sit in the trees and they help them to hold on to tree branches.

Koalas are probably best known for the fact that they happily survive on just eucalyptus leaves and flowers. Under normal weather conditions, they do not need to drink any water. All their basic needs - food, water and shelter - are provided by eucalyptus trees of particular preferred species.

Koalas breed from September to February. Females breed from 2 years of age, and males from 3-4 years after they have established their own territory. Males are extremely aggressive during mating periods.

Thirty-five days after mating, the female produces one joey weighing about 0.5 grams and about 2 cm long.

Koalas are marsupials, which means the baby koala is born in the early stages of development, and then further develops in the mother's pouch. The still developing koala must make a journey to its mother's pouch after it's born. To do so, it has strong arms that grasp its mother's fur as it makes its way to the safety of her pouch.

Koalas mate during the cool season in Australia. A dominant male will mate with as many females as he can find. Once mating is complete, the animals go their separate ways, and the male has nothing to do with raising the offspring. Koalas are capable of mating when they are two years old, but generally do not begin to reproduce until they are four or five.

The koala must eat 200-500 grams of leaves per day to meet its energy requirements. Eucalyptus leaves contain approximately 50% water, 18% fibre, 13% tannins, 8% fat, 5% carbohydrates, 4% protein and 2% minerals.

You cannot obtain a koala licence anywhere. Koalas may not be kept as pets.

At best, an Australian resident can only obtain a licence as a registered wildlife carer. This permits them to care for and rehabilitate animals that are recovering after injury.

A few specialised zoos are permitted to have koalas also.

Raccoons and possums are both warm blooded, air breathing mammals. As mammals, they nurture their young on mothers' milk. Also, both being mammals, their limbs are oriented vertically, they have a four-chambered heart and they have a flexible neck with seven cervical vertebrae.

That is where the similarities end.

Raccoons are placental mammals and possums are marsupials. True possums are found in New Guinea, Australia (including Tasmania), Sulawesi (Indonesia) and a few other small islands in the Pacific region. Raccoons are mostly found in North America. Their feeding habits are different: raccoons are scavengers, but true possums are not.

Koalas are only found in Australia. They feed on a variety of Eucalyptus leaves and they are nocturnal. Although eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to almost all animals, they are not to koalas. Koalas are an endangered specie and they are marsupials, like the kangaroo which also is only found in Australia. They are marsupials because they nurse their young and they have pouches

The male koala has a scent gland on his chest. This is how he marks his territory, rubbing the gland on tree trunks to let others know when it one of his home trees. The scent gland stains his chest fur a brownish yellow colour.

Koalas, like all mammals, blink in order to lubricate their eyes. Blinking cleanses the eye and brings moisture to keep it clean, flushing away dust particles.

Female Koalas are mature at 2 to 3 years old and the male at 3 to 5 years old. A female can have one baby a year for as many as 12 years, but generally, older females may breed only once every two years. Twins are not common, but they have been recorded. Breeding season is in the Australian spring through to summer/early Autumn (September through to March). Female koalas are pregnant for about 35 days on average. The young joey then stays in the pouch for five to seven months, after which it continues to cling to its mother's back antil about one year old.

No. Koalas are not poisonous to either their predators or to man. The Aborigines used to feast on koalas, as they were easy game. There is a mistaken belief that, because koalas feed on eucalyptus leaves, which are toxic, that this makes the koala poisonous if ingested. This is not correct.

Some confusion may also derive from people mixing them up with the platypus, which has venomous spurs on its hind legs.

Let's hope so!

The Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is a marsupial mammal and is indigenous to Australia. Their closest relative is the wombat. 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 completes the process by changing the eucalyptus leaves into digestible nutrients. The caecum is similar to the human appendix. The koala must eat over a kilogram of leaves per day to meet its energy requirements. Eucalyptus leaves contain approximately 50% water, 18% fibre, 13% tannins, 8% fat, 5% carbohydrates, 4% protein and 2% minerals. Koalas have been seen feeding in 120 kinds of eucalypt tree including Manna Gum, Swamp Gum, Blue Gum, Forest Red Gum and Grey Gum.
The Koalas have no relatives..

A koala climbs a tree in minutes, not days. A baby koala must be at least nine months old before it will climb trees on its own.

The koala is the faunal emblem of the Australian state of Queensland but beyond that, it does not symbolise anything in particular.

Following the heatwave and subsequent Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria in 2009, Sam the Koala, who was rescued by a volunteer firefighter, became a symbol of hope amid the destruction.

kangaroos can die by not eating or drinking anything for a few days or even a week they can also die by something killing it like humans or something eating it like an animal so watch out kangaroos

The Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is a marsupial mammal and is indigenous to Australia. Their closest relative is the wombat. 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 completes the process by changing the eucalyptus leaves into digestible nutrients. The caecum is similar to the human appendix. The koala must eat over a kilogram of leaves per day to meet its energy requirements. Eucalyptus leaves contain approximately 50% water, 18% fibre, 13% tannins, 8% fat, 5% carbohydrates, 4% protein and 2% minerals. Koalas have been seen feeding in 120 kinds of eucalypt tree including Manna Gum, Swamp Gum, Blue Gum, Forest Red Gum and Grey Gum.

Koalas are capable of biting and scratching, but they could not be described as being vicious. They have been known to bite if you put your fingers in their mouths and, they can scratch.

Koalas are native to Australia.

They are found throughout the states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. European settlement resulted in their extinction in South Australia, but they have been reintroduced to parts of South Australia, where colonies are thriving. Small colonies have also been introduced to the southeast corner of Western Australia.

Koalas are not found in either Tasmania (Australia's island state) or in the Northern Territory.