Koalas

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.

Koalas have very strong claws suitable for gripping trees and climbing. The shape and design of their fingers enables them to act like opposable thumbs. 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.

Koalas are essentially solitary animals, but they live in communities where the social structure is quite complex. Koalas are territorial, but each koala within the social group has its own specific range for feeding, which may or may not overlap the range of its neighbour. There is always one dominant male in each social group, but he is by no means the only male.

Koalas do feed alone and travel alone, but they understand their own social structure. When one of their community dies, another does not immediately move in and take its place. It takes about a year for the scent of the previous occupant to fade, and only then will another koala move in to its range.

The average 7 lb. newborn baby weighs 3.178 kg.

Although koalas are solitary animals, they live in structured communities with a dominant male. There is no specific number of koalas in a community, which can overlap with other communities extend across an area of a square kilometre. There may be several dozen koalas within community.

Yes - koalas have joeys once a year, usually during the summer months. And yes - koala young are called joeys, just like other marsupial young.