04/26/2016 at 13:13 Moscow time 7 899
The koala animal, or as it is commonly called the marsupial bear, is the only representative of its kind. He received comparisons with him due to his resemblance to the plush creature.
Its striking appearance brings it closer to a soft toy. The body of the animal is not large, its weight reaches 12 - 13 kg, with a height of 71 cm.
Appearance
The koala's muzzle is flattened, its ears are impressive, covered with thick fur. A black, smooth, elongated nose can boast of its lack of hair.
The bamboo eyes are small in diameter and round in shape. The color is dark brown. The color of the fur coat can be ashy and even reddish, but it itself is short. The fur on the belly is lighter.
Another distinctive feature of the koala animal is its tail, barely noticeable on the body. The claws are sharp on the front paws - curved, the thumb and forefinger are spread out, which makes it easier to climb trees well, but they are absent on the toes of the hind feet. They swim great. They can even gallop to the desired object if they are unable to jump.
Environment and habitat
Koalas are constantly on the tree trunk. Much of the time they sleep or simply chew leaves. The bamboo bear can be found directly in the tropical forests. They inhabit the continent of Australia, mainly its southern and eastern region. They are endemic. That is, you will not see them anywhere else.
The Australian koala bear appeared more than 15 million years ago, but extermination at the beginning of the last century reduced the population, now you can’t find them in the West of the country
Many islands are inhabited artificially, transported from Victoria. Koala animals live near the coast, which dispels the popular myth that they do not drink water.
Nutrition
As mentioned above, the koala lives in eucalyptus plantations, and eats bark and greens containing toxic substances (fenoterols, hydrocyanic acid).
Endowed with a special sense of smell, mammals find young shoots where the level of toxicity is reduced. The microflora in the koala animal's stomach even copes with cellulose; the liver absorbs and processes toxic waste.
This, of course, does not exclude the possibility of poisoning, but still the risks are minimal. Receiving up to 90% of moisture from the leaves, the animals still come down to drink. Sometimes a koala may eat the ground to make up for the deficiency of important components.
Reproduction
The animal leads a solitary lifestyle and Fewer males are born. During the mating season from October to February, they gather in groups. For one male there are 3-4 females. They choose the strongest by smell. Fertilization occurs once every few years.
Bears offspring for a month and there is one, rarely a pair of cubs in the litter. Up to six months, a newborn koala feeds on breast milk and travels in its mother’s pouch, which opens in the opposite direction. After 7 months, eucalyptus pulp is added to the diet, which enters the baby’s body through the mother’s excrement. By the age of one year the baby becomes independent.
Enemies
Peace-loving animals do not have them. The meat of the koala animal is saturated with poisons, so predators are in no hurry to taste it. Except maybe dingoes.
People used to hunt, and many skins were transported to the east. Because of their gullibility, they were a good target. Their sedentary lifestyle and only 6 hours of wakefulness make them terribly phlegmatic. Natural disasters - droughts, fires - contribute to extinction.
Lifespan
The koala is a marsupial animal that lives on average 13 years; there are also old-timers - 20 years. They are susceptible to diseases of the eyes, respiratory system, and genitourinary system, which shortens their lifespan.
Red Book
The koala animal is listed in the Red Book. To ensure growth occurs under natural conditions, reserves have been created even in California (San Diego).
- Fingerprints are similar to human prints and cannot be distinguished even under a microscope.
- When they are depressed, they make sounds similar to a baby crying.
- The marsupial bear dies in fires without running away, they only hold on tighter to the tree trunk.
- The brain of the beast is only 0.2% by mass.
- But they can be tamed and become attached to humans.
- They have an unusual structure of the genital organs, two pairs each in the female and male.
The koala is a cute small animal that lives only in Australia. Belongs to the marsupial family. This animal consumes little water, hence its name, the word “koala” means “does not drink.”
The koala's generic name is Latin for marsupial bear. But this animal has nothing to do with bears; it only looks a little like a fluffy bear. Look at the photo of the koala animal, they look very impressive.
The koala is considered one of the symbols of Australia. In ancient times, they were killed for their furry skin. Also, the destruction of eucalyptus exposed the koala to extinction. Later, a ban on hunting this animal was introduced.
Description
The koala's body is short, 70–85 cm, weight 7–12 kg. The head is large, round, with miniature eyes and fluffy ears, the nose is black, not covered with hair. The tail is almost invisible, it is also fluffy.
Everyone knows what color the koala is: the fur on its back is gray or brownish, and the fur on its chest is white. The hairs on the edges of the ears are white. In northern Australia, koalas have less fluffy fur. Males are larger than females, their muzzles are wider and their ears are smaller.
The koala's lifestyle is sedentary, so it is well adapted to this. The body is covered with thick fur, thanks to which the animal is protected from bad weather and temperature changes. This is important because koalas live in trees around the clock and do not have any shelters.
Note!
The paws have nails that are strongly curved for ease of movement along tree trunks.
The koala has thirty teeth. They are adapted to eating eucalyptus leaves with a lot of fiber.
The koala's brain in relation to its body is two-tenths of a percent, which is very small compared to other animals. This is due to the low-calorie food of animals.
How does a koala live in the wild?
Koalas spend most of the day sleeping, up to twenty hours. The rest of the time is spent on feeding and moving. Animals very rarely descend to the ground.
Koalas sleep during the daytime. Koalas have slow and lazy movements. But if there is some kind of threat, the koala can move very quickly.
Note!
Koalas very rarely live in pairs; they are solitary animals. The lifestyle is sedentary. Every animal has its favorite trees to eat.
The life of a koala can reach 10 years in the wild. More in captivity.
What do koalas eat?
Eucalyptus has evergreen leaves, so koalas feed on them all year round. In one day, an adult koala can eat up to 500 grams of food. The animals do not feed on all types of eucalyptus, but only 30 out of 600.
For many herbivores, eucalyptus is poisonous and harmful. The koala is an animal with adaptations that allow eucalyptus leaves to be digested and absorbed into the body. This food is low in calories, so the animals sleep almost all the time.
Continuation of the family line
There are 7-9 females per male. Puberty occurs at the age of two years. The mating season takes place in late spring. This can be understood by the loud roars of the males.
Note!
In one year, the female brings 1-2 cubs. Gestation lasts 30-40 days. The cub weighs half a kilogram. The baby develops for half a year in the mother's pouch. Then the mother begins to carry him on her back.
The baby koala animal becomes independent at 11-12 months, but continues to live next to its mother.
Conservation in nature
Koalas have almost no enemies. Firstly, predators do not hunt them because their meat smells like eucalyptus. Secondly, in Australia there are no arboreal predators, and koalas live in trees almost around the clock
The number of koalas in nature can be up to one million. No one did any calculations. The main problem with the disappearance of koalas is deforestation; up to 400 thousand hectares of forest are destroyed every year.
What is useful and what is harmful
The koala animal is cute and kind, but it can harm and help a person.
Zoos love koalas. You can see many photos of koalas and people together. But breeders often conduct experiments on these animals.
Koalas are not harmed on purpose, but only due to lack of food. They can get out onto the road, which leads to accidents in transport, the color of the koala is gray, so they can sometimes be missed.
The koala is an unusual animal that has not been fully studied.
Koala photo
Koalas are very ancient animals. They reached their diversity approximately 34-24 million years ago. According to archaeological data, at that time there were up to 18 species. The modern species most likely appeared 15 million years ago. There is a theory that tree kangaroos and koalas evolved from a common ancestor.
The first mention of this bear-like animal appeared at the end of the 18th century in Price J.'s report on a trip to the Blue Mountains.
- In 1802, the remains of a koala were sent for study by officer Barralier,
- In 1803, a living representative of the species was captured. After which the newspapers published his description.
- In 1808, they were finally identified as a species similar to wombats.
Appearance
Koalas are similar to wombats, but their fur is thicker and softer. The thickness of the fur reaches several centimeters. The color of the fur can be gray, reddish and even have a red tint depending on the area where the animals live. The fur on the belly is always lighter than on the back. Large furry ears and small brown eyes are located on the rather flat front of the muzzle. The weight of an adult can reach 16 kilograms and a height of 80 centimeters. The tail of animals is very similar to the tail of a bear - short and almost invisible. Because of their appearance, they are often called marsupial bears.
Long limbs are adapted for climbing trees. So, the front paws have 2 toes that oppose the other three. All fingers (except the thumbs) end in sharp claws, which helps when climbing trees. In addition, this arrangement of toes on the front paws allows the cubs to tenaciously hold on to the fur of adults. The hind legs also have one set toe.
One of the most interesting features of these animals is the presence of prints on their fingertips. The papillary pattern is similar to that of humans.
The teeth are similar to those of a kangaroo or wombat. Sharp and strong incisors, like other marsupial herbivores, are adapted for cutting leaves.
In addition, the koala has a pronounced binary nature of its genital organs. Females have two vaginas with two separate uteruses, while males have a bifurcated penis. In general, this binary is characteristic of all marsupials.
It should be noted that during evolution, the koala's brain has greatly decreased. In modern representatives of this species, the brain weight is only a few tenths of a percent of the total mass. In this case, the free part of the skull is filled with cerebrospinal fluid.
Lifestyle
Koalas are very slow animals. They spend most of their lives in the crowns of eucalyptus trees. Almost no one sleeps as much as a koala sleeps. During the day animals are quite passive. And even when they are not sleeping, they sit motionless, their claws firmly clinging to the tree. Thus, representatives of this species can spend up to 18 hours a day sleeping or completely immobile.
These animals are more active at night. In addition, if they cannot reach a new tree, they very slowly and clumsily descend to the ground to cross. But they jump through trees very deftly and, in case of danger, easily climb trees. Koalas can also swim, despite the fact that they only drink water during dry periods.
What do koalas eat?
Scientists have long agreed that the slowness of this species is related to their diet. These marsupials eat exclusively leaves and shoots of eucalyptus. Interestingly, at different times of the year, koalas choose the safest types of eucalyptus to reduce the possibility of departure. A developed sense of smell helps animals navigate the different types of eucalyptus.
During the day, it is enough for a koala to eat up to 1 kilogram of leaves, which are thoroughly crushed and accumulated in the form of a herbal mass in bags located behind the cheeks. They drink very rarely; all the necessary moisture is obtained from the leaves.
How do koalas reproduce?
As a rule, female koalas live separately in their own areas, which they rarely leave. Moreover, in fertile lands areas can overlap each other. Males do not defend their territories, but when they meet they often fight, injuring each other. These marsupials gather in groups only during the breeding season, which begins in mid-autumn and lasts until the end of winter.
In nature, fewer males are born than females. For one adult male there are from two to five females. To attract attention, males:
- leave scent marks on trees;
- make loud screams.
Mating occurs in trees. Like all marsupials, the koala's pregnancy lasts a very short period - about one month. As a rule, one baby is born, although there are very rare cases of the birth of two babies. The baby is born very small and remains in the pouch for up to six months, feeding on milk. For the next six months, the cub sits on the mother’s back, clinging to her fur.
Females become independent as they age from 12 to 18 months, and males can stay with their mother for up to three years. This is due to the fact that sexual maturity occurs at different times in males and females. Koalas breed rarely: approximately once every two years.
Today, zoologists are well aware of how long koalas live. In nature - up to about 13 years, although centenarians are known who lived up to 20.
In nature, koalas are found only in Australia. Moreover, they can only be found in the south or eastern part of the mainland. Kangaroo Island was artificially populated with koalas. In other parts of the world this cute and harmless animal can be found only in zoos or private nurseries.
Moreover, if until the 19th century the population was practically unregulated and animals died only due to diseases, droughts and fires, then in the 19th century, after the discovery of these animals, their mass extermination began. Koala hunting was associated with their thick fur, which was highly valued. In 1927, due to a sharp decline in the number of animals, the Australian government banned koala hunting.
A different situation has developed on Kangaroo Island, where koalas live, which were placed there artificially. In 2000, the expanding population of these marsupials led to the depletion of the eucalyptus base, and therefore, by order of the authorities, a huge number of koalas were exterminated, as they were in danger of starvation.
34-24 million years ago, when, judging by fossil remains, there were at least 18 species of marsupial bears. Among them there was such a giant as the Queensland koala Koalemus, which weighed half a ton. Modern koala Phascolarctos cinereus, presumably appeared 15 million years ago.
The koala went unnoticed by James Cook's expedition, which discovered the east coast of Australia in 1770. The first mention of it is found in the report of John Price, a servant of the Governor of New South Wales, John Hunter, on a trip to the Blue Mountains in 1798. Price writes that in the Blue Mountains there is an animal called kullavain, similar in appearance to a sloth. The koala was discovered for science in 1802 by naval officer Barralier, who discovered the remains of a koala among the aborigines and sent the animal’s limbs preserved in alcohol to the Governor of New South Wales, King. In June 1803, a live koala was captured south of Sydney, and the Sydney Gazette published a detailed description of it on 21 August. However, the koala did not receive a scientific name until 1816, when the French zoologist Blainville gave it a generic name Phascolarctos- from Greek. phaskolos"leather bag" and arktos"bear". Species name cinereus The (ash) animal received for the color of its fur.
For about half a century, the koala was only found within New South Wales. It was encountered in Victoria in 1855 by naturalist William Blandowski, and in south-eastern Queensland in 1923 by O. Thomas. Recently, the koala also inhabited South Australia, but was completely exterminated here at the beginning of the 20th century. The koala is not preserved in Western Australia, although Quaternary remains indicate that it was found here too.
Appearance
The koala is a medium-sized animal with a dense build: its body length is 60-82 cm; weight from 5 to 16 kg. The tail is very short and invisible from the outside. The head is large and wide, with a flattened “face”. The ears are large, rounded, covered with thick fur. The eyes are small. The bridge of the nose is hairless and black. There are cheek pouches.
The koala's hair is thick, soft, and durable; on the back the color varies from light gray to dark gray, sometimes reddish or reddish, the belly is lighter.
The koala's limbs are adapted for climbing - the thumb and forefinger of the forelimbs and limbs are opposed to the rest, which allows the animal to grasp tree branches. The claws are strong and sharp, capable of supporting the weight of the animal. There is no claw on the big toe of the hind limbs. Koalas are one of the few non-primate animals to have a papillary pattern on their toe pads. Koala fingerprints are indistinguishable from human fingerprints even under an electron microscope.
The brood pouch in females is well developed and opens at the back; There are two nipples inside.
Koalas are usually silent and only vocalize during the breeding season or when in danger. The calling cry of the male is described as “something between the snoring of a fat drunkard, the creaking of a door on rusty hinges and the grumbling of a dissatisfied pig.” A frightened or injured koala screams and “cries” like a child.
The size and color of this animal varies depending on where it lives. Thus, the koalas of Victoria are larger and heavier, they have thicker and denser fur of a dark gray color, often with a brownish tint on the back. In tropical and subtropical Queensland, koalas are much smaller and lighter in color, with less and shorter fur.
The appearance of the koala is a bit like a bear (hence its name - marsupial bear); and the vestigial tail, the location of the brood pouch and the dental formula bring it closer to wombats, with which it apparently had a common ancestor.
Spreading
Koalas are found in eastern Australia - from Adelaide in the south to Cape York Peninsula in the north. The koalas of South Australia were exterminated already in historical times - in the 20s of the 20th century, but this state was again populated by individuals from the state of Victoria.
Lifestyle and nutrition
Koala with baby
Koala eats eucalyptus leaves
The koala's metabolic rate is almost half that of most mammals (with the exception of wombats and sloths), which helps it compensate for the low nutritional value of its diet. A koala requires from 0.5 to 1.1 kg of leaves per day, which it carefully crushes and chews, accumulating the resulting mass in its cheek pouches. Like all mammals that feed on fibrous plant foods, koalas have a rich microflora in their digestive tract, including bacteria that convert indigestible cellulose into digestible compounds. The cecum, where the digestion process takes place, is extremely developed, reaching a length of 2.4 m. Toxic substances, entering the blood, are neutralized in the liver.
Social structure and reproduction
Baby Koala
Female koalas lead a solitary lifestyle and stick to their own areas, which they rarely leave. In fertile areas, the sites of individual individuals often overlap each other. Males are not territorial, but even less sociable - when they meet, especially during the breeding season, they often attack each other, causing injury.
Only during the breeding season, which lasts from October to February, koalas gather in groups consisting of an adult male and several females. At this time, males often rub their chests against trees, leaving odorous marks, and emit loud calling calls, sometimes heard a kilometer away. Since fewer males are born than females, harems of 2-5 females gather around male koalas during the mating season. Mating takes place on a tree (not necessarily eucalyptus).
Pregnancy lasts 30-35 days. There is only one cub in the litter, which at birth are only 15-18 mm long and weigh about 5.5 g; occasionally twins. The cub remains in the pouch for 6 months, feeding on milk, and then “travels” for another six months on the mother’s back or stomach, clinging to her fur. At 30 weeks of age, he begins to eat his mother’s semi-liquid excrement, consisting of a kind of gruel from semi-digested eucalyptus leaves - in this way microorganisms necessary for the digestive process enter the digestive tract of young koalas. The mother excretes this pulp for about a month. At the age of one year, the cubs become independent - young females at the age of 12-18 months go in search of sites, but males often remain with their mothers until they are 2-3 years old.
Koalas breed once every 1-2 years. Sexual maturity in females occurs at 2-3 years, in males at 3-4 years. On average, a koala lives 12-13 years, although there are cases where they live up to 20 years of age.
Population status and conservation
Before the arrival of Europeans, the main causes of mortality for koalas were epizootics, droughts and fires. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the koala became an object of hunting because of its thick fur. In 1924 alone, 2 million pelts were exported from the eastern states. The sharp decline in the number of this animal forced the Australian government to first limit and in 1927 ban koala hunting, but only by -1954 did their population begin to gradually recover. Although the koala has been given the status lower risk(low risk), they remain threatened by fires, eucalyptus deforestation, and ticks introduced to Australia from Japan and Indonesia. In Australia, koala parks have been created: Lone Pine Koala near Sydney and Kounu Koala Park near Perth.
Notes
Media
Koala jumping from tree to tree
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
See what “Marsupial bears” are in other dictionaries:
marsupial bears- koalos statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas taksono rangas gentis apibrėžtis Gentyje 1 rūšis. Paplitimo arealas – R. Australija. atitikmenys: lot. Phascolarctos engl. koala bears; koalas; native bears vok. Beutelbären; Koalas rus. koala;... ... Žinduolių pavadinimų žodynas
Now koalas live only in Australia - and not everywhere, but only in the southeastern part of the continent. Outwardly, they resemble small bear cubs: sedentary with thick short hair of a smoky gray or reddish color, small round, blind eyes, a flattened oval nose, a short tail and large, widely spaced ears with long hair at the edges.
Nowadays, koalas are one of the symbols of Australia, but once upon a time European settlers quickly pushed them out of Australia and at the same time almost destroyed them because of the rare beauty of their soft coat with three-centimeter fur. But these animals appeared on the mainland more than 30 million years ago, and according to the beliefs of the local aborigines, they were also once people.
How the animal appeared: the Aboriginal version
Old legends of local aborigines tell about an orphan boy, Kub-Bor (Marsupial Bear), who, although raised by his closest relatives, did not like him very much, and therefore was constantly offended. The boy was taught to survive in the forest and get food. Therefore, he had no problems with food, but with water it was difficult, since Kur-Bor was constantly thirsty.
When one day all the adults went to hunt and gather food, forgetting to hide the buckets of water, a child saw them and gradually drank all the contents, leaving the tribe without water. After that, he climbed onto the eucalyptus and began to monotonously sing a song, from which the tree, on the top of which he was sitting, began to grow extremely quickly, and by evening it turned out to be the largest in the entire forest. And then the Daens (aboriginals) returned.
They found no water, but found a child hidden in a huge eucalyptus tree. At first they could not reach Kur-Bora, because the branches of the huge tree were extremely high. But then two of them managed to climb the tree. The boy was grabbed by them, beaten right at the top of the tree, and thrown down.
Naturally, Kur-Bor crashed to his death. But when the natives approached him, they saw that the boy gradually began to turn into a koala. Having completed the transformation, the animal came to life, rushed to the eucalyptus tree and climbed up.
The last words the Daen heard from the koala were that if he and others like him were killed in order to eat, they would only need to cook him whole. If anyone disobeys, its spirit will come out of the carcass of a killed animal and severely punish the offenders - such a drought will come that neither people nor animals will be able to survive it. Only koalas will survive, for which the moisture contained in eucalyptus leaves will be sufficient.
The koalas themselves, according to the beliefs of the aborigines, have not drunk water since then. Their ancestor, being a man, drank plenty of it. This belief arose for one simple reason: almost no one had ever seen these animals at a watering hole before.
Scientists' version
It is believed that the koala family appeared more than 30 million years ago, and consisted of at least eighteen species (some of which were thirty times larger than koalas). As for “modern” animals, they are much younger. Their age is only 15 million years.
Europeans discovered this animal at the beginning of the 19th century. These were the remains of a koala found among the natives. Officer Barralier discovered them, preserved them in alcohol and sent them to the Governor of New South Wales. And a year later, the animal itself was caught near Sydney.
At first, koalas were found only in the southeast of Australia, as well as in the south of the continent (but they were quickly exterminated there at the beginning of the 20th century in pursuit of profit). It is believed that these animals also lived in the west of the continent, as evidenced by the remains found there.
Characteristics of the species
Scientists still have not been able to clearly determine what species of animal the animal living in Australia belongs to. At first they thought it was a panda or a bear, then they decided that its relative was a wombat, a kangaroo or an opossum (all of them, like the koala, are herbivorous marsupials). But if the relationship does exist, then researchers have not yet been able to trace their roots.
Features of the animal
The koala itself is not a large animal. The weight of a large male from the southern part of the continent is about fifteen kilograms, a female from the north is ten kilograms less. The average length of an adult koala is about eighty centimeters.
The marsupial sleeps in trees approximately twenty hours a day. It is active at night, climbing the tops in search of leaves. During the day, even if the animal is awake, it sits motionless or sleeps, hugging the eucalyptus with its paws.
The animal has interesting characteristics that distinguish it from other animals, because of which it was classified as a separate species.
Paws
The koala's paws are ideal for climbing trees and allow an adult to easily grab tree branches and a baby to hold on to its mother's back. The animal sleeps only on the eucalyptus, tightly grasping the tree with its paws:
- The koala has two grasping fingers on its front paws, located slightly apart from the rest;
- The other three fingers are located along the hand;
- All fingers on the forelimbs have extremely strong claws;
- The big toe on the koala's foot does not have a claw (unlike the other four).
- All of the koala's fingers have fingerprints that are extremely human-like.
Teeth
The animal's teeth are designed to chew grass. That’s why their incisors are like razors and can quickly cut leaves. The remaining teeth are grinding, separated from the incisors by a wide gap.
Intelligence and acumen
Alas, modern koalas are stupid. If the brain of their ancestors completely filled the cranial cavity, then in the animals that have survived to this day, it is much smaller. According to one theory, this happened due to the fact that koalas feed mainly only on eucalyptus leaves and shoots, which contain an extremely low level of energy.
Therefore, the brain of modern koalas makes up only 1.2% of their total weight, and forty percent of the cranial cavity is filled with cerebrospinal fluid. Lack of intelligence negatively affects the lives of the animals themselves. For example, accustomed to seeking salvation in trees, they do not always consider it necessary to get down from them and escape from a fire. Instead, they only press closer to the eucalyptus trees.
Character
The koala is an extremely calm animal. He sleeps from 18 to 20 hours a day, the rest of the time he devotes to eating. The koala lives in a tree, and mainly descends to the ground only to move to another eucalyptus tree, which it is not able to jump to in the air.
They jump from eucalyptus to eucalyptus extremely easily and confidently. If they decide to flee, they are even able to break into a fairly brisk gallop in order to climb the nearest tree.
Nutrition
As for the slowness of the koala not in emergency conditions, this is primarily due to its diet. It feeds only on shoots and leaves of the eucalyptus tree. The koala's metabolism is two times slower than that of other mammals (except wombats and sloths) - this feature compensates for the insufficient nutritional value of eucalyptus leaves.
The question of why koalas prefer eucalyptus leaves puzzles many. Because eucalyptus leaves are not only fibrous and low in protein, but they also contain phenolic and terpene compounds and even hydrocyanic acid, which are extremely poisonous to almost all living organisms.
As for koalas, deadly poisons that enter the blood from the intestinal tract are completely neutralized by the liver. The animals have a very long cecum - almost two and a half meters (in humans - no more than eight centimeters). It is in it that poisonous food is digested. In the intestines of koalas there are many bacteria that process leaves into compounds digestible for the koala.
The animal eats about one kilogram of leaves per day, crushing and chewing them very carefully. And what’s interesting is that the resulting mass is stored in the cheek pouches.
Koalas do not eat leaves from every tree: their extremely good sense of smell allows them to choose only those plants with fewer toxic compounds. Therefore, out of eight hundred species of eucalyptus, koalas eat only one hundred and twenty. And then, when their nose tells them that the food has become too poisonous, they go to look for another eucalyptus suitable for themselves (if the koalas did not have the opportunity to change the tree in time, they often became victims of poisoning).
They give preference to trees that grow on fertile soil - they are less poisonous. To compensate for the lack of minerals in the body, animals sometimes eat soil.
Eucalyptus leaves are also a source of moisture for the koala. They drink water mainly during droughts or when they are sick. In Australia, these animals have recently been increasingly found near their swimming pools when they come to drink water.
Temperature
Koalas do not have a layer of subcutaneous fat that can protect them from the cold. Firstly, if the temperature is too low, their fur helps them out (their fur is water-repellent), and secondly, in order to retain heat, their blood circulation, like that of humans, slows down.
Communication
Koalas are considered almost the most defenseless and harmless animals in the world. They don’t attack anyone and have absolutely no idea how to defend themselves. If you hurt them, at best they will run away; most likely they will not hit or bite back.
But this animal can cry. And he can cry as long as the pain causes him inconvenience. And the koala cries like a child - loudly, tremblingly and hysterically. The same sound can also symbolize the presence of danger.
Koalas are surprisingly silent. Since they live quite far from each other, they use a fairly wide range of sounds to communicate with their own kind.
Males, in order to show their social and physical position, grunt in a peculiar way, and thus find out which of them is cooler (they are not going to waste strength and energy on fights, and if this happens, it is quite rare). Females scream much less often, but sometimes they are able to express aggression with roars and grunts, and also use this sound to express sexual behavior. But mothers and their cubs do not roar - they make quiet, quiet sounds, reminiscent of clicking (to “talk to each other”) or grumbling (if they are dissatisfied or irritated with something).
Cries during mating season
When the mating season begins, the males make a calling sound so loud that it can be heard a kilometer away. Interestingly, this sound is extremely loud and at the same time at a low frequency, which is not typical for small animals the size of a koala. They manage to produce it only with the help of the vocal cords that are located behind the larynx.
The female chooses a groom for herself based on these calling calls (in any case, preference is given to larger individuals). Despite the fact that the male’s songs remind us of the snoring of a drunkard, the angry grumbling of a pig or the creaking of rusty hinges, females extremely like such sounds and attract them.
The better the koala screams, the more brides he will gather, since there are significantly more females than males. In one season, one male can have about five wives.
Offspring
Koalas breed once every one to two years. Females start a family at the age of two, males at the age of three to four years.
The mother carries the baby for thirty to thirty-five days. Usually only one baby is born; twins are extremely rare. The length of a small koala is from 15 to 18 mm, weight is about five grams, while it is hairless and completely blind. Immediately after birth, the baby climbs into the mother's pouch, where he spends the next six months. To prevent the baby from getting hurt and falling out, the “entrance” to the pouch is located not at the top, like in a kangaroo, but at the bottom.
At first he feeds on mother's milk. She gets used to it gradually, and the transitional food is quite original: the mother regularly excretes special feces in the form of a liquid porridge from semi-digested eucalyptus leaves. The baby needs such food because it is the only opportunity to get the microflora he needs, since bacteria live in the mother’s intestines that help the body cope with food that is indigestible for the baby’s stomach.
True, this diet does not last long; after a month he begins to feed on the leaves themselves, and at the age of seven months he moves from the pouch to his mother’s back. A fully grown koala finally leaves its mother’s embrace in one year. But not all of them leave: while young females go to look for sites for themselves, males quite often remain to live with their mother for up to three years.
Dangers
Typically, a koala lives from eight to thirteen years (although in captivity there have been cases where animals lived to be twenty). Their number for some time (until the Australian authorities began to solve this problem) was declining very quickly. If at the beginning of the 20th century the number of koalas was 10 million individuals, then after a hundred there were only 100 thousand left, most of which live in private territories. According to various sources, only 2 to 8 thousand of them live in the wild.
In nature, koalas have practically no enemies - apparently, the animal, imbued with the eucalyptus aroma, scares away enemies with its smell. Only people eat them, and wild dingoes can attack animals, but this is also a rare occurrence, because koalas rarely go down, and dogs do not jump in trees.
Just recently, these animals were on the verge of extinction. The main reason is both human activity and their extreme susceptibility to various diseases.
Diseases
Koalas are quite sickly animals - apparently, the monotonous diet affects them. They are especially susceptible to cystitis, periostitis of the skull, and conjunctivitis. Sinusitis often causes pneumonia in them, which greatly reduced the population at the beginning of the last century.
The animals are also killed by the viral bacteria Chlamydia Psittaci, which is secretly considered to be the “AIDS” of koalas. They affect the ureter and eyes of animals, and if they are not helped in time, the disease will first lead to infertility, then to vision problems, and ultimately to death.
Fur traders
Even before the beginning of the 20th century, a huge number of koalas (more than one million) were destroyed by fur traders, after which there were almost no animals left. And only then (in 1927) the Australian government banned the trade in koala fur, and three years later – the import of their skins. This led to the end of the barbaric extermination of koalas, and their population began to gradually increase.
Deforestation
Due to continuous deforestation, koalas are forced to constantly go in search of new trees, so they have to go down. But they are not accustomed to life on earth, since they move here with difficulty, so they become easy prey.
Cars
Due to deforestation, koalas are increasingly finding themselves on highways in search of a new home. Cars rushing at high speed frighten them extremely, the animals become numb (the so-called “koala syndrome” - males are especially susceptible to it) and stop moving or begin to rush along the road. According to statistics, about 200 koalas end up under the wheels of cars every month - and, unfortunately, many of them die.
At the same time, the authorities are trying to solve this problem in a rather interesting way: they stretch artificial vines over the highway, which connect the eucalyptus trees on both sides of the highway. The koalas appreciated this idea and willingly cross the highway.
Dogs
Once on the ground and seeing a wild dingo, the koala does not understand the danger and does not run away into a tree. As a result, she often ends up torn to pieces.
Fires
The trees where koalas love to live contain eucalyptus oil, thanks to which fires flare up extremely strongly and cannot be extinguished for a long time. The fire has completely destroyed more than one koala population.
Swimming pools
Many people will be surprised to learn how many koalas die after getting into the pool. Contrary to the popular belief that they drink absolutely nothing, they still come to water, but often not to the source, but to a structure created by human hands, which does not have the usual descents for animals. Despite the fact that they are excellent swimmers, koalas often drown when exhausted.
Drought
Due to drought, eucalyptus leaves turn black and dry out, so koalas deprived of water often die of thirst, especially those who live far from artificial or natural sources of water.
Animal rescue
If it were for the inactive activities of animal activists, we would only know about the koala from schematic drawings in their textbooks. They managed not only to push through several laws to protect these animals, but also to win over patrons who are willing to donate money to save the “teddy bears.”
In Australia, parks and reserves were created, special hospitals for these animals were organized with the latest equipment and highly qualified veterinarians. This is not much, but it helps - about 4 thousand animals are saved per year. About twenty percent of animals that fall into the hands of doctors survive.
Life in captivity
As already mentioned, most koalas live on private property, the owners of which have nothing against such a neighborhood. People are often captivated by the appearance of these cute fluffy animals that look like teddy bears, and they tame them. Koalas, although they like to be alone, are extremely friendly. They become attached very quickly, and if the person they are accustomed to leaves somewhere, the animal cries. If you pester them too much, koalas can begin to defend themselves with their teeth and nails.
Keeping a koala at home is not easy - those who want to have this animal will be required to provide it with at least one kilogram of fresh eucalyptus leaves per day, which is quite difficult. For example, in Russia these trees grow only in Sochi, but this type of eucalyptus is absolutely not suitable for koalas.