What does a koala eat. Where does the koala live: lifestyle and interesting features of this animal. How long do koalas live

14.06.2019

Koala or marsupial bear (Phascolarctos cinereus) - the only species of the koala family, the koala lives in eastern Australia.
The koala is a small beast of dense build, body length 60–82 cm, weight from 5 to 16 kg. The tail of the koala is very short, invisible from the outside, the head is large and wide, the ears are large, the eyes are small. The hairline of the koala is thick and soft, on the back the color changes from light gray to dark gray, sometimes reddish or reddish, the abdomen is lighter.

The size and color of the koala depends on the habitat, so koalas are larger, they have thicker dark fur. gray color, often with a brownish tint on the back. In tropical and subtropical koalas are much smaller and lighter, their fur is rarer and shorter.

The limbs of the koala are adapted for climbing - the thumb and forefinger of the fore and hind limbs are opposed to the rest, which allows the koala to grasp the branches of trees, there is no claw on the thumb of the hind limbs. The claws are strong and sharp, able to support the weight of the animal. Koalas are one of the few non-primates to have a papillary pattern on their fingertips, koala fingerprints are indistinguishable from human fingerprints even under an electron microscope.

The koala is called a marsupial bear because the koala's face is a bit like a bear, and the location of the brood bag and the dental formula bring it closer to, with which it apparently had a common ancestor.

Koalas inhabit eucalyptus forests and spend almost their entire lives in the crowns of these trees. During the day, the koala sleeps for 18–22 hours a day, and at night it climbs trees, looking for food. Even if the koala does not sleep, it usually sits completely still for hours, clasping a branch or tree trunk with its front paws. A koala descends to the ground only to move to a new tree, which it cannot jump to, and koalas jump from tree to tree with surprising deftness and confidence.

The slowness of the koala is associated with the peculiarities of its nutrition. He adapted to eat almost exclusively shoots and leaves of eucalyptus, which are fibrous and contain little protein, but contain many phenolic and terpene compounds that are poisonous to most animals. In addition, young shoots, especially closer to autumn, contain hydrocyanic acid. Due to their poisonous properties, food competition from other animals in the koala is extremely small - besides it, only ring-tailed opossum and marsupial flying squirrel feed on eucalyptus leaves.

In order not to be poisoned, koalas choose to eat only those types of eucalyptus that contain less phenolic compounds, and prefer trees that grow on fertile soils (especially along river banks), in whose leaves the concentration of poison is lower than that of eucalypts growing on poor, infertile soils. lands. As a result, out of 800 species of eucalyptus, koalas feed on only 120 species. Apparently, a developed sense of smell helps koalas choose suitable food. In captivity, where the choice of the animal is usually less, it is even capable of food poisoning as a result of a cumulative effect.
The metabolic rate in the body of the koala is almost half that of most mammals (with the exception of wombats and sloths), which helps it compensate for the low nutritional value of the diet. On the day, the koala needs from 0.5 to 1.1 kg of leaves, which he carefully crushes and chews, accumulating the resulting mass in the cheek pouches. Like all mammals that feed on fibrous vegetable feed, koalas have a rich microflora in their digestive tract, including bacteria that convert indigestible cellulose into digestible compounds. The caecum, where the process of digestion takes place, is extremely developed, reaching a length of 2.4 m. Poisonous substances, entering the bloodstream, are neutralized in the liver.

“Koala” in the language of the tribes means “do not drink”, - the koala receives all the necessary moisture from the leaves of eucalyptus trees, as well as from the dew on the leaves. They drink water only during periods of prolonged drought and during illness. To make up for the deficiency of minerals in the body, koalas eat the earth from time to time.

There is no natural regulator of the number of these animals in nature - aboriginal predators do not hunt them; Koalas are attacked only by dingoes and feral dogs. But koalas often get sick. Cystitis, periostitis of the skull, conjunctivitis, sinusitis are their common diseases; sinusitis often leads to inflammation of the lungs, especially in cold winters.

Female koalas lead a solitary life and stick to their territories, which they rarely leave. In fertile areas, the areas 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 chest against the trees, leaving odorous marks, and emit loud calling cries, sometimes heard from 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 (optionally a eucalyptus).

Pregnancy lasts 30-35 days. There is only one cub in the litter, which at birth has a length of only 15–18 mm and a weight of about 5.5 g; occasionally twins. The cub stays in the bag for 6 months, feeding on milk, and then for another six months it "travels" on the mother's back or stomach, clinging to her fur. At the age of 30 weeks, he begins to eat semi-liquid mother's 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 slurry for about a month. At the age of one year, the cubs become independent - young females aged 12-18 months go in search of sites, but males often stay with their mothers until 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 when they lived to the age of 20.

What is known about marsupials? A kangaroo with a cub in a mother's pouch immediately appears. But marsupials are anteaters, American opossums, and even wolves. And cute animal koala is also a marsupial.

Fluffy phlegmatic

Koala -, and the first message about it appeared back in 1798: a cullavin animal was found in the Blue Mountains. This was the koala.

He has a nice appearance: a wide muzzle with small eyes, alert shaggy ears, a hooked nose, soft silvery fur. Real teddy bear. Such a “toy” sits on a tree, clinging to it with its front paws, and phlegmatically looks around the surroundings. On the back of the mother is an absolutely calm cub. This is such an idyllic picture.

How do they manage to sit still? It's all about the paws: the claws on them are so strong and sharp that they can withstand the weight of the animal for a long time.

Eucalyptus fussy

An adult animal feeds exclusively on eucalyptus leaves, and never drinks - it has enough juice, which is abundant in eucalyptus leaves. The Australian Aborigines called him that - "koala", which means "do not drink." Daily diet - a little more than 1 kg of leaves. The animal does not recognize any other food, even when starving. He also refuses unusual varieties of wood - such whims. Even the fact that the leaves often contain poison - hydrocyanic acid does not harm the animal. Apparently, the koala somehow distinguishes in which trees the dose is safe for him - hence the strange preferences.

Creaking lover

The koala breeds only once in two years. The human ear hears the creak of unoiled loops in the male's serenade, but this song is intended for other, furry ears. The length of a newborn cub is only 15-18 mm, and the weight is about 5.5 g. Usually one baby is born, sometimes two. For six months he eats milk, and then for another month he eats half-digested eucalyptus gruel, which is secreted by the mother's body. All this time, the cub hides in the mother's pouch, and at 8 months old it moves to her back, where it lives for up to a year. He loves to fall asleep in an embrace with his mother, just like a human child.

trusting like a child

The koala has no enemies in nature - maybe because its meat smells too much like eucalyptus. The animal gets used to human caresses easily. But it must be stroked carefully because of the sharp claws. The koala is a silent animal, but alone it begins to yearn and cry like a capricious child.

To get such an animal is a sin, but they hunt. People like thick and beautiful fur - so they exterminate it. And also droughts, fires, cutting down eucalyptus groves reduce the number of koalas. The first report in defense of this unusual animal was made back in 1924 by Professor W. Jones, and the public joined in. The animals were saved only by trapping and keeping in captivity.

Amazing and fragile animal world our Earth - it is so easy to destroy its beauty and balance forever.

If this message was useful to you, I would be glad to see you

Now koalas live only in Australia - and even then not everywhere, but only in the southeastern part of the continent. Outwardly, they resemble small bear cubs: inactive with thick short hair of a gray-smoky or reddish color, small round, blind eyes, a flattened oval nose, a short tail and large widely spaced ears with long hair along the edges.

It is now that koalas are one of the symbols of Australia, and once European settlers quickly ousted them from the places of Australia and at the same time almost destroyed their soft fur coat with three centimeters of fur because of the rare beauty. But these animals appeared on the mainland more than 30 million years ago, and according to the beliefs of local aborigines, they were also once people.

How the animal appeared: the version of the natives

The ancient legends of the local natives tell about the orphan boy Kub-Bor ( marsupial bear), who, although brought up by his closest relatives, did not like him very much, so they constantly offended him. The boy was taught to survive in the forest and get food. Therefore, he had no problems with food, but it was difficult with water, since Cour-Bor was constantly thirsty.

When once all the adults went hunting and gathering 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 a eucalyptus tree and began to sing a monotonous song, from which the tree, on the top of which he was sitting, began to grow extremely rapidly, and by evening it turned out to be the largest in the entire forest. And then the daens (natives) returned.

They did not find water, but found a child hiding in a huge eucalyptus tree. At first they could not reach Cour Bora, because the branches of the huge tree were extremely high. But then two of them managed to climb the tree. The boy was seized by them, beaten right on top of the tree, and thrown down.

Naturally, Kur-Bor crashed to 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 and climbed up.

The last words that the daens heard from the koala were that if he and his kind were killed in order to eat, it would only need to be cooked whole. If anyone disobeys, his spirit will come out of the carcass of the killed beast and severely punish the guilty - such a drought will come that neither people nor animals can survive it. Only koalas will survive, for which the moisture contained in eucalyptus leaves will be quite enough.

The koalas themselves, according to the beliefs of the natives, have not been drinking water since then. Their ancestor, being human, drank plenty of it. This belief arose for one simple reason: before, almost no one had ever seen these animals at a watering place.

Scientists version

It is believed that the koala family appeared more than 30 million years ago, and consisted of at least eighteen species (and some of them were thirty times larger than koalas). As for the "modern" animals, they are much younger. Their age is only 15 million years.

Europeans discovered this animal in the early 19th century. These were the remains of a koala found among the natives. Officer Barralier, who discovered them, alcoholized them and sent them to the Governor of New South Wales. A year later, not far from Sydney, the animal itself was caught.

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 mainland, as evidenced by the remains found there.

Type characteristic

Scientists still have not really been able to determine what kind of animal the animal that lives 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 still exists, then the researchers have not yet been able to trace their roots.

Animal Features

By itself, the koala is a medium-sized 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 on trees for about twenty hours a day. Active activity leads at night, climbing on 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, which distinguishes it from other animals, because of which it was attributed to a separate species.

Paws

The paws of the koala are ideal for climbing trees and allow adult to grasp the branches of trees without problems, and for the baby to hold on to the mother's back. The animal sleeps only on eucalyptus, tightly clasping the tree with its paws:

The koala has two grasping fingers on its front paws, located slightly apart from the rest;
Three other fingers are along the brush;
All fingers on the forelimbs have extremely strong claws;
The thumb on the foot of the koala does not have a claw (unlike the other four).
All koala fingers have fingerprints that are extremely human-like.

Teeth

The teeth of the animal are designed to chew grass. Therefore, their incisors are like a razor and are able to quickly cut leaves. The remaining teeth are grinding, they are separated from the incisors by a wide gap.

Mind and ingenuity

Alas, modern koalas are stupid. If the brain of their ancestors completely filled the cranial cavity, then in 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 on eucalyptus leaves and shoots, which contain an extremely small level of energy.

Therefore, the brain of modern koalas is only 1.2% of their total weight, and forty percent of the cranial cavity is filled with cerebrospinal fluid. The lack of intelligence negatively affects the life of the animals themselves. For example, accustomed to seek salvation in trees, they do not always consider it necessary to get down from them and run away from the fire. Instead, they only press closer to the eucalyptus trees.

Character

Koala is an extremely calm animal. He sleeps from 18 to 20 hours a day, the rest of the time he devotes to food. The koala lives on a tree, and descends to the ground mainly only in order to move to another eucalyptus, to which it is not able to jump through the air.

From eucalyptus to eucalyptus, they jump extremely easily and confidently. If they decide to flee, they are even able to go to a fairly vigorous gallop to climb the nearest tree.

Nutrition

As for the slowness of the koala not in an emergency, this is primarily due to its nutrition. It feeds only on the shoots and leaves of the eucalyptus tree. The metabolism of the koala is two times slower than that of other mammals (except for wombats and sloths) - this feature compensates for the lack of nutrition eucalyptus leaves.

The question of why koalas prefer eucalyptus leaves baffles 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, what from intestinal tract enter the bloodstream, are completely neutralized by the liver. The animals have a very long caecum - almost two and a half meters (in humans - no more than eight centimeters). It is in it that poisonous food is digested. There are many bacteria in the intestines of koalas that process the leaves into compounds that are digestible for the koala.

On the day the animal eats about one kilogram of leaves, while crushing and chewing them very carefully. And interestingly, 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 where there are fewer poisonous 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 looking for another suitable eucalyptus 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 land - they are less poisonous. To compensate for the lack of minerals in the body, animals sometimes eat the earth.

Eucalyptus leaves for koalas are also a source of moisture. They drink water mainly during a drought or when they are sick. In Australia in recent times more and more often these animals are caught near their 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, they are rescued by wool (their fur is water-repellent), and secondly, in order to keep warm, their blood circulation, like in humans, slows down.

Communication

Koalas are considered almost the most defenseless and harmless animals in the world. They do not attack anyone and absolutely do not know how to protect themselves. If you hurt them, at best they will run away, most likely they will not hit back and bite.

But this animal can cry. And he can cry as long as the pain causes him discomfort. And the koala cries like a child - loudly, tremblingly and angrily. The same sound can also symbolize the presence of danger.

Koalas are surprisingly silent. Since they live quite far from each other, in order to communicate with their own kind, they use a fairly wide range of sounds.

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 yell much less often, but sometimes they are able to express aggression with a roar-grunt, 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 annoyed with something).

Cries during the mating season

When the mating season begins, the males give such a loud calling sound that it can be heard for a kilometer. 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 publish it only with the help of vocal cords that are behind the larynx.

The female chooses a groom for herself, based precisely on such calling cries (in any case, preference is given to larger individuals). Despite the fact that the songs of a male remind us of the snoring of a drunkard, the angry grunt of a pig, or the creaking of rusty hinges, females are extremely fond of such sounds and attract them.

The better the koala screams, the more brides he will collect, since there are much more females than males. In one season, one male can have about five wives.

Offspring

Koalas breed once every one to two years. Females create a family already at the age of two, males - at the age of three or four years.

The mother carries the cub 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. So that the cub does not get hurt and does not fall out, the “entrance” to the bag is not located at the top, like a kangaroo, but at the bottom.

At first, he feeds on mother's milk. Weaned from it gradually, and the transitional food is quite original: the mother regularly excretes special stools in the form of liquid porridge from half-digested eucalyptus leaves. The baby needs such food, because this is the only way 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 child's stomach.

True, such a diet does not last long, after a month he begins to eat the leaves themselves, and at the age of seven months he moves from the bag to his mother's back. Finally, the grown koala leaves the mother's embrace in a year. But far from all leave: while young females go to look for sites for themselves, males quite often stay with their mother for up to three years.

dangers

Usually a koala lives from eight to thirteen years (although in captivity there have been cases when the animals lived to be twenty). Their number for some time (until the Australian authorities took up the solution of 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 of them only 100 thousand remained, most of which live in private territories. AT wild nature According to various sources, only 2,000 to 8,000 of them live.

In nature, koalas have practically no enemies - apparently, the animal soaked in eucalyptus aroma scares off enemies with its smell. Only people eat them, and wild dingo dogs can attack from animals, but this is also a rare occurrence, because koalas rarely go down, and dogs do not jump on trees.

More recently, these animals were on the verge of extinction. The main reason is this human activity, and their extreme propensity to various diseases.

Diseases

They kill animals, and the viral bacteria Chlamydia Psittaci, which are secretly considered 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 eventually 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 - to import 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. And they are not used to life on earth, because they move here with difficulty, so they become easy prey.

Cars

At the same time, the authorities are trying to solve this problem rather interesting way: artificial lianas are stretched over the track, which connect eucalyptus trees on both sides of the track. The koalas have appreciated this idea and willingly cross the freeway.

Dogs

Once on the ground and seeing a wild dingo dog, the koala does not understand all the danger, and does not run away to the tree. As a result, it often turns out to be torn apart.

fires

The trees that koalas love to live on 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 population of koalas.

Pools

Many will be surprised to learn how many koalas die when they get into the pool. Contrary to the popular belief that they drink absolutely nothing, they still come to the watering hole, but often not to the source, but to the 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, so koalas deprived of water often die of thirst, especially those who live far from artificial or natural sources water.

animal rescue

If it were for the inactive activities of animal rights activists, we would only know about the koala from the schematic drawings of their textbooks. They managed not only to push through several laws to protect these animals, but also to attract patrons who are ready to donate money to save the "teddy bears".

In Australia, parks and reserves were created, special hospitals were organized for these animals with the latest equipment and highly qualified veterinarians. This is not much, but it helps - about 4 thousand animals are saved a year. Survive about twenty percent of the animals that fell into the hands of doctors.

Life in captivity

As already mentioned, most koalas live in private estates, the owners of which have nothing against such a neighborhood. People are often captivated by the appearance of these cute fluffy animals, similar to teddy bears, and they tame them. Koalas, although they love solitude, they are extremely friendly. They become attached very quickly, and if the person they are used to leaves somewhere, then the animal cries. If you pester them too much, koalas are able to begin to defend themselves with teeth and nails.

Keeping a koala at home is not easy - those who want to get 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.

Animal koala is a representative of the Australian fauna. They are so good that they look like teddy bears.

But, despite the resemblance to a bear, koalas belong to the order of marsupials.

Females have a well-developed pouch that opens at the back, and inside there are two nipples.

At birth, the baby weighs 5-6 g, the body length is 19 mm. But how good he is in his mother's bag, where he climbs after birth. It's warm, there's delicious milk.

The baby is growing rapidly, and already at six months it reaches a length of 18 centimeters. Now he has to leave the bag.

Koala photo

He climbs onto his mother's back, tries solid food (eucalyptus leaves). Mom patiently takes care of her "child", hugs, caresses. And he really likes it. Time will pass, and when the cub is one year old, he will leave his parent.

Koalas are nocturnal animals, lazy and slow, very calm, can sleep up to 20 hours a day. But bears can swim well.

koala with a cub photo

During the day, they sit on a tree, clasping its trunk with their strong paws, thanks to tenacious and sharp claws. There are no claws on the thumbs. But on the pads of the fingers there is a papillary pattern, and the print of his finger is similar to the print of a person.

The bears have a large head with large ears, a short body (length 60 - 80cm), no tail. Weight 5 - 15kg. The fur of the animal is gray or gray-brown, it may even be reddish, but its abdomen is always lighter.

Koalas are shy, if he is scared, he cries like a child. In case of danger, he gives a sign by shouting. In nature, there are more females than males. So there are up to five handsome men for one "gentleman", it turns out a harem. Bears breed once every two years, pregnancy lasts thirty days.

The animals feed on eucalyptus leaves. In spite of a large number of species of eucalyptus, they know when and which leaves to eat. For example, in extreme heat, bears eat those types of eucalyptus trees that contain antipyretic substances in the leaves.

They eat a kilogram of leaves per day. They do not drink water, the necessary moisture is obtained from the leaves. Eucalyptus leaves also contain potent substances and poison. Naturally, the meat of bears is saturated with eucalyptus, so they are not hunted.

But the man "tried." Even from ancient times, hunters liked the beautiful and thick fur. And it was not much work to kill the animal, we already know that they are slow.

Kingdom: Animals

Type: chordates

Subtype: Vertebrates

Class: mammals

Subclass: marsupials

Squad: Two-crested marsupials

Family: koalas

Genus: koalas

View: Koala

Where does the koala live?

Koalas are found over many hundreds of thousands of square kilometers in eastern Australia from northern Queensland to southern Victoria. Populations of these marsupials are often separated from each other by wide expanses of cleared forests. Koalas have chosen wet mountain forests in the south, vineyards in the north of Australia, copses and semi-desert landscapes in the west. The density of populations depends on the productivity of the land. In the south, in rainforests, it reaches 8 animals per hectare, and in the semi-desert zone on a plot of 100 hectares, only one individual can live.

Description of the koala

The pioneer of the species was Marine officer Barralier, who in 1802 discovered and sent the preserved remains of a koala to the governor of New South Wales. A live koala was caught near Sydney already in next year, and a couple of months later, readers of the Sydney Gazette saw him detailed description. Since 1808, the koala has been considered a close relative of the wombat, being part of the same squad of two-bladed marsupials with it, but being the only representative of the koala family.

The comical combination of a flattened leathery nose, small blind eyes and expressive, widely spaced ears with hair sticking out at the edges gives charm to the appearance.

Outwardly, the koala slightly resembles a wombat, but, unlike the latter, it is endowed with more pleasant, thick and soft fur up to 3 cm high and elongated limbs. Northern animals are smaller in size (females sometimes do not even reach 5 kg), southern animals are almost three times larger (males weigh almost 14 kg).

Few people know that koalas are rare mammals (along with primates), whose fingertips are drawn with unique papillary patterns, just like in humans.

The teeth of the koala are adapted to eating plants and are similar in structure to the teeth of other two-incisor marsupials (including kangaroos and wombats). Sharp incisors, with which the animal cuts leaves, and grinding teeth are separated from each other by a diastema.

Since the koala feeds on trees, nature has given him long, tenacious claws on his front paws. Each hand is equipped with two (set aside) two-phalangeal thumbs, opposing three standard fingers (with three phalanges).

The hind legs are arranged differently: on the foot there is a single thumb(devoid of a claw) and four others armed with claws. Thanks to the grasping paws, the animal clings tightly to the branches, locking the brushes into the castle: in this position, the koala clings to the mother (until it becomes independent), and having matured, has lunch, hangs on one paw and sleeps.

The thick coat is colored in smoky gray shades, but the belly always looks lighter. The tail resembles a bear's: it is so short that it is almost invisible to outsiders.

Koala lifestyle

The first settlers on the mainland gave this animal various names, such as "sloth", "monkey" and "bear". Long time there was a myth that koalas are relatives of bears. However, it is not. These animals are the only representatives of their family.

Koalas live in eucalyptus forests and their favorite treat is the leaves of these evergreen trees. And although there are more than 700 species of eucalyptus trees in Australia, koalas eat the leaves of only 50 species, since the leaves of individual eucalyptus trees are extremely toxic.

From the leaves of the koala, the necessary amount of water is obtained for life, and these animals consume water in its pure form in small quantities or do not use it at all. At present, during natural disasters when Australia is on fire Forest fires, koalas sometimes come to people for water. These animals can also swim well, and willingly demonstrate their swimming skills in hot weather. climatic conditions when they want to freshen up.

For most of their lives, koalas are in trees, where they feed, sleep, and breed. On the given time scientists do not have accurate information about the life expectancy of these animals in nature, however, if we judge the koalas of various zoos, then, on average, koalas live from 13 to 15 years.

Koalas are very slow animals. They may not move most days. Perhaps this is due to the fact that eucalyptus leaves, which make up the diet of koalas, are very low in calories. These animals descend from the trees extremely rarely if they want to change the tree. However, despite their sluggishness and clumsy appearance, koalas can quickly jump from one tree to another.

During their small trips on the ground, koalas are preyed upon by predators such as foxes, dogs, and dingoes. The danger can also come from a person - koalas run the risk of falling under the wheels of cars. During the daytime, these animals prefer to rest in the trees, and they try to take small walks at night, which is a safer option for them. During the day, koalas eat about a kilogram of eucalyptus leaves.

What do koalas eat?

Koalas eat only the bark and leaves of eucalyptus. There are over 800 species of these trees in the world, but these animals only eat the bark and leaves of 120 of them. Interestingly, for most animals, these trees are poisonous. Due to its unique digestive system colas eat them without tragic consequences. But furry animals try to choose eucalyptus trees growing on fertile soils along the banks of rivers. The leaves and branches of such trees contain less poison. In eucalyptus trees growing on poor, dry soils, there are more toxic substances.

The daily ration of this animal is 500–1100 g of feed. At the same time, they mainly feed on softer and juicier young leaves. Koalas almost do not drink water, as eucalyptus leaves contain more than 90% of the liquid they need. Animals drink water only when they lack moisture in the leaves or they are sick.

Koala is almost immobile 18-20 hours a day. At this time, she grabs branches with her paws, sleeps or moves along the trunk in search of food, or chews leaves, which she folds during feeding. inner part cheeks
She jumps from tree to tree mainly to find food or escape from danger. Another one unique ability this animal, that he can swim. Koalas are rather slow, this is due to the peculiarities of their diet, since the leaves contain little protein. In addition, koalas have a low metabolism, it is 2 times slower than that of other mammals.

reproduction

The breeding season for koalas is from October to February. At this time, they gather in groups that consist of several females and one adult male. The rest of the time, each female lives on its own territory, leads a solitary lifestyle.

Koalas are pretty quiet animals. Loud screams can only be heard during mating season. Eyewitnesses say that these sounds are similar to the grumbling of a pig, the creaking of door hinges, and even the snoring of a drunk person. However, females really like these sounds, and they respond favorably to the calling sound of males.

Another unique distinguishing feature these marsupial cubs from other animals lies in the reproductive organs. The male has a bifurcated penis, while the female has two vaginas. Thus, nature has taken care that this species does not become extinct.

Pregnancy in koalas lasts 30–35 days. Most often, only one cub is born, which weighs 5.5 grams and has a height of 15-18 millimeters. Although there are cases of the birth of two. The baby is in the mother's bag for six months, this time he eats her milk. Over the next six months, he gets out of the bag, tenaciously clings to his mother's fur on her stomach and back, thereby "traveling" through her body.

For the next 30 weeks, he eats semi-liquid maternal excrement, consisting of a slurry of half-digested eucalyptus leaves. Here are the microorganisms valuable for the baby and necessary for his digestive process. After a month, the cubs become independent, but even before the age of 2–3 years they are with their mother.

Males enter sexual maturity at 3–4 years, and females at 2–3. They reproduce once every 1 or 2 years. Life expectancy is 11-12 years, although there may be exceptions, there are cases when koalas lived for 20 years.

In the wild, the marsupial has no enemies, most likely because its meat smells like eucalyptus. Animals are tamed pretty quickly, they are condescending to the person who picks up. But at the same time, one should not forget about the sharp claws of the animal, so you need to stroke it carefully.

Koala is like a child, when the beast is left alone, he can cry and yearn. In the wild, drought, fires, poachers destroy these touching animals. Cutting down eucalyptus trees also contributes to their extermination.

Natural enemies and other dangers

In nature, koalas have almost no enemies.. The latter can be conditionally attributed to wild dingo dogs and feral domestic dogs. But these predators only attack slow-moving marsupials, refusing their meat because of the bright eucalyptus aroma.

Diseases such as cystitis, conjunctivitis, periostitis of the skull and sinusitis cause more damage to livestock. In koalas, inflammation of the mucous membrane of the paranasal sinuses (sinusitis) often ends with pneumonia, especially in cold winters. It is known, for example, that epizootics of complicated sinusitis that occurred in 1887-1889 and 1900-1903 led to a noticeable decrease in the number of these marsupials.