Koala Trivia

Koala Facts

• Since European Settlement 80% of Koala habitat has been destroyed
• Habitat is the bushland where they live and breed (Eucalypt forest)
• A Koala sleeps 17 to 22 hours per day
• They have individual fingerprints and are the only animal, apart from humans, that do
• They do not migrate and don't naturally occur on islands
• Southern koalas are bigger, browner and have thicker fur than Northern ones
• There is only one species of Koala
• A healthy Koala lives for approximately 10 years in the wild
• The oldest known zoo koala was a female who lived to 23 years old at Lone Pine Sanctuary in Queensland.named  Sarah and she is in the Guiness Book of Records as the oldest known koala. The oldest known male koala  wasTam Tam at Tama Zoo near Tokyo. He lived to 22. 
• ‘Koala’ is thought to have meant 'no drink' in one of the Aboriginal languages. 
• a male koala as a ‘buck’ and a female as a ‘doe’.
• A baby koala is called a 'joey' .  
• The pouch is  situated in the centre of the female's abdomen and the opening faces straight outwards, 

• One of the reasons koalas don't live a long time is because when their teeth get ground down from eating the tough eucalyptus leaves, they don't grow back, so after a time, they can't grind the leaves down properly and get enough nourishment from them
• The Koala is the only mammal, other than the Greater Glider and Ring tail Possum, which can survive on a diet of eucalyptus leaves. 
• Each koala eats approximately 200 to 500 grams of leaves per day. 
• Koalas are very fussy eaters and have strong preferences for different types of gum leaves.
• The koala’s paws are specially adapted for gripping and climbing. Rough pads on the palms and soles help it to grip tree trunks and branches, and both front and hind paws have long sharp claws. Each paw has five digits. Distinctive parallel koala scratch marks on tree trunks are due to this particular characteristic.

•  On the hind paw the second and third digits are fused together to form a double-clawed digit which is used for grooming purposes, such as for removing ticks.