KOALA FACT SHEET

High School

Habitat
Wild Koalas are unique to Australia. A few can be found in zoos around the world. Koalas are naturally found in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria along the coastal plain of Australia.

As Australians we need to be aware of our own responsibility to protect and conserve this precious, vulnerable creature, a national icon.

From 1800 until the 1920s millions of koalas were hunted and killed for their furs. By 1937 the koala was a protected species in all Australian states. This means no one is allowed to harm a koala.

However, there are not enough laws to protect the gum trees, on which the koalas depend for food and shelter. Without gumtrees koalas can't exist. Human beings are their greatest threat and their only hope of salvation.

Appearance
Healthy koalas have thick, grey, woolly fur, which protects them from heat, cold and the elements. They have white markings on their ears, chest and under their arms.

An adult male koala can weigh from 8 to 14 kilograms. Females are smaller, between 6 and 11 kg. The larger animals come from the cooler, southern regions of Australia. In the Northern Rivers our males are usually around the 7-9kg and females 6-8kg.

A mature male koala can be recognized by the brown scent gland on their chest. He rubs this on trees to mark his territory. Females have a pouch in the centre of their abdomen and no scent gland. This scent gland is obvious in the photo of Malcolm, a large male male koala. Malcolm was suffering from conjunctivitis as can be seen by his crusty eyes. He was successfully treated by Friends of the Koala and released. The bright red thing in his ear is the tags used on all koalas released, each with it's own individual number so the koala can be tracked.

A Koalas nose is quite large. It is covered with black leathery skin. They are sensitive to all bush smells, and especially react to danger smells like smoke. They sniff the gum leaves carefully to detect which ones they want to eat. Male koalas use scent to know when females are ready to mate.

Koala bodies are well designed for tree-top living. Their forearms are very strong and they are equipped with long, strong claws for griping and climbing. Although they look soft and cuddly, their bodies are lean and muscular. They have only a very small tail yet have excellent balance. They can move quickly when needed, and can climb or leap from branch to branch.

Koala paws are well designed, with rough pads on their palms and soles. There are five ‘fingers’ on each front paw – two of these are opposed to the others and work as ‘thumbs’.

Babies
Baby koalas are called joeys. They emerge from the birth canal 35 days after mating, and pull themselves into their mother’s pouch – attaching to one of her two teats. There they develop on a diet of koala milk.

After 6 months they can be seen beginning to come out of the pouch to feed on pre-digested gum leaf, called ‘pap’ which is provided by the mother. This contains the micro-organisms the koala will need to swap to a diet of eucalyptus.

Diet
Koalas have evolved to survive on a diet of gum leaves. Eucalypts are very fibrous and low in nutrition. They take a lot of energy to digest. Koalas have a special part of their intestine called a caecum. It is here that the gum leaves are digested by micro-organisms which break them down into sugars.

An adult koala will eat 200-500 grams of leaf each day. In the Northern Rivers area koalas prefer forest red gum, tallow wood, and swamp mahogany leaf. Secondary food trees include brush-box, scribbly gum, grey gum and blackbutt. The young koala in the photo was being released into a Tallow wood tree after being hand raised as an orphan. Notice the distinct rough bark of the Tallow wood which is very common in the Northern Rivers.

Need for Trees
Ensuring sufficient food trees are available for koala populations is the most important issue to address if we want to ensure the survival of our local wild koalas.

Each patch of bushland can only support a set population of koalas. A continuous “corridor” of trees is needed along the Richmond and Tweed Valleys, so that new generations of koalas can move safely to establish their own home-ranges. Leaving remnant patches of “bush” here and there is just not enough.

Loss of food and shelter trees is the greatest threat to the survival of wild koala populations in the Northern Rivers. The young koala in the photo, Triple 7, came into care after falling out of a tree. In one way it was fortunate because the following week the windbreak he and his mother were living in were entirely cut down resulting in the complete loss of his home and food source.

Predators
When koalas are on the ground, searching for a home-range or a mate, they are most vulnerable to attacks by dogs or foxes. If they have to cross roads, especially at night, they are in danger from cars and trucks.

Up in the tree tops, the koala’s enemies include the powerful owl and wedge-tailed eagle. A large goanna can knock a baby koala to the ground then go down and eat it.

Behaviour
Koalas are well known as sleepy heads; they sleep 19-20 hours a day. This is due to their diet, which is low in calories and protein; as well as being toxic. Consequently the koala has a very low metabolism and moves around as little as possible. Thereby conserving energy.

However they can move very quickly if they need to and can scamper up a tree too quickly to catch. They have sharp teeth and claws and can be quite unfriendly!

Koalas are active at night, when they feed and move from tree to tree. They can be heard bellowing or roaring as they have noisy disputes with their neighbours about mating and territory. Mother koalas communicate to their joeys with soft grunts and clicks. A frightened koala will squeal like a piglet.

Koalas sit and sleep in many different positions, sometimes curled up (to keep warm) or sometimes dangling arms and legs (to cool off). They are often well camouflaged.

How to Help

· Keep pet dogs restrained, especially at night when koalas may be travelling past.

· Provide an escape rope in swimming pools, for koalas to pull themselves out.

· Drive slowly ( 40 k/hr ) through koala areas, especially at night.

· Plant koala food trees in suitable places.

· Friends of the Koala provide habitat trees free of charge, with information on site selection, planting and after-care. More trees = more koalas.

· Support a Koala by raising funds at school or supporting a koala in care at the Friends of the Koala Care Centre. It can cost up to $1000 for the medicines and care to rehabilitate a koala. Being a Threatened Species this is well worth while. All donations to Friends of the Koala are gratefully received and all monies go directly towards koala care.

· Join a group that is concerned about koalas.

Friends of the Koala, Northern Rivers, NSW, Australia (02) 6622-1233