Choosing a topic for the K instalment of Our A – Z of Australia was easy. Koala. Oh, all right, I could have gone for Kangaroo. That just seemed a little too easy. Besides, I wrote about kangaroo when we had a lovely dinner.
Smellavision
My mother chose to have her photo taken at Sydney Zoo with a snake draped around her shoulders rather than a koala. She always told me it was because she knew the koalas were a bit scared. My mother looked rather scared of the snake.
Koalas are not bears. I’ll admit they do look a little like your childhood teddy bear, but they are not bears. Koalas are marsupials. Marsupials give birth very early in the development stages of the young; the baby then crawls up to the pouch, attaches to a nipple and finishes developing in the pouch.
Koalas are nocturnal animals so getting photos of them roaming around in the daytime is difficult. Most of the time they look like this.
I'll just have a little snooze.......
Koalas sleep about 20 hours a day. Man, I could do with a life like that! The video below I found at The Koala Sanctuary site. This one is actually moving! Nocturnal? How can we call something that sleeps that much nocturnal?
Another site with some lovely shots and plenty of facts about Koalas is Friends of Koalas.
Koalas have a low energy diet of about 600 to 800 grams of eucalyptus leaves a day, which is why they conserve their energy by sleeping so much. Their size varies from region to region, males being about 50% bigger than females. Depending on location, a koala weighs between 5 to 12 kilos: Victorian koalas are heavier than Queensland koalas.
While the kangaroo adorns the tail of the Qantas fleet, the koala did make an appearance when new headrests were introduced.
The biggest threats to our sleepy, cuddly looking friends are loss of habitat (as with many species of animals around the world), dog attacks, cars (koalas are not the fastest animals at any time) and chlamydia.
Koalas have a reputation for urinating on people and Oprah famously spotted two mating during her visit to Australia.
You can also pop back to J for Jellyfish and watch Jo’s Drop Bears video in the comments! 😆
Check the above links for more facts about Australia’s not-a-bear Koala!
Visit http://myatozchallenge.com/find/countries/ to find more countries and articles on the A – Z Challenge.
Related articles on this site:
- A For Arid
- B for Balls and Barracking
- C for Crime
- D for Deprecation
- E for Employment
- F for Fair Go
- G for Grass, Greenery, Gardens
- H for Health, Home and Happiness
- I for Immigration
- J for Jellyfish
- Our A – Z of Australia
Random Observations of Life 
[…] K for Koala […]
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That was a fun read … I’ve always loved koala bears. 😉
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Yes, they are little cuties, but I can’t say I’d want one for a pet!
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I´ve never held one, just patted a few at a wildlife centre here in Perth. The keepers don´t want people to handle them too much. But are are just so cute. When we did a trip on the Great ocean Road in Victoria we saw a few wild ones too and quite a few bare eucalyptus trees!
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I think it was the Great Ocean Road where I finally saw wild ones too. The shots I took in the article were taken at Healesville Sanctuary, just on the outskirts of Melbourne. They certainly are very cute. I also did once see one on the ground in the daylight, moving from tree to tree, when friends of mine were farm sitting and I visited. It was quite unusual, but sadly I didn’t have my camera with me at the time.
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I got to hold a koala several (aheeem – s.e.v.e.r.a.l. years ago) and was surprised how: heavy and smelly they were; oh and how sharp their claws – I think I had holes in my shoulders for a couple of days afterwards!
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I think they need those claws to make sure they don’t drop out of the trees when they are sleeping! Probably no scientific basis to that thought, but it makes sense to me.
S.e.v.e.r.a.l. huh? Yes, well, time just flies by………..
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I’m sure those claws are very useful to them! Yes, had to stop counting how many years – my head began to ache…
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Awww!
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😆 Yes, they are kinda cute!
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I think they look gorgeous but had no idea they slept so much. Are they viscious at all?
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I don’t believe so, other than those claws can be a bit dangerous. They are very solitary animals.
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greetings by
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I’ll stop by!
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