- Size: 70 - 90cm (27 - 36 inch)
- Weight: 4 - 9kg (9 - 20 lb)
- The males are larger than females.
- Southern koalas are 30% larger than the Northern koalas
- Koala's fur is thick soft and pleasant to touch.
- Ears have long white hairs on the tips.
- Koalas can live as long as 17 years, however males' life expectancy
is less than 10 years (due to injuries during fights, dogs and cars).
- Females generally live longer. Koalas living in an undisturbed habitat
would have a greater life expectancy than those living in suburbia
- Koalas prefer to move around just after sunset spending daytimes
asleep in the fork of a tree.
- Koala spends sleeping 75% of its time.
- Just after sunset koalas move around and can often be heard "barking"
aggressively at other koalas.
- Presently, up to 4,000 koalas are being killed each year by cars and
dogs
- Koalas live in eucalypt forests of Eastern and South-Eastern Australia.
- Koalas live in societies, so they need to be able to come into contact
with other koalas and this is why they require large areas of suitable
eucalypt forest which is able to support a healthy koala population.
- Koalas breed once a year.
- Mating normally occurs from September to March
- Gestation lasts 35 days, after which one koala is born.
- The baby koala, "joey", is blind, hairless, less than one
inch long and weighs less than 1 gram (0.035 oz).
- Females generally start breeding at about three or four years of age
and usually produce only one baby koala each year.
- Twins have been reported, but are rare.
- In the average, one female may produce only 5 or 6 baby koalas over
her lifetime
|
