Koala

WHERE THEY LIVE AND THEIR EXTINCTION

Apart from in the zoos of the world, the only place where koalas live is in Australia.

The areas around Australia where koalas live are New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the south of Australia.

In New South Wales and Queensland, near 40% of the animals have died since 1990. Koalas are in serious decline suffering from the effects of habitat destruction, domestic dog attacks, fires and road accidents. They are species in extinction due to sexually transmitted diseases and drought. In one area at the southeast of Queensland, they have lost about 80% of the koalas because of sexually transmitted diseases.

Other reasons of their extinction are the hunt for his hair because his hair is very soft and when koalas are used for pieces of collection and to make coats.

Across the remainder of the state are not listed as 'vulnerable'. In parts of South of Queensland, the decline of Koala habitat is of major concern.

The size of population is unknown, although some estimate only survive 43.000 of these animals. His predators are dingoes, owls, eagles, vultures and snakes.

This is an animal of low activity, similar to the lazy.

His body is robust and covered of soft brown and gray hair. His head is big and round and his ears are big and round. His denture is adapted for his feeding and it is similar to the other marsupials.

    REPRODUCTION

Usually between December and March. Males wait to the female respond to the squeak.
They feel the natural instinct with less intensity than other animals.
The ritual lasts 2 minutes or less.
The male bites the female in the neck. If they feel stressed or they are hungry they do not reproduce.
The females have a baby koala every two years.
Pregnancy lasts 35 days.
The baby koala are born hairless blind and deaf.
They remain in the pouch of her mother for six months. When they finish this time they remain in the back of her mother six more months, they can be in the pouch sleeping or drinking milk.
The female remain with her mums one year.
The male remain with her mums three years.
Koalas reach their sexual maturity when they are two years old.

    

                                                                                             

ALIMENTATION

The koala is herbivorous and feeds mainly on eucalyptus leaves. You can spend up to five hours a day to eat. Although they can eat at any hour of the day, they tend to do it overnight. Take time to chew the leaves of eucalyptus trees and have little competition for food. In fact, this type of food would be toxic to most animals and could kill them. The reason it takes so much time to chew the leaves because they need to become a pasty substance. This allows food to be processed in the body without the presence of toxins, the liver can happen without negatively affecting the body. Koalas adults consume about 1 ½ pounds of food every day.

The koala has a lot of energy, experts believe that the cause is the low nutritional value of eucalyptus. When they do not have a lot of food in the trees, the trees in search of food on the ground. Sometimes you can see the koalas past soil and ground food itself. His usual diet is high in fiber, but low in protein. The leaves and the leaves of mistletoe is part of your diet.

HUNTING

In the 1920 hunting this animals was very popular, its population decreased considerably. But reintroduction programs have reappeared in the wild, but they are few. Koalas need lots of space, a hundred trees by koala, which is a serious problem due to the decline in Australian forests.
Many people think that the koala is a very boring animal because eat sleep 18 hours and 5 hours.In 1930 more than 2 million were hunted for their skin, but it is currently illegal to hunt them.80,000 of them remain today in the wild but there are also a large number found in zoos.In the last six years it is believed that about half of the population of koalas to extinction. This animal will not survive more than 30 years.
By studying fossils are known to the koala species it has been on Earth for About 40 million years.There are tests to verify that the koalas have always existed in the pattern known.

LIFE EXPECTANCY

 

Female that live in this wild condition can live about fifteen years old. However, male can live a middle of ten years old. Generally, koalas that life in liberty have less life expectancy that the others koalas in captivity.

The koala is adapted to the life in the trees and it is found in the woods of eucalyptus at the east of Australia, this is their only habitat and their only aliment. The koalas that life in climes less warm  are  in general bigger and they have the coat darker and thicker than the koalas that live in warm climes.

The population of koalas only can recreate if they find in the appropriate habitat.

Approximately the aborigines indigenous arrived to Australia at least 60,000 years ago. Koalas, as at all the Australian animals, were a important part of the indigenous culture, and they appear in  many of their myths and legends.

In 1816, the koalas received her scientific name, Phascolarctos cinereus, that mean “Grey bear with pouch”. Later it was discovered that the koalas don’t have any relation with bears, but it was a member of a special group of  mammal  called “marsupial”, which give birth to an immature baby, which they bring inside its bag.