• The koala today
• The appearance of the koala
• The ancestors of the koala
• The habitat of the koala

The koala today

Due to a terrible period of severe drought, both the rainforest and the Australian bush have recently suffered severe fires that have targeted the koala population among other things , and much news about it has regularly appeared on social media and news broadcasts. . 

This has brought us closer to this otherwise distant and misunderstood animal yet iconic and unmistakable. Like all animals native to Australia, the koala, like other marsupials , is very different from the animals we are used to. 

The appearance of the koala

The koala is a herbivorous and arboreal marsupial , specialized in eating eucalyptus leaves , and is the only member of the genus Phascolarctos , the wombat being its closest cousin. 

This genetic isolation makes it unmistakable : devoid of tail, large head with small eyes, spoon nose, white tufts that sprout on the sides of the head, rounded shapes, grayish-brown color. The eucalith they eat almost exclusively has a particularly low nutritional intake, which determines the sedentary and lazy attitude of the koala, a real energy saving tendency. 

Conversely, eucalyptus leaves contain a lot of water, which allows the koala to survive in trees without having to go down to drink .

The ancestors of the koala

The first inhabitants of Australia used to paint koala figures in caves, therefore its relationship with humans is rooted in antiquity. Also for this reason the koala is today one of the main symbols of Australia . 

Together with the wombat, it is the last of the wombatiformes, all more or less recently extinct, including the marsupial lion or Thylacoleo , a sort of frightening carnivorous koala.

Today the largest koala varieties do not exceed 90 cm , reaching a maximum weight of 15 kg , with a strong sexual dysmorphism , by virtue of which a male individual can weigh twice as much as a female.

The koala’s fur is an evolutionary jewel: the dorsal part is highly insulated and resistant to strong winds and sudden changes in temperature, while the abdominal part, usually white, is able to repel solar radiation, a feature of extreme importance for protection. of the puppies protected in the pouch.

The habitat of the koala

The koala is distributed throughout the east coast of Australia and in the past centuries it has also been introduced in some islands where eucalyptus and acacias are present. The koala’s behavior is as unique and iconic as its appearance. As already described, it is an animal that tends to inertia whenever possible. To be precise, it spends about 20 hours a day in sleep and rest , then dedicating more than three hours to food and about half an hour in social exchanges with the other members of its group.