Koala Bear

Introduction
The Koala eats eucalyptus leaves. It can eat up to one to two pounds of these leaves. Here's another mysterious thing about the Koala; the Koala dosen't drink water, because the eucalyptus leaves gives it enough water. The Koala's shelter is the eucalyptus tree. The trees give them their shelter from their leaves and branches. The Koala lives in the zoo; therefore, the Koala wounld need the right amount of space, about a large cage fit for an animal in the prairie. They would need the space, so they could wonder around in the trees.

Koala
Koalas are found in South Eastern Australia and has been described as an "ash coloured pouched bear". But they are not a bear they are a mammal ( meaning they feed their young on Milk) and are a Marsupial (meaning they carry their developing young mostly in a pouch) The name koala, comes from the Aboriginal saying that means "no drink". The Koala obtains enough moisture from the eucalypt leaves that it lives on.

Activity
The Koala prefers to move around neither in daylight or night, but rather just after sunset. Usually daytimes are spent asleep in the fork of a tree, as 80% of its time is spent sleeping For a couple of hours after sunset it will move around quiet a bit feeding and can often be heard "barking" aggressively at other koalas. It does though at times feed at night and during the day. Koalas are solitary animals having its own specific home range

Description
"A picture paints a thousand words" Koalas are usually ash grey with a white chest and the males are larger than females Thick fur, fluffy ears and a broad flat nose give them their "cuddly" appearance They have strong limbs and large hands to help with climbing trees. Surprisingly they have a short stumpy tail which is of no assistance to them in climbing at all.

Types of Koala
There are two species of Koalas found
1) South Koala
2) North Koala
Southern Koalas are larger up to 1/3 larger) than the northern variety

Journey of Young Koala
The baby Joey is born five weeks after conception, blind, hairless and less than an inch long. It then crawls into its mothers pouch and drinks from one of the 2 teats there The next 6 months the baby stays in the pouch drinking milk The next period before being weaned at around the age of 1 their dietary needs are supplemented by eating some of the mother's faeces (droppings) that supplements the bacteria in its own caecum (part of the intestine).

Living on the Edge
Like most wild animals destruction of habitat is a major threat Predators such as feral dogs and dingoes are also a problem, as is traffic on our nations highways Some "mainland" koala colonies have declined due to a disease called chlamydiosis.