Koala

코알라

A tree-dwelling marsupial that eats almost nothing but eucalyptus leaves and sleeps up to 20 hours a day to save energy, since the leaves are low in nutrition. A baby grows in its mother's pouch for about six months.

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At a glance

Class: Mammals
Lives in: Northern New South Wales forests, Australia
Diet: Plant eater (herbivore)
Weight: about 9 kg
Length: about 0.72 m
Top speed: about 10 km/h
Lifespan: up to about 18 years
Conservation status: Vulnerable (IUCN VU)
Habitat: forests

Quick answers

Where does the Koala live?

It lives in forests. On the globe you can find it near Northern New South Wales forests, Australia.

How big is the Koala?

It grows to about 0.72 m and 9 kg.

What does the Koala eat?

Its diet: plant eater (herbivore).

How fast is the Koala?

It can reach about 10 km/h.

How long does the Koala live?

It can live up to about 18 years.

Is the Koala endangered?

It is listed as Vulnerable (IUCN VU).

The koala is a tree-climbing marsupial from the eucalyptus forests of eastern and southeastern Australia. A marsupial is a mammal whose babies finish growing inside a pouch on the mother's belly. People often call it a 'koala bear', but it is not a bear at all; it is more closely related to kangaroos and wombats.

Koalas eat almost nothing but eucalyptus leaves, which are tough, low in nutrients and even poisonous to most other animals. To save energy on this poor diet, koalas sleep up to about 20 hours a day, tucked into the fork of a tree. The koala is one of Australia's best-known animals, but it is listed as Vulnerable. Land clearing, droughts, bushfires, dog attacks, car crashes and disease all threaten it.

What does it eat?

Koalas rely on eucalyptus trees for both food and a home. They can eat more than half a kilogram of leaves a day, spread over several feeding times, mostly at night. Their digestive system works hard to break down the leaves' toxins and pull out what little goodness there is. Koalas get most of their water from the leaves, so they rarely drink, although in droughts they may have to climb down to find water. They eat so much eucalyptus that they often smell of it.

Family life

Koalas mostly live alone. Adult males make loud, deep bellowing calls that carry far through the forest to warn rivals and attract females. A baby koala, called a joey, is born tiny and undeveloped and crawls into its mother's pouch, where it lives for the first six to seven months. Before it starts eating leaves, the mother feeds it a special soft dropping called pap, which passes on the gut bacteria it needs to digest eucalyptus. The joey is fully weaned at about one year old.

Is the koala endangered?

The IUCN lists the koala as Vulnerable. Koalas were hunted heavily for their fur in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and today the biggest danger is losing their forests to farming, building and logging. The terrible 2019-2020 bushfire season destroyed huge areas of koala habitat. Climate change also makes droughts and fires worse and lowers the food value of eucalyptus leaves. Wildlife hospitals, new koala reserves and tree-planting projects are working to help them.

Fun facts

Koalas sleep up to about 20 hours a day to save energy.
A koala's pouch opens downward, toward its back legs, rather than up toward its head.
Koala fur feels coarse, more like a sheep's wool than a teddy bear.
A koala needs about a hundred trees' worth of space to live.
Male koalas bellow with deep, snoring sounds that travel far through the forest.