The life of a koala is very interesting and exciting. Firstborn joey's (a baby koala) have no hair or teeth, but they can smell and touch. Their front legs are weak, but their back legs are strong. A firstborn koala is the size of jelly bean. When a joey leaves its mother's pouch, it never drinks again. At seven months old, a joey is nearly too big to fit in its mothers pouch, and so they start riding their mothers back.
There are less then 65,000 koalas left, why? Well, 100 years ago many people moved to Australia. They brought many diseases. Koalas catch diseases easily, and many of them died. People are doing their best to try and help save them.
Koalas live in Queensland, Australia. They are also the symbol of Australia. The joey's live in their mother's home range until its 2 years old, then finds one of its own.
Koalas are herbivores and their favorite kind of leaves are eucalyptus. Koalas have special teeth to help chew. Young koalas learn how to find the best leaves by watching their mothers. Mother koalas give joeys pap, which is soft and mushy and comes from eucalyptus leaves that the mother chewed and ate.
Koalas have many predators, wild dingos, foxes, pythons, goannas (a large Australian lizard), eagles, and owls. All are pray on koalas and especially their young. In recent years a common family pet, the domestic dog, has proved to be a major threat. Dogs probably kill more koalas then any other animal.
Koalas mark trees with smells and scratches to keep other koalas out of their territory. Koalas sleep 18 to 20 hours a day. Koalas speak with grunts, clicks, squeaking, and humming. When koalas are scared, they scream like a baby.
Koalas are related to wombats, possums, kangaroos, and the sugar glider. A full grown male koala is about 2 feet long, and females are just a little smaller. Koalas have sharp pointed claws and rough pads to help them climb trees. Their arms are almost the same length as their legs, this also helps them climb.
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