Koala

The koala is a small, furry mammal that lives in the forests of eastern and southern Australia. It has a round body, big fluffy ears, a black nose, and sharp claws for climbing. An adult koala weighs about 10 to 20 pounds. That is close to the weight of a medium-sized house cat.

Koalas are often called "koala bears," but they are not bears at all. They are marsupials, a group of mammals whose babies are born tiny and finish growing inside a pouch on their mother's belly. Kangaroos and wombats are also marsupials. In fact, wombats are the koala's closest living relatives.

A koala baby, called a joey, is born the size of a jellybean. It is blind, hairless, and no bigger than your thumbnail. The joey crawls up into its mother's pouch and stays there for about six months, drinking milk and growing. After that, it rides on its mother's back for another six months before living on its own.

Koalas eat almost nothing but eucalyptus leaves. Eucalyptus trees grow all over Australia. The leaves are tough and full of chemicals that would poison most animals. A koala's stomach has special bacteria that break down the poison. Even so, the leaves give very little energy. That is why koalas sleep up to 20 hours a day. They are not lazy. They simply cannot afford to move much.

A koala eats about one to two pounds of leaves every day. It is picky too. Out of more than 600 kinds of eucalyptus trees, most koalas will only eat from a few. They find their favorite leaves by smell.

Koalas were once common across Australia. Today they are in serious trouble. In 2022, the Australian government listed koalas as endangered in parts of the country. Big wildfires, a disease called chlamydia, and the cutting down of eucalyptus forests have all hurt their numbers. The huge bushfires of 2019 and 2020 alone killed or harmed tens of thousands of koalas.

People are working to save them. Wildlife hospitals rescue hurt koalas and heal their burns and broken bones. Groups plant new eucalyptus trees and build safe crossings over roads. Scientists are testing a vaccine for chlamydia.

The koala has become a symbol of Australia. Its quiet life in the treetops depends on forests that are shrinking fast. Whether koalas still climb eucalyptus trees a hundred years from now depends on choices people make today.