Introduction

Koala is also called koala, koala and koala, and its scientific name is Phascolarctos cinereus. English: Koala comes from the ancient indigenous characters, which means "no drink". Because koalas get 9% of the water they need from the eucalyptus leaves they eat, they only drink water when they are sick and dry.

Living in Australia is a strange treasure in Australia. Distributed in the eucalyptus forest area in southeastern Australia.

Although koalas are also called koalas and koalas, they are not Xiong Ke animals. And they are far apart. Xiong Ke belongs to Carnivora, but koalas belong to Marsupials.

[ Edit this paragraph] Appearance characteristics and habits

Koalas are about 7-8 cm long and weigh 8-15 kg as adults. They are gentle, simple and honest, and look like bears. They have a thick and soft, dense grayish-brown short hair, and the fur on the chest, abdomen, inner limbs and inner ear is grayish-white. They have a pair of big ears, hairy ears and a bare and flat nose. Its limbs are stout, its claws are sharp, long and curved, and its claws are sharp. Each of its five toes is divided into two rows, one row is two and the other row is three. It is good at climbing trees, and it spends most of its time in tall trees, even sleeping. Feeding on eucalyptus leaves and twigs, koalas almost never drink water from the ground. This is because koalas get enough water from eucalyptus leaves, so they seldom drink water, so the locals call it "Kwale", which means "no water". However, this is related to the environment in which it lives. The land in Australia is barren, so eucalyptus is less nutritious, and koalas feed on this tree. Naturally, koalas get relatively little energy from eucalyptus. Therefore, they must reduce their activity to store more calories to help them survive. Moreover, koalas like to bask in the sun and often climb on trees. < P > Koalas have a gestation period of 35 days and only one litter. The newborn bear is less than one inch and weighs only 5.5 grams. After living in the pouch on the mother's back for six months, it will climb on the mother's back and live independently when the cub reaches one year old. By 3-4 years of sexual maturity, the life span is about 2 years.

koalas live alone in eucalyptus trees for most of their lives, but occasionally they go down to the ground because of changing their habitat trees or swallowing gravel that helps digestion. Their livers are very strange and can separate toxic substances from eucalyptus leaves. Eucalyptus leaves are their only food.

Koalas communicate by humming and purring, and they also send out signals by emitting smells.

During the day, koalas usually curl up. It has a big appetite and a narrow food path, and it doesn't eat eucalyptus leaves. Although there are more than 3 species of eucalyptus in Australia, koalas only eat 12 of them. It especially likes to eat the leaves of Eucalyptus roseus, Eucalyptus manna and Eucalyptus maculatus. An adult koala can eat about 1 kg of eucalyptus leaves every day. Eucalyptus leaf juice is fragrant and contains eucalyptol and fennel terpene. Therefore, koalas always exude a fragrant fragrance of eucalyptus leaves.

[ Edit this paragraph] Koala's home range

The size of Koala's home range depends on the quality of its uncultivated habitat, and one of the important criteria is the density of key tree species that Koala eats. Koala's "family tree" can be defined as: a key tree used as a boundary sign to mark the ownership of trees among different koalas. In human eyes, these marks are inconspicuous, but as a koala, you can tell at a glance whether a tree belongs to yourself or to other koalas.

Even after one koala dies for one year, other koalas will not move into this empty home, because this time belongs to the natural weathering and disappearance of the scent marks left by the previous koala's body and the scratches on the bark of its claws.

when a young koala is sexually mature, it must leave its mother's home and find its own domain. Its goal is to find and join another breeding population. Finding other koalas is more important than finding a habitable habitat, although the environment is also a prerequisite.

There are always some animals that temporarily wander outside the stable population. As koalas, these animals are often males, and often wait and see on the edge of the breeding population, waiting to join them and become permanent residents.

All family trees and food trees are very important for the welfare of every member of the koala population. The movement and disappearance of any one of these trees will destroy the koala population, and the vast open space is also a potential destructive factor for the koala population, because it will put the koala in an unfavorable situation of being attacked by dogs, suffering from car accidents, malnutrition and diseases.

[ Edit this paragraph] The life cycle and reproduction of koalas

In Australia, the breeding season of koalas is from August to February of the following year. During this period, the male koalas will be more active and make more frequent roars than usual. The same is true when young koalas leave their mother koalas and start to live independently. If koalas live in remote areas or near major highways, it will indicate that this period is also the busiest time for koala nurses, because koalas will increase their chances of injury and illness due to traffic accidents and dog attacks when crossing the road.

Female koalas usually start breeding when they are 3-4 years old, and usually only breed one cub a year. However, not all wild female koalas breed every year, and some female koalas breed only once every 2-3 years, which mainly depends on the age of female koalas and the quality of their habitat. On average, the life span of wild female koalas is about 12 years old, which means that a female koala can only breed 5-6 cubs in her life.

The pregnant period of koala is only 35 days. At birth, the baby koala is only 2 cm long and weighs less than 1 gram. It has no hair, sight or hearing, and looks like a pink soft candy.

After birth, the koala will climb into its mother's belly pouch independently with its well-developed sense of smell and touch, strong forelimbs and claws, and innate sense of direction. Once safely in the pouch, the koala will tightly hold one of the two nipples, thus ensuring the food source needed for the growth of the koala. At the same time, the female koala will contract the muscles of the pouch to prevent the baby koala from falling from the pouch.

In the first 6 or 7 months, koalas only eat breast milk and never drill out their baby bags. During this period, their eyes, ears, fur and so on will develop slowly. At about 22 weeks old, the koala opened its eyes and peeped out of its pouch to see the outside world. At the age of 22-3 weeks, the female koala will excrete a semi-liquid soft food from the intestine for the young koala to eat. This kind of food is very important, which is not only very soft and easy for koalas to eat, but also rich in nutrition, containing more water and microorganisms, and easy to digest and absorb. This kind of food will accompany the koala through the important transition period from breast milk to eating eucalyptus leaves until the koala can completely eat eucalyptus leaves, just like human babies will eat porridge-like semi-liquid food for a while before eating solid food.

When the baby koala leans out from the mouth of the pouch to feed on the semi-liquid soft food discharged from the intestine of the female koala, it will stretch the mouth of the pouch to the rear. Therefore, strictly speaking, the statement that the female koala's pouch opening is downward or backward is not accurate.

During the feeding of semi-liquid food, the koala will gradually climb out of the pouch until it lies completely in the abdomen of the female koala to feed, and finally begins to feed on fresh eucalyptus leaves and climb on the back of the female koala to live. Of course, koalas will continue to feed on breast milk from the pouch until they are about 1 year old. However, the little koala's body is getting bigger and bigger, and it can no longer put its head into the pouch, so the female koala's nipple will stretch and protrude from the open pouch. The koala will continue to live with the mother koala until the next baby koala is born. At this time, the little koala had to leave her mother and find her own field. If the female koala doesn't breed every year, then the little koala will live with her mother for a longer time, and of course, the greater the chance of survival.

Generally, female koalas live longer than male koalas, because male koalas are often injured in fights for spouses, and they have to move a greater distance because they need to maintain a larger area, risking more car accidents and being bitten by dogs and other animals, and occupying a larger barren soil eucalyptus forest. Using the average age data of koalas is misleading, because some koalas live only a few weeks or months, while others can live their whole lives. Koalas living in a quiet environment will live longer than those living in the suburbs of cities. Some estimate that the average life span of adult male koalas is 1 years, but the average life span of some sub-adult koalas scattered on the edge of highways or residential areas is only 2-3 years old.

once the young koala begins to eat eucalyptus leaves, it will grow faster and stronger, and at the same time it will become more dangerous. First, the koala will hug the mother's abdomen for warmth and hiding, but sometimes it will ride on the mother's back. Finally, it will leave the mother for a short walk. These behaviors will make the koala risk falling and being injured.

After the age of p>12 months, the koala left her mother to start her own home, which made the life of the koala more difficult, because she had to find her own territory. There, there must be eucalyptus forests that can provide delicious food for koalas, and they must be close to other koalas, and it is best to have some safe places that can keep them away from forest destruction, car accidents and dog attacks. The Australian Koala Foundation estimates that at least 4, koalas die every year from car accidents and dog attacks, and habitat destruction is the biggest threat to koalas' survival.

[ Edit this paragraph] Natural enemies of koalas

Koalas have several natural enemies in their lives, one of which is the dingoes. When koalas walk on the ground in order to get from one tree to another, both adults and small koalas may be hurt by Australian dogs; Koalas are sometimes attacked by wedge-tailed eagles and owls. Other wild cats, dogs and foxes are also natural enemies of koalas. But now koalas are affected by human roads and traffic, which makes the habitat decrease, which can also be said to be another form of enemy.

[ edit this paragraph] koala diseases

koalas are susceptible to several different diseases. The two common diseases are conjunctivitis and wet buttocks, which are diseases of the kidney and urinary system. Others include respiratory infection, a skull disease and parasites. Chlamydia is often regarded as the main cause of koala illness, and experts are constantly studying its relationship with koala populations. What can be found is that koalas are more susceptible to diseases when they live in crowded places or places with insufficient food supply. Research on how to take better care of koalas or reduce their infection and injury by diseases has been going on.

[ Edit this paragraph] Koalas' habitat

Koalas live in various environments such as islands along the eastern coast of Australia, tall eucalyptus forests and inland lowland forests. However, millions of years ago, the ancestors of koalas lived in the tropical rain forest, and the long-term evolution made koalas gradually withdraw from their original habitat. Wild koalas will only appear in places suitable for their living, and there are two important factors. One is that there must be tree species (including non-eucalyptus species) that koalas prefer to eat and have suitable soil and rainfall to ensure their growth. The other is that other koalas have already settled here.

Research shows that even if there are known tree species that have been selected by koalas for food, the stability of koala population cannot be guaranteed unless there are 1 or 2 species that koalas prefer or particularly like in this area.

So, this is the reason why it is not a good idea to plant only the tree species that koalas can generally eat. It is often a waste of time and energy to leave out key tree species in order to restore koalas' habitat.

[ Edit this paragraph] Koala's food and digestion

Koala is a very picky animal. It only eats eucalyptus leaves from Australia for a living. Eucalyptus leaves are particularly high in fiber and low in nutrition, and they are also very toxic to other animals. In order to adapt to this low-nutrient food, koalas have evolved a very perfect system and mechanism for a long time. The metabolism of koala is very slow, which ensures that food can stay in the digestive system of koala for a long time and digest and absorb nutrients in food to the greatest extent. And this very low and slow metabolic activity also allows koalas to save energy and save physical strength to the greatest extent. Therefore, we will often see that koalas sleep for 18-22 hours every day!

koala's digestive system is especially adapted to these eucalyptus leaves containing toxic chemicals. It is generally believed that these toxins are produced by eucalyptus in order to prevent leaf-eating animals from eating leaves, and the more barren the land where eucalyptus grows, the more toxins are produced, which may be one of the reasons why koalas only eat a few kinds of eucalyptus leaves, and sometimes even try their best to avoid living in some eucalyptus forests.

The koala's food eucalyptus is also called Eucalyptus.

koalas have a special organ for digesting fibers-the intestine. Other animals, such as humans, also have intestines, but compared with koalas' intestines, which are 2 meters long, it is simply not the same. Millions of microbes in the intestines break down the fiber in food into nutrients that koalas can absorb. Nevertheless, only 25% of the food eaten by koalas is digested and absorbed. Because koalas can meet their needs by absorbing water from food, koalas rarely drink water. Although the water content in eucalyptus leaves will be greatly reduced during the dry season, koalas don't drink water now because of the reduction of the number and the number of droughts, and Australians regard it as a treasure.

A koala eats about 2-5 grams of eucalyptus leaves every day, and koala teeth are also very suitable for handling these special foods. Sharp long incisors are responsible for clamping eucalyptus leaves from trees, while molars are responsible for cutting and grinding. The gap between the incisors and molars allows koala's tongue to efficiently mix food balls in its mouth. Koalas are very picky about food and even paranoid. In Australia, there are more than 6 species of eucalyptus, but koalas are only interested in a few of them. In some areas, koalas even eat only one kind of eucalyptus leaves, sometimes only two or three kinds. Of course, there are also some other kinds of leaves, including non-eucalyptus plants, which are occasionally eaten by koalas in a very small amount, or used as cushions or sleeping mats.

Different kinds of eucalyptus are distributed in different parts of Australia, so koalas living in Victoria and Queensland may eat completely different kinds of eucalyptus leaves. You can imagine how boring it would be to eat the same food every day, so koalas sometimes try to eat it.