The Koala is Australia's most known arboreal marsupial. Feeding
entirely on a range of eucalyptus leaves (gum leaves) its range is limited to
where these trees now grow. The koala sleeping for about 20 hours/day, feeding
for about 4 hours/day and moving about for about 15 minutes/day, spends its
entire life in eucalypt trees, although on occasions it has been recorded in
other species.
Breeding in summer the female, who has a backward opening pouch, usually has one
young (twins are rare). Like all marsupials the young is immature and tiny at
birth weighing less than 0.5g at birth. The joey remains in the pouch for around
7 months and then is carried on the mother's back feeding on gum leaves and milk
until it is weaned at around 12 months of age. Koala live to about 15 years of
age, the females becoming sexually mature at about two years of age and the male
at about 3 years.
Clearing of large areas of forest and leaving isolated pockets of forest has
caused restrictions within the population and it is now realized that tree
corridors must be formed between forest habitats to allow movement between
populations for the species to survive in the long term.
(Ref:- The Australian Museum Complete book of Australian Mammals.)
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Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania, Australia