Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Koala Crazy Fun Facts by Vanessa & Maria


Koalas are one of the mammals mistaken the most by bears
Koalas are not bears
Koalas have thick fur
They love to
eat eucalyptus leaves
they love them so much that Koalas even store snacks of leaves in pouches in their cheeks. They hardly ever drink water
A baby stays in its mother's pouch for about six months after it is born
After the infant emerges it clings to its mother's back or belly and rides with her everywhere until about the age of one
Beast known Australian animals
'koala' comes from an Australian Aboriginal word meaning 'no drink'
The reason koalas sleep for much of the day(about 18 hours) is because eucalyptus leaves are very tough so they use a lot of energy to digest. Sleeping saves energy. Eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to almost every other animal.Once people hunted koalas for their fur and by the 1920's the animals were almost extinct. Laws were passed to protect the koalas from hunters, but the koala is still a threatened species, depending on which state it lives in.
Koalas need a lot of space—about 100 trees per animal—a pressing problem as Australia's woodlands continue to shrink.

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