What Do Koalas Eat? An Introduction to the Feeding Habits of Koalas
The koala is a national treasure of Australia and a unique and precious primitive arboreal animal of Australia. It is also known as the koala, tailless bear, and kola bear, among other names. It is not a bear species and is in fact very far removed from bears; it is a marsupial mammal belonging to the order Diprotodontia, family Phascolarctidae, genus Phascolarctos. It sleeps 18 hours a day, has a gentle temperament, and an honest, sturdy build. Now let us take a look at what koalas eat!
What do koalas eat?
Koalas feed on eucalyptus leaves and tender twigs, and eucalyptus leaves are their only food. Koalas can obtain 90% of the water they need from the eucalyptus leaves they eat, and generally only drink water when sick or during drought. A koala's teeth are very well suited to handling their special food: the sharp, long incisors are responsible for clipping eucalyptus leaves from the tree, while the molars are responsible for shearing and grinding them. The gap between the incisors and molars allows the koala's tongue to efficiently mix and blend the food mass in its mouth.
The Living Habits of Koalas
Koalas are generally classified as nocturnal animals, being active mainly at night and at dawn and dusk, because this saves more water and energy than being active during the higher daytime temperatures. During the day they usually curl up into a ball and rest in eucalyptus trees, and only come out at night to move about, climbing up and down along the branches in search of eucalyptus leaves to satisfy their hunger. They spend most of their lives in eucalyptus trees, but occasionally come down to the ground to change roosting trees or to swallow gravel to aid digestion. The koala's liver is very unusual, as it can separate the toxic substances in eucalyptus leaves; therefore koalas sleep for a very long time in order to digest the toxic substances, needing 17 to 20 hours of sleep each day, with only the remaining 4 hours used for feeding, activity, personal hygiene and communication with other koalas.
The Growing Environment of Koalas
Koalas inhabit various environments such as the islands off the eastern coast of Australia, tall eucalyptus forests, and inland lowland forests. However, millions of years ago, the ancestors of koalas lived in tropical rainforests, and long-term evolution gradually caused koalas to withdraw from their original habitat. Wild koalas appear only in places suitable for them to live, and two important factors are indispensable: first, the place of residence must have tree species (including non-eucalyptus tree species) that koalas prefer to feed on and that can grow with suitable soil and rainfall; second, other koalas must already have settled there.
The Protection Status of Koalas
In 1930, the outrage over public hunting and killing of koalas forced the government to declare that koalas had become protected animals in all states. However, apart from New South Wales enacting relevant laws, there was no law to protect the eucalyptus forests on which koalas depended for survival and shelter.
In 2012, Australian Environment Minister Tony Burke announced that the government would list the koalas living in eastern New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory as endangered protected animals.