facts about koalas

PowerPoint Show by Andrew

A Koala Bear sleeps 22 hours of every day.They spend only four minutes for traveling.

The Koala bear is not really a bear, but is really related to the kangaroo and the wombat. The closest relative of the koala is wombat that is not a traveler either. Just look closely at the pouch that opens in both koala and wombat.

Male koalas have two penises. While male animals have bifurcated penises, female ones have lateral vaginas.

Koalas hug trees to cool off on hot days. Branches or canopies of trees have a higher temperature than trunks.

Humans are koala’s worst enemies. In the period from 1908 to 1927 more than two million koalas were killed.

When kept in captivity, female koalas will often engage in lesbian behavior.When in captivity they participate in homosexual acts three times as often as they do in heterosexual activities. Up to five females may take part in an orgy.

A newborn koala is the size of a jellybean. One month old cub is only 1 cm long!

Once a baby Joey becomes too big for the pouch, a koala mom will carry her baby on her back. Koala cubs eat their moms’ poo to have the bacteria required in their gut for eucalyptus digestion.

Koalas are great swimmers. They are also great in running and climbing. But you would be very lucky to see them in such activity.

Koalas live for 20 or more years. All its life the koala eats only eucalyptus leaves.

“One Direction” were once worried they caught chlamydia after a koala urinated on them.

Liam Payne and Harry Styles didn’t like the fact that 80% of koalas have chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease whose effects may include severe conjunctivitis.

In Aborigine language, the word ‘koala’ means ‘no water’.

In fact koalas may stay dehydrated even in very hot temperatures.

They get moisture mostly from eucalyptus leaves.

Koala eats about one kilogram of eucalyptus leaves a day.They usually store some more food in pouches and cheeks.

Koala fur isn’t as soft as it looks. It is very coarse, like wool.They need the coarse fur to repel moisture on a rainy day.

Koalas tend to smell strongly of eucalyptus and musk. It helps them to scare fleas and other creatures from living in their fur.

A baby koala is called a Joey. The gestation period normally lasts 35 day and the mother gives birth to only one baby.

Large nose with sensitive hairs enables the koala to detect differences in smell between different eucalyptus leaves. The nose ensures the koala is chooses the best from the bunch.

The sedentary lifestyle of the koala can be attributed to the fact they have unusually small brains and survive on a diet of nutrient-poor leaves.The animal is protected by law but their habitat and their food aren’t.

More than 4,000 koalas are killed each year by cars and dogs.Another danger for the koala is goannas, eagles, and owls.

Koalas have fingerprints like humans. It’s the only animal besides primates to have fingerprints.