![]() Their herbivorous dentition is designed for their eucalypt diet and can finely grind leaves to aid digestion. They can eat up to a kilogram of leaves per day. ![]() Because their diet is naturally low in calories, they lead sedentary lifestyles, sleeping as much as twenty hours a day. Although pregnant and nursing females are territorial and have been known to attack invaders, most koalas avoid energy-consuming behaviours. Females emit softer sounding bellows, in addition to making snarls and screams, in response to defensive threats. Bellows are used as mating calls to attract females, or as warning calls to announce their presence to neighbours upon entering a new tree. They have unique vocal organs located in the soft palate called velar vocal cords, which produce low-pitch bellowing sounds that can travel far through air and vegetation. They use their large leathery noses to smell oils in branches while assessing palatability, but their vision is poor. Having small brains, their ability to perform complex unfamiliar behaviours is limited. They have proportionately more cerebrospinal fluid surrounding their primitive brains, which is thought to aid as a shock absorber should they fall from a tree. Their handprints are unique, just like human fingerprints. Koalas have a cartilaginous pad at the end of the spine that is thought to provide comfort when perching at the fork of a tree. Their front feet have two opposable digits allowing them to grasp small branches, while their hind feet have two fused digits used for grooming. They have curved, sharp claws adapted for climbing. The fur on their backs is highly evolved to protect them from wind and rain, while the fur on their ventrum reflects solar radiation, making them evolved to survive some of Australia’s harsh climates.Īnatomically, they are designed to live in the trees. Males are twice the size of females and contain scent glands on their chest (visible as a hairless patch). They range in from four to fifteen kilograms in weight and their coat colour varies from silver-grey to chocolate-brown. Koalas have stout bodies that lack tails, round furry ears, and spoon-shaped noses. Genetic diversity between populations is low and high levels of inbreeding occur. They are categorized by state borders with northern populations being smaller and lighter than their counterparts to the south. Three subspecies have been recognised, and debated, namely the Queensland koala ( Phascolarctos adustus ), the New South Wales koala ( Phascolarctos cinereus), and the Victorian koala ( Phascolarctos victor ), which can be differentiated by pelage colour and thickness, body size, and skull shape. The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. Tree destruction on KI has been noted since the 1960s and has continued to threaten Manna Gums on the island as koala populations thrive. Tree damage from overbrowsing occurs when the koalas consume leaves to the extent that the canopy is devoid of leafage, causing death to the trees. The introduced koalas have since flourished on the island, so much so that their preferred food source, the Manna Gum, is now at risk of local extinction. In the 1920’s, eighteen koalas were introduced to KI due to a concern that they could become extinct on the mainland from hunting, disease, and habitat loss. Introducing non-native species to any environment poses the risk of disrupting symbiotic relationships between flora and fauna, by introducing competition for food sources. As it is naturally isolated from the mainland, introduced species such as foxes and rabbits are prohibited from entering, but some species like the Koala, Common Ringtail Possum, and the Platypus were once introduced and still thrive here. ![]() Native island wildlife is varied and specifically includes the Kangaroo Island Kangaroo, Rosenberg’s Sand Goanna, Southern Brown Bandicoot, Tammar Wallaby, Common Brushtail Possum, Short-beaked Echidna, six species of bats, six species of frogs, and New Zealand Fur Seals. It is also home to South Australia's only eucalyptus oil distillery with oil distilled from the endemic Kangaroo Island Narrow Leaf Mallee. Besides tourism, the island is centered around agriculture, including honey from Ligurian honey bees and wool from grazing sheep. It is a popular vacation destination amongst Australian residents and tourists, that visit to marvel the rugged natural landscapes and gaze at local wildlife including kangaroo, wallaby, koala, fur-seal, and bird populations. It is known for its diverse wildlife and nature reserves. Kangaroo Island is an island off the mainland of South Australia.
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