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technology landscaping with australian plants Garden With Native Plants Use Less Water & Preserve This Valuable Resource And - Save Money You will also be providing food & shelter for native insects, birds & animals |
about
koalas Koalas are marsupials and carry
their young in a pouch. They are mostly nocturnal and these days
live predominantly in tall eucalypt forests and low eucalypt woodlands of
Eastern and South Eastern Australia. Their scientific name is ‘Phascolarctos cinereus’ with three sub-species being recognised. Phascolarctos cinereus victor in the state of
Koalas are protected by law but the forests and trees they eat and live in are not. (It’s a bit like protecting a fish but not the water it lives in!). This is further complicated because these areas are often privately owned land. The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) has been very active in raising the awareness of this and other threats to koalas. The continual destruction of Koala habitat is the single biggest threat to these beautiful creatures. Koala comes from Aboriginal languages and
basically translated means ‘no drink’. Koalas rarely need to drink as they get most of
the moisture they need from the leaves they eat but may also drink rarely from
ponds and streams. They can eat up to1 kilogram of eucalyptus leaves a day
though are known to graze on other native plants such as Wattles and Melaleucas.
Eucalyptus trees don’t only provide
leaves for food for Koalas but are also their homes. Koalas spend most of their
time in trees and rarely venture down to the ground. This is just as well as
many injuries and deaths are inflicted by dogs and cars. Koalas usually give birth to 1 young every year or two. Koala
babies are known by several names including ‘joeys’ and ‘cubs’.
The young stay with their mother for up to a year spending the first 6
months or so in the mother’s backward facing pouch.
When born, koalas have no fur, are only 2 centimetres long and
their eyes and ears are not yet open. Koalas sleep for up to 20 hours a
day and in the past people thought they were drunk from eating the gum leaves.
This is of course not the case and it is generally now agreed that they sleep a
lot because the leaves they eat take a great deal of energy to digest and are
also low in energy. Koalas are fully grown at around 4 years old and
grow up to 80 centimetres head-body length for males and to around 70
centimetres for females with larger animals generally occurring in southern parts of
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