Koala

(Phascolarctos cinereus)

Koalas are now found only in fragmented locations along the East Coast from North Queensland to Victoria and into South Australia, the koala is fast becoming and endangered species. Koalas suffer from a wide variety of stress related diseases and a severe loss of habitat. Dog attack and motor vehicle accidents also account for a high fatality rate in built up areas where some populations overlap with suburban sprawl.

Koalas are fussy eaters and of seven hundred and fifty species of eucalyptus in Australia, they eat only twelve. Eucalyptus is toxic, very low in protein and provide koalas with about five hours of energy every day. This is why they sleep for up to nineteen hours a day. Female koalas have a rear opening pouch, inherited from their only relative the wombat.

Koalas are solitary animals. Baby koalas leave the pouch at about seven to eight months, they are first carried on the front and later on their mother's back. Some experts believe their numbers to be as low as 150,000 and extinct in most areas in the next fifty to sixty years.

Koala Gallery

All the pictures were taken on our wildlife tour.