What makes Koalas so unique?
The furry grey creatures found in the eucalyptus forests of eastern Australia look exceptionally cute.
However not just their cuteness but there are many more things to talk about them which makes them unique!
First of all, it’s very interesting to note that they are often called koala bears, however, they are not bears.
Koalas are marsupials which means they carry their young ones in their pouch after giving birth to them. The baby koalas are known as joeys.
The most favourite diet of koalas is eucalyptus leaves. Among 700 different species of eucalyptus, they feed on around 50 of them( which includes rainbow eucalyptus as well).
What’s bewildering is that these eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to other creatures but koalas have a long digestive organ called 'cecum' which helps them in digesting the leaves easily.
Earlier it was believed that they don’t drink water as they get enough moisture from the eucalyptus trees, however, it’s not true! They drink water from natural water sources in the forests.
You will often found them sleeping on the eucalyptus trees as they spend around 18 hours a day just dozing!
Actually, it’s just their way to conserve energy as it’s quite hard to digest the fibrous and toxic, low nutrition diet and it requires a lot of energy as well.
Koalas are one of the most popular creatures in Australia. They are the national symbol of Australia’s amazing and unique wildlife!
However, their numbers are declining day by day. It’s found that around 80% of Koalas have already been disappeared from Australia.
Chlamydia — a serious bacterial infection is a major threat to koalas. It’s a sexually transmitted disease becoming the lead cause for their deaths.
Another concerning issue is that these cute, furry creatures are losing their habitat due to excessive practice of deforestation in the forests.
There is a quick need to show some concern towards these beautiful creatures and to protect them from dogs, cats and other predators. By just reducing the process of clearing trees, we can protect their homes and the only source of diet as well.
