tively cool most of the year, the temperature routinely spikes above 104 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer. So next time you see a picture of a koala hugging someone, just know that they are manipulating that person to regulate their own body temperature. If the weather is chilly, they are probably trying to warm up, not have a cute little cuddle.
The hands of koalas are remarkably similar to those of humans. If you compare a human fingerprint to a koala’s, you might not even be able to tell the difference because they are so indistinguishable. Not even a careful analysis under a microscope can easily distinguish the ridges on a koala’s fingers. Their palms also look much like ours, even lined with the same ridges. However, what sets koalas apart is that their hands are covered in warts. Both their hands and feet are riddled with them. Warts seem to be organized along certain lines as if they were meant to be there.
The remarkable aspect about koala prints is that they seem to have evolved independently. Koalas feed by climbing vertically onto the smaller branches of eucalyptus trees, reaching out, grasping handfuls of leaves, and bringing them to the mouth. Further, the origin of the fingerprints is best explained as the biomechanical adaptation to holding. That produces multidirectional mechanical influences on the skin. Their rough skin and warts help them travel within their home range and easily get their food. While humans and koalas have similar yet distinguished fingerprints, we can be thankful our hands are not covered in warts too!
Koalas may not be related to bears, but the size of their teeth and claws might convince you otherwise. In fact, given the choice between a bear and koala, after analyzing the size of the koala’s teeth and claws, you might decide to go for the bear. So what gives the impression that koala “bears” are cute and cuddly? Probably the fact that they look so much like teddy bears. However, teddy bears don’t carry chlamydia, have warts all over their hands, pee on people who are just trying to be helpful or eat poisonous leaves as their primary food source.
Koalas possess specialized claws for various purposes. Marsupials need specialized claws because they have to reach their mother’s pouch by climbing at the time of their birth. As they grow and mature, they spend their entire lives in trees and need more specialized claws to climb the trees. Their nails help them grab fresh eucalyptus leaves from the higher branches. The claws allow koalas to carve and engrave their territorial markings as well. They are sharp enough to leave dominant engravings on trees. Additionally, if another male challenges the dominant male for its territory and gets ready for a fight, these claws come in handy.
There are probably fewer than 80,000 koalas today, and some experts suggest less than 43,000. There are several reasons they are on the endangered list. They have been falling prey to habitat loss, as the eucalyptus forests in which they live are particularly prone to damage from changes in temperature and weather patterns. They are also being destroyed to make way for human settlements and agriculture. Koalas are only native to some states within Australia, and those individual states, rather than the national government, are responsible for their preservation. There is little coordinated effort to protect these disgusting creatures.
It has been said there is no legislation that effectively or consistently protects Koala habitat anywhere within Australia. However, this is not necessarily because the bill does not exist, but because there is not always the political will to adequately resource, implement, police, and enforce such legislation. There are four states where koalas occur in the wild. That includes Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. To make matters more challenging, each state has its own legislation. Local government is where most day to day decisions are made about what happens to the koalas’ habitat. However, it is also where there is often the least amount of resou