usually depending on when they have another joey. Once they leave their mothers, they have to find their own home range. Often, they search for a field that belonged to a koala that is now deceased and left behind an area of eucalyptus trees on which it can forage. They aren’t allowed to stay in the mother’s range.
Some koala joeys leave their mothers at the ripe age of 12 months. They do so to try to find their own home ranges. That’s when life begins to get harder for these young koalas because they now have to find their own territory. This new territory has to be somewhere with the right tree species with tasty gum leaves to eat and somewhere near other koalas. There are also many other factors to consider when choosing a new home range. The koala joeys have to consider a location safe from threats such as habitat destruction, cars, and dogs.
18. Koalas Eat Their Weight In Food Every Two Weeks
Koalas weigh about 14 kilograms each, and every day, they eat ½ to 1 full kilogram of food. That means that every fortnight, they eat their entire weight in food. However, they don’t have chubby little stomachs to show for their voracious eating. They eat almost nothing but eucalyptus leaves, which are low in nutrients and difficult to digest. They eat nothing but salad, which may make them bloated and constipated, but they won’t gain weight off of it. Koalas have to consume large amounts of the leaves because they are so devoid of nutrients that their needs can only be met by engorging themselves.
As nocturnal animals, koalas can consume all of their daily foods in about three to four hours. The eucalyptus leaves are the primary source of a koala’s diet, and its digestive system has uniquely adapted to break down these harsh leaves. Koalas are incredibly picky eaters. However, on rare occasions, they will branch out of their comfort zone and eat from other Australian natives. These eucalyptus-eating Australian icons don’t absorb many nutrients in their diets or spend too much time consuming so they can maintain a healthy and manageable weight. Even though we might find eating the same food everyday bland, the koalas find it satisfying.
They sleep 18 hours a day and eat the equivalent of their own body weight every two weeks. Imagine if you were that lazy and entitled! But koalas can get away with it because they are (seemingly) so cute and cuddly. Koalas are the laziest of creatures. However, unlike cats, which are also quite lazy, they would make terrible pets. You would hardly be able to feed them enough, and their sharp claws would wreak worse havoc on your furniture than a feline. Not to mention the horrible smell from their stink glands if they felt that you were encroaching on their territory.
Koalas are mostly nocturnal animals and are primarily active at night. They might be slightly busy at dawn or dusk. That might be because, in the cooler hours, the koala is less likely to lose the precious moisture and energy than they would if they were active during the hotter daylight hours. Koalas have a thick wooly fur that protects them from both high and low temperatures so they can comfortably survive. The coat on the koala’s bottom is densely packed. It essentially provides them with a cushion for the stiff branches that they sit and sleep on. If you spent between 18 and 20 hours a day, you would want to be comfortable too.
At first glance, a koala appears cute and cuddly. A few years back, a group of thieves broke into a zoo with the plan to steal a koala to sell for money to buy drugs. The koala went berserk and covered them with so many scratches and lacerations that they had to abort the mission. However, the thieves didn’t give up. Instead, they captured a four-foot crocodile and, despite the reptile’s thrashing, hauled it over the security fence. The moral of the story is that kidnapping a crocodile is easier than kidnapping a koala. Those evil little monsters will scratch and bite the daylights out of you.
Most of the time, these tree-hugging animals keep to themselves. However, sometimes as described above, they sn