may have slightly different diets.
Koalas eat as much as a full kilogram of eucalyptus leaves per day; in fact, they don’t eat much of anything else. But eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to them! They have a unique organ inside their digestive systems to extract the poison so that it doesn’t kill them. They have very long digestive systems to accommodate their relatively poor diet. However, if they eat too many eucalyptus leaves, even their well-adapted bowels won’t save them; they really can eat themselves to death. It’s not unlike a person going to McDonald’s every day and convincing themselves that the cheeseburgers and milkshakes are healthy.
To safely process the leaves’ toxic chemicals, koalas are equipped with the unique microbes in their digestive tracts. Not only are these bugs able to break down the poisonous compounds, but the microorganisms can be passed from mother to baby koala. These specific microbes allow koalas the ability to flush the toxins out extremely quickly from their systems. That is the only way to eat their way through pounds of leaves every day without getting incredibly sick. Unlike koalas, if a normal herbivore set out on the all eucalyptus leaves diet, it will get gravely ill and eventually die.
When people are asked to picture a koala, one of the first images that comes to mind is one of them hugging onto a tree trunk. However, clinging to the side of the tree isn’t just a passing hobby for the furry little creature. You may think that koalas enjoy hugging the trunks of acacia trees, but they’re holding onto them to cool themselves off. The acacia trees serve as a kind of temperature-control device for hot summer days; as the weather heats up, the koalas go further down the trunks to even colder regions. It is a handy way to get rid of heat on a sweltering day.
Given that koalas spend so much time in trees, nobody wondered why they hugged the tree trunks. Many people thought they were taking a break on a more stable spot after eating leaves in the branches. While the region is relatively 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 