The Koala Bear

Scientic Name : Phascolarctos cinereus.
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION

COMMON NAME:	koala
KINGDOM:	Animalia
PHYLUM:	Chordata
CLASS:	Mammalia
ORDER:	Diprotodonta
FAMILY:	Phascolarctidae
GENUS SPECIES:	Phascolarctos (leather-pouched bear) cinereus (ash-colored)

The koala bear is a small bear found only in Australia. It can reach up to two feet in height and weigh up to thirty pounds. The koala bear has very small eyes, a prominent beak like nose, and tufted ears. The koala bear has gray fur and has no tail except for a short rounded stump. In the mouth of a koala bear there are pouches which are used to food. The koala bear is in the order of marsupial which means that the babies live in their mother's pouches until they are old enough to live on their own. The koala bear resembles the sloth in it's manner and movement. Like the sloth, the koala moves very slowly and spends much of the day sleeping.


Habitat

The koala bear lives primarily in trees but will occasionally descend to the ground to lick dirt or to move slowly to another tree. When a koala licks the earth, the dirt is able to aid the koala in digestion of its food. If a koala is forced out of its tree, then its main concern is to find another tree to live in. A koala lives in the topmost branches of trees and will never live in the hollows of trees. A koala usually sleeps during the day, curled up on a branch at the top of a tree.

At night the koala bear climbs to the topmost branches of gum trees to feed on their main food, the shoots of eucalyptus. The koala will eat twelve species of eucalyptus plants, and the koala is a vegetarian so they eat no meat. Different breeds of koala bears feed on different species of gum trees. The gum tree is the only source of food for the koala and without gum trees it can not survivie. Koalas found on the east coast of Australia feed primarily on the spotted gum tree and the tallow wood trees, and in Victoria Australia koala's feed primarily on red gum trees.

Reproduction

The koala bear is very slow breeder because it usually lives by itself or in a small group. When breeding time occurs the male koala will guard the female for the term of her pregnancy. The breeding months for a koala bear is January through March. The mother produces only one child and the child is usually 3\4 inches long, and weighs 1\5 of an ounce. The koala bear is a Marsupial, which means that the mother has a front pocket in which her baby lives for a short period of time. The young koala receives food through eating the mother's partially digestive food that has gone through her digestive system. At six months a baby koala has grown all it's fur and leaves its mother's front pouch. When a baby koala is six months old it rides on the mother's back for another six months. A koala is able to reproduce at the age of four and a koalas average life span is between the ages of sixteen and twenty.

Problems affecting the Koala Bear

Until less than a thousand years ago there were millions of koala's in Australia. Now only thousands remain. In the year's between 1887-89 and again the years of 1900-1903 there was much killing of the koala bear for sport. Many people would shoot the koala bear because the small animal is an easy target and some people receive pleasure from seeing an innocent animal in pain. Another reason for the sharp decline of the koala bear was because of the demand for their fur, which was sold around the country. In 1908, 58,000 koala skins were sold in Sydney Australia alone. Between the years of 1920-1921, in Sydney Australia, a total of 205,679 skins were sold, and in 1924 over two million koala skins were sold.

Australia is very susceptible to forest fires and because the koala bear spends most of it's time in trees, fires are a large problem for the koala bears. Koala bears are also killed when humans clear land for settlement, and precious gum trees are cut down. Koalas depend on gum trees as their main source so they die of starvation and malnutrition when the trees are cut down. The koala bear is a slow breeder, which hinders it's population increase in Australia.

Solution to the Problem

Today in Australia the koala bear is protected by numerous organizations. Special areas of Australia with plentiful gum trees are being reserved for koala bear preservation and the sale of koala bear fur is illegal. Even though the koala bear is being protected, the population has decresed rapidly and, it will take many years for the population of the koala bear to be back to normal.