damian 0 Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 {stuffed up the heading again, should read 100,000] poor little things, there used to be millions of them. Link to post Share on other sites
fukdane 2 Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 Poor darlings. Some news about their plight is there? Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted July 25, 2003 Author Share Posted July 25, 2003 from a news paper: There are about 100,000 koalas in Australia. Queensland has the largest population of koalas at 50,000. New South Wales has between 10,000 and 15,000 koalas. They spend up to 20 hours per day asleep. They are marsupials, not bears. Their scientific name is phascolarctos cinereus. They have two thumbs on their front paws. They make a noise like a snore and then a belch, known as a bellow. Contrary to popular belief koalas are not drugged by gum leaves. They look so sleepy because they cannot store very much fat and so have to rest a lot to conserve energy. Adult koalas eat up to one kilogram of eucalyptus leaves each night. They can only eat about 50 of the 500 species of eucalyptus leaves. Their fur is different in different parts of Australia. In the south it is longer and thicker than in the north. Koalas usually have only one cub per year. Babies are known as pouch young, back young, joeys or cubs. When koalas are born they measure about 2 centimetres - growing up to 85 centimetres. The koala joey rides in its mother's backward-facing pouch for about five or six months, after that, it rides on its mother's back until it is about one year old. They are fully grown by their third or fourth year and live for about 12 years in the wild and up to 18 years in captivity. They don't normally need to drink, they get all the moisture they need from gum leaves. It is thought that the word koala means "no drink" in some aboriginal languages. The koala's main predators are dogs and dingoes Cars and dogs kill more than 4000 koalas each year. The greatest threat facing wild koala populations today is the destruction of their habitat, the eucalypt forests of eastern Australia. Since white settlement of Australia approximately 80 per cent of the koalas habitat has been destroyed. Link to post Share on other sites
slow 0 Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 Sad... WWF helping them? There are so many animals losing their home... " title="" src="graemlins/cry.gif" /> Link to post Share on other sites
Glen Falting 0 Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 Australia's very own tree sloth - 20 hours a day a sleep. Still nothing like your average salaryman on public transport! Link to post Share on other sites
xxx 2 Posted July 26, 2003 Share Posted July 26, 2003 20 hours a day sleep. I could do with a few of them right now Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 I've heard that they are really not friendly at all - is that right? They look so cute and cuddly an all Link to post Share on other sites
BigSausage 0 Posted July 29, 2003 Share Posted July 29, 2003 I've spoken to one, nice chap. Very friendly. and very cute. He seemed kinda sad though Link to post Share on other sites
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