Nickname: Joey Junior

Characteristics:

Koalas look like teddy bears and are sometimes even referred to as koala bears, but they are not bears they are marsupials, a special kind of animal which carries its young in a pouch. The baby will stay inside the pouch for the first few months of its life feeding on milk. When the baby koala gets too big for the pouch, it clings to the mothers back instead. Hang on joey! 

Height & Weight:

Koalas are rather small, round animals. They weigh about 30 pounds and on average grow to be 2 feet tall. How tall are you?

Where they live:

Koalas are at home in the gum tress found in the forests of eastern Australia. Koalas live in the bush with other koalas. Each koala has its own home tree which no other koalas visit unless it is mating season. The koalas sleep for about 18 hours a day in the fork of the gum tree.

What they eat:

Eucalyptus leaves, eucalyptus leaves and more eucalyptus leaves . Koalas smell like cough drops because of their diet of eucalyptus leaves.  Although koalas obtain most of their water from leaves - the name koala means “no drink” in several native Aboriginal tongues - they do occasionally drink water at the edges of streams.

3+