Koala

Koalas aren't bears at all — they're marsupials, like kangaroos, and carry their babies in pouches. They survive on tough, toxic eucalyptus leaves, which give so little energy that koalas sleep up to 20 hours a day to save power.

Koalas live in the eucalyptus forests of eastern Australia, and they spend almost their whole lives up in the trees. They are not bears at all but marsupials, with a pouch like a kangaroo's. A koala has strong arms, sharp claws and two thumbs on each front paw for gripping bark, and a thick woolly coat that sheds rain. Its fingertips have swirled prints so like a human's that they can be hard to tell apart. Koalas are mostly active at night and sleep for 18 to 20 hours a day.

A koala eats almost nothing but eucalyptus leaves, which are tough, low in energy and poisonous to most other animals. A koala's long gut and special bacteria break down the toxins, but the leaves give so little fuel that the animal has to save energy by sleeping most of the day. Koalas are fussy, too: out of hundreds of kinds of eucalyptus they eat only a few dozen and prefer the freshest tips. They get most of their water from the leaves, which is why they rarely climb down to drink.

A baby koala, called a joey, is born tiny and blind and crawls into its mother's pouch, where it lives for about six months. When it is big enough it rides on her back and starts eating a special soft food she produces that gives it the bacteria it needs to digest eucalyptus. Koalas live alone as adults, each with its own patch of trees, and males bellow at night to warn others off. Koalas are listed as vulnerable — bushfires, disease and forests cleared for houses and roads have hit them hard.

Here is every koala fact from this page and the koala quiz in one list — handy for a school project or a car-ride quiz.

1. Koalas sleep 18–20 hours a day — eucalyptus is hard work to digest.
2. Koalas aren't bears — they're marsupials with pouches, like kangaroos.
3. Koala fingerprints look almost exactly like human fingerprints.
4. Eucalyptus leaves are toxic to most animals, but koalas eat almost nothing else.
5. A baby koala is called a joey and lives in mom's pouch for about 6 months.
6. Wild koalas usually live about 10 to 15 years.

❓ Common questions about koalas

No — koalas are wild animals that belong in the wild, and keeping one would be unsafe and almost always illegal. But if koalas are your favorite, here's the closest pet you actually can welcome home:

Meet the ChinchillaBecause no pet is a koala, but for a soft, sleepy, cuddly-looking cutie a chinchilla is a great alternative. See care guide →

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