Koala

• Deborah Ntais,
• Short Story
• 2011

Do you know the meaning of Koala?
Have you ever wondered why they are always sleeping and hardly awake? Do they drink water?
Koalas are NOT bears. They come from an Australian mammals group called marsupials. They are one of the best known Australian animals and are found in four different states. Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales.
They appear to be brown or grey on their backs and white on their stomach. They have big hairless noses and round ears.
Eucalypts leaves are poisonous to almost every other animal. In Australia there are over 600 types of Eucalypts leaves but Koalas only eat about 20-50 varieties and only like eating about 10. Koalas sleep most of the day because the Eucalypts is very tough and uses a lot of energy. Sleeping saves energy.
Koalas use a deep grunting noise to communicate but females use it less often.
In areas of bush land Koalas are at great risk of extinction from just one fire. Also long droughts have an effect on Koalas.
They don’t drink water because they get enough moisture from the leaves.
Koalas get their name from an ancient Aboriginal word meaning “no drink” because they only drink water when ill or not enough moisture in the leaves.
Next time you go to the zoo and you see a sleepy, soft, cute, cuddly marsupial, you won’t need to wonder what you see before your eyes.