Not a bear
Koalas are marsupials, not bears. Their closest relative is the wombat.
The bush
Koala
Phascolarctos cinereus
A stout, grey, woolly animal with big fluffy ears and a large black nose. It lives in gum trees.
- Size
- About 70 to 80cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Gum forests of eastern and south-eastern Australia
Ambles after you, in no hurry at all. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Koala
Good to know
Six things about the koala
Twenty hours of sleep
Gum leaves give so little energy that a koala sleeps for up to 20 hours a day.
Fussy eaters
They eat almost nothing but eucalyptus leaves, which are poisonous to most animals.
Rarely drinks
A koala gets most of its water from leaves, though it will drink in hot weather.
Fingerprints
Koalas have fingerprints so like ours that even experts can mix them up.
A pouch that opens downwards
The joey spends six months in the pouch, then rides on its mother's back.
The real thing
Photos of the koala
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Look for a grey lump wedged in the fork of a gum tree. Scratches on the trunk and droppings below are good clues.
How to help
Koalas are endangered in much of eastern Australia. Support groups that plant food trees and protect the forest they still have.
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