Did you know that a forest can only have so many koalas in it? They feed on gumtrees and can only feed so many, like a pasture for sheep. The word koala means “no drink’ or “no water” and they get most of their hydration from eating up to 2 pounds of eucalyptus leaves a day. Since those leaves do not have many nutrients and are tough to digest, koalas sleep approximately 20 hours a day.

Not the sharpest tool in the shed due to having a small and “smooth” brain lacking the ability to solve problems. You can place eucalyptus leaves on a plate in a front of them and they won’t know what they are since they are not on a tree. They cannot make the connection due to lacking folds in the brain to increase surface area for neurons.

Koalas are not actually bears, as were mistaken by European settlers, and they live in Australia. They are also marsupials, just like kangaroos, as their young are developed in the female’s pouch.

A baby koala is called a “joey” and is only a couple centimeters long looking like a jellybean when its born. Then after 35 days it makes its way from the birth canal to the pouch where it attaches to its mother’s breasts. She then contracts her sphincter muscles to keep it safe inside her pouch for another 6 to 7 months. Once graduating from milk, the joey rides the mama’s back, eats leaves and travels with mama until another joey is born, usually a year later.

One pretty cool fact is that they have human-like fingerprints. Scientists aren’t even able to tell under a microscope which is which. So, it’s probably a good thing that they aren’t that smart, have a boring diet and only live in trees. They are excellent swimmers though, which begs the question…do they get wrinkled fingers like we do? 🤔 .