Also featured are Koalas: Zen in Fur and Klassic Koalas: Ancient Aboriginal Tales in New Retellings book merchandise items that benefit the Australian Wildlife Hospital, a major project Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors Worldwide.

Koala Facts

Most Australian animals that aren't either fish, birds, insects, or reptiles are marsupials—animals which carry embryonic youngsters (also known as joeys) in pouches unlike their mostly furry mammalian counterparts in the rest of the world. Any similarity between marsupials and non-Australian placental mammals is mostly coincidental and contingent on the different environmental factors each animal needs to adapt to, based on its respective individual geographical conditions.

A newborn koala is approximately the size of a gummi bear. It is born 35 day after conception and immediately crawls into its mother's pouch, where it stays for six to seven months, before taking its first peek out.

Koalas only live in Australia as part of a natural environment and are hard to keep in non-Australian zoos since they are finicky eaters. They eat only certain types of eucalyptus leaves and prefer only fresh tips. Eucalyptus leaves are of little nutritional value and thus koalas need to preserve energy.

Koalas are nocturnal and sleep up to eighteen hours a day. There are three koala types belonging to the same species, weighing between 10-30 pounds depending on their origin. New South Wales koalas are what most people think of as the "typical" koala (photo on left). It has thicker fur than the hotter climate, northern Queensland koalas, but not as thick as Victorian counterparts. The southern, Victorian, koalas are up to twice as big as their cousins and often have brown instead of gray fur.

Koalas have two thumbs on their front paws. Both front and hind-paws have a thick, black, leathery skin which helps with a tight grip and they are the only non-primate with distinct and unique fingerprints. Two fused toes (that really look like fingers) are used to comb their fur. Koalas live in trees and sometimes come down to the ground to seek shade or ascend another tree.

Koalas rarely drink as they get their water from eucalyptus leaves. They are an important part of Aboriginal lore and featured in many myths and legends. Some myths describe koalas as all-knowing gods in the trees, some as rainmakers to be worshipped. Many people believe that the word koala was derived from a aboriginal word meaning "no drink," as koalas are described as stealing water in some legends. Chances are, that the word koala instead came from an early typographical error, though it seems to have been adopted from Aborigines living near Sydney. Some of the names for koalas actually used by aborigines were kullawine, karbor, coolah, colo, koolabun, and koolewong. Japanese consider koalas as bringers of good luck.

Owing to their lack of natural predators in history, koalas don't have the same flight or fight responses of most other animals owing to underdeveloped adrenaline glands. Their gentle predisposition has made them easy pray to modern dangers. It has also made them become one of the most endearing animals to man. Hopefully, this will help them in their fight for survival. Their unblinking stare and cuddly look, has helped ware awareness among modern day human beings that the world would not be the same without them and that we all share the responsibility to preserve their future.

Koalas are listed as a "vulnerable" species in several states in Australia. While there were an estimated 10,000,000 koalas in the year 1900, there are about 100,000 left only 100 years later, with most living on private land according to the Australian Koala Foundation. Some estimates report that there are only 2,000 to 8,000 koalas in the wild with population having dropped by 90 percent in less than a decade. Australia's East Coast where most koalas still live, is the fastest developing housing area of all first-world countries. Eucalyptus forests, which the koalas depend on to survive, disappear quickly. Koalas need to come down to the ground and travel larger distances to find other trees or mates. This subjects them to their number one enemies: cars and dogs. Each year, approximately 4,000 koalas that were attacked by dogs or hit by cars get admitted to koala hospitals. Only an estimated 20% of those admitted actually survive to be released back to the wild.