Amaris Vallejo
Mr. Skipper
Encounter 8
March 3, 2023
Koalas Are Near Permanent Death
Introduction
Around 150 to 200 animals and plants go extinct every year. The main reason these animals and plants are going extinct is because of deforestation. One of the animals that are being affected by this problem is koalas. Koalas thrive in their home, which is the forest trees. Without their home, they have no support in their lives. With no support, they would most likely die from some predator or dehydration. As they keep dying they are getting closer to extinction or in other words, permanent death. The death of a species would make the planet less diverse. As these animals keep going extinct the world would then have no diversity and it would be harder to take care of the world since every species does its part to nourish the world in some type of way. If they do go into permanent death it wouldn't just impact their habitat, it would impact the whole world .
Description of Koalas
Phascolarctos cinereus, also known as koalas, are commonly mistaken as some type of bear species. They might look like bears that climb trees, but instead, they are marsupials. Marsupials are a group of different species with a built-in pouch on their bodies. Just like a kangaroo, koalas have a pouch on their stomach, but instead of it opening upwards, it opens downwards, towards the bottom of their abdomen. The purpose of the pocket is to keep the female koala's baby safe while they climb trees and dig holes in the ground (Koala). All koalas have round faces, big furry ears, a big black nose, and thick grey fur, but the part of the world where they are from differs in their weight and shade of color. Koalas in Queensland are smaller, lighter in color, and have less fur than those in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. Queensland's adult female koalas on average, weigh between 5 and 6 kilograms and adult males weigh between 6 and 8kg, compared to the state of Victoria's adult female koalas with an average weight of 8.5 kilograms and males weighing up to 12 kilograms (Koala Facts).
Natural Habitat
Koalas primarily live in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and some parts of South Australia. All of these places may be in different regions, yet they all have the necessities for a koala's survival. One basic need that all of these regions have, for koalas, is trees. All koalas have the same type of home, trees. It doesn't matter if it is big or small, they all live on some kind of tree. They usually spend most of their lives up on trees, only with the exception of going down to move to another tree. Since koalas live up high on branches, they get a lot of sunlight (Koala Facts). The temperatures in their habitat can reach up to 80 degrees Fahrenheit and down to 60 degrees Fahrenheit (Koala). Koalas already sleep 18 hours a day, but, sometimes when the temperatures drop they tend to sleep up to 4 more hours, making them sleep a total of 22 hours a day. Yet, while koalas are living their sleepy, tree life, people are putting them in danger. More and more trees are getting cut down. As this happens many koalas' homes will be knocked down and they will have nowhere to live. While they are on the ground they can be put in incredible danger. Some of the predators koalas might face are dingos which are medium-sized canines, and large snakes called pythons (11 Fun Facts About Koalas). Even though they have disadvantages from the predators that come after them, they can sometimes outclimb them, because of their sharp claws, lean bodies, and long legs that have muscle. Their skin also plays a big part in why they can climb trees since they have thick skin that is able to make friction to climb trees easily without getting any injuries from their skin rubbing on the bark of the tree (Interesting Facts).
What Koalas Eat
The diet of koalas consists of many different plants. This makes them herbivores. The types of plants they eat are eucalyptus leaves, lophostemon, melaleuca, and much more (Interesting Facts). Koalas don't really have to do much to get food since their food grows on trees, which is where they live. They use their sharp claws to yank the plant out of its stem then they chew on it with their sharp front teeth. They will usually do this until they eat about 200 to 500 grams of leaves and plants daily. Even though other animals usually live in packs or hunt for food in packs, koalas do something different. They usually do everything by themselves, including hunting. However, the only exception is if the koala had a baby ( 11 Fun Facts About Koalas). Koalas only eat plants in their diet but with other animals, in the same habitat as them the koalas will turn out to be their prey. Some of the predators of koalas are big owls and wedge eagle tails. (Koala Facts) Since some of the predators are some type of bird, they will most likely prey on newborns or young koalas (koala).
Issues
Koalas were not classified as vulnerable animals until April 2012. Then during February, they were now classified as endangered, which means that they are nearly to become extinct in a couple of years come. One of the biggest reasons why they are starting to become extinct is because of people. When people need to get resources they cut down trees from the forests and take the resources from the animals and use them for themselves. When we cut down a tree, we are taking away animals' homes some of which are koalas. Koalas live most of their lives on trees. Without trees, they will not be able to live or get any of the resources they need. Even their food grows on trees, so without the trees, they won't be able to eat or sleep. Then they will most likely die from starvation (Interesting Facts). If they don't die from that they would die, from some of their predators since they are vulnerable on the ground rather than in the trees. Another reason why there aren't many koalas is because of female reproduction. Female koalas, life spaned normally only have one baby (Koala Facts). It would be very rare to have twins during a koala pregnancy and if they do it would be likely for the second baby to not make it. When the koala gives birth to their baby/offspring, the koala would be at many risks of death since they are up high on a tree. Another death risk is that large birds prey on baby koalas as soon as they are born. Some female koalas die as they are trying to save their baby from the predators coming after them. Without the mom, the baby koala would be really stressed that it won't even survive over a couple of days (Koala).
Preservation Plan
If koalas, do go extinct some of the side effects from it would be less biodiversity since koalas give off scat. Scat is animal face droppings. One, of the very few handfuls of animals that do this, is koalas. The koala's animal face droppings then go to the ground and deposits nutrients that gives the forest floor the need to grow and regenerate new things. Some of which may be plants. Without the koalas, the things that the ground needs in the forests won't be received. When it is not received the forest would get in poor conditions as the years pass by (11 fun facts About Koalas). Furthermore, if koalas go extinct more animals would as well be at risk of extinction. For example, if koas are no longer here the predators of koalas won't have something to feed on then they will also die and no longer be here. After that predator dies the preditor of that preditor will die (11 Fun Facts about Koalas). Then it will go on and on till there will be a few animals left in the forest. So to sum it all out, if we do not make a change, koalas may go extinct. If they do go extinct then we would have fewer and fewer animals in this world. Then there would not be a good amount of diversity. If we want to make a change in the koala population, we have to do it now. If we start, later on, we might be too late (koala Facts).
Work Cited
¨11 Fun Facts About Koalas.¨ One Tree Planted, Meaghan Weeden, 11 June. 2022, onetreeplanted.org/blogs/stories/koala-facts.
¨Interesting Facts.¨ Save the Koala, Nathan Ferlazzo, 1 Nov 2022,
savethekoala.com/about-koalas/interesting-facts/
¨Koala.¨ Animal Fact Guide, Abi Cushman, 1 Nov. 2022,
animalfactguide.com/animal-facts/koala/.
¨Koala Facts.¨ Environment, Jurisdiction Queensland, Department of Environment And Science, Pual Foster, 24 Mar. 2022, environment.des.qld.gov.au/wildlife/animals/living-with/koalas/facts.