Coastal Fauna in Australia and its adaptation to the Aussie environment

There are also quite a few types of coastal fauna in Australia. In this post, I will be describing the Koala (which is a coastal animal/fauna) and its adaptation to the Aussie environment.

Definition of Koala; What is a Koala?
A koala is a bear-like arboreal Australian marsupial that has thick grey fur and feeds on eucalyptus leaves.

Where is the Koala's habitat?
Koalas are found in a range of habitats, from coastal islands and tall eucalyptus forests to low woodlands inland. Today, they do not live in rainforest, although it is thought that millions of years ago, the ancestors from which today's Koalas evolved lived in the rainforests which covered much of Australia at that time.

Koala adaptation to Aussie environment
Koalas have a variety of adaptations that enables them to survive in the Aussie environment.

Koalas adapted to be able to sit on the hard branches for very long periods without getting too uncomfortable. They haves paws adapted for climbing and clinging on to tree branches. Eucalyptus leaves are toxic/poisonous for most mammals and they are very fibrous and low in nutrition. The koala’s intestine adapted to dealing with this diet.

This is a labelled diagram of a Koala

Did You Know?
- Koalas are not bears. They are not placental or 'eutherian' mammals, but marsupials, which means that their young are born immature & they develop further in the safety of a pouch. It’s incorrect to call them ‘Koala bears' - their correct name is simply 'Koalas'.
- Koalas have 5 digits on each front paw, two of which are opposed to the others, much like our thumbs are able to be moved differently from the fingers. This helps them to hold firmly onto the branches and to grip their food. The 2nd and 3rd digits on their hind paws are fused together to form a grooming claw.
- Koalas are mostly nocturnal. Nocturnal animals are awake at night and asleep during the day. Koalas, however, sleep for part of the night and also sometimes move about in the daytime. They often sleep for up to 18-20 hours each day.
- There is a myth that Koalas sleep a lot because they ‘get drunk’ on gumleaves. Fortunately, this is not correct! Most of their time is spent sleeping because it requires a lot of energy to digest their toxic, fibrous, low-nutrition diet and sleeping is the best way to conserve energy
- Koalas in the southern parts of Australia are considerably larger and have thicker fur than those in the north. This is thought to be an adaptation to keep them warm in the colder southern winters.
- Each Koala’s ‘home' is made up of several trees called home trees. They visit these same trees regularly. The area covered by these trees is called the Koala’s home range. Each Koala has its own home range, which overlaps those of other Koalas but except for breeding purposes, they do normally not visit another Koala’s home trees. The size of each home range depends upon a range of factors including the quality of the habitat and the sex, age and social position in the population of the Koala.

This is an image of a Koala

This is a distribution map of Koalas in Australia