Koala: Habitat

Habitat and Geographic Range

Koalas occur from the mid-coastal region of Queensland to Victoria and Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Loss of habitat due to settlement and a fur trade in the last century has reduced the range of koalas. Cave fossils indicate that in an earlier climatic period koalas also lived in the forest of southwestern Western Australia. Koalas live in forest eucalypt trees but also move about (on all fours) on the ground..

Food and Foraging

The sole diet of koalas consists of eucalypt leaves (“gum leaves”) of several species. They get their water needs from the leaves and do not drink free water. Koalas are unique in having special adaptations to cope with the unpalatability and even toxic qualities of eucalypt leaves. In particular they have a large caecum (hind gut) which harbours microbes that help to ferment the food and the liver is able to detoxify some of the chemicals characteristic of eucalypt leaves.

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