Twelve koala facts, fact-checked
The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is a marsupial built entirely around a diet almost nothing else can eat. Full profile in our koala guide.
1. Koalas are not bears
They are marsupials, more closely related to wombats than to any bear. "Koala bear" is a persistent misnomer.
2. They have fingerprints like ours
Koala fingerprints are so similar to human ones that they are difficult to tell apart under a microscope — evolved independently for gripping.
3. They sleep up to 20 hours a day
Eucalyptus is low in calories and hard to digest. Sleep is energy conservation, not laziness.
4. Eucalyptus is toxic to most animals
Koalas process the toxins with an enlarged caecum and specialised liver enzymes, which is why the niche is nearly uncontested.
5. They are fussy even about eucalyptus
Of hundreds of eucalyptus species, koalas eat relatively few, and preferences vary regionally — which makes habitat replanting harder than it sounds.
6. Joeys eat their mother's pap
Before switching to leaves, a joey eats a special faecal pap that seeds its gut with the microbes needed to digest eucalyptus.
7. Newborns are the size of a jellybean
They crawl unaided to the pouch and stay about six months.
8. Males bellow far below their size
A specialised extra pair of vocal folds lets males produce calls far deeper than an animal their size should manage.
9. Chlamydia is a major threat
Widespread infection causes blindness, infertility and death, and is worsened by stress from habitat loss.
10. They rarely drink
Most water comes from leaves, though koalas do drink in heat and drought — behaviour that has increased with rising temperatures.
11. They hug trees to cool down
Pressing against trunks, which can be several degrees cooler than the air, is a documented heat-management behaviour.
12. They are Endangered in much of their range
Populations in Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT were listed as Endangered in 2022 after habitat loss, bushfire and disease.
Read the full koala wildlife guide for IUCN status, population context and sources — or donate to WARN to help fund the partner teams protecting wildlife on the ground.
