Koala

Phascolarctos cinereus

Great Otways National Park, Victoria, Australia - September 2010

Koalas are one of the iconic species of Australia and are a very popular animal due to their comical "teddy-bear" appearance.  They are now fully protected, but sadly this wasn't always the case.  In the early 20th Century they were hunted extensively for their beautiful, warm, durable fur and 2 million pelts were exported in 1924 alone!  The population was reduced to only a few thousand individuals by the end of the 1920s when legal protection was finally introduced.  Since then, intensive conservation efforts have allowed a partial recovery but habitat destruction remains a major threat to their continued survival.

Great Otways National Park, Victoria, Australia - September 2010

Koalas spend more than 20 hours of each day inactive, and most views you get will be similar to the photo below: fast asleep propped between the forks of a branch...

Their diet is very restricted and comprises almost entirely of the leaves and young bark of about 12 species of Eucalyptus tree.