Page 54 - The World of Animals

distance of a metre (39 inches) in
a leap. Female koalas give
birth to a single baby in two

years and, like kangaroos,
they carry it in their
pouch. During the first

months, the baby koala remains in its mother's
pouch. After this period, the baby hitches a

piggyback ride for a year. The mother picks a
favourite tree in the eucalyptus forest for its home
because she eats eucalyptus leaves – and that's

about all she eats! That is why you can only find
52 koalas in Australia, where eucalyptus trees are legion.

Although there are more than 600 species of eucalyptus tree in
Australia, koalas only eat certain leaves from 35 of them. Koalas can't
live just anywhere because, apart from being a store of leaves, the

eucalyptus trees constitute a unique shelter for them.
There are many kinds of koala species. Each species feed on a
different kind of eucalyptus leaf. If you are planning to move a koala

away, you need also to take the eucalyptus leaves on which he feeds
with you. Apart from their diets, koalas rarely climb down eucalyptus
trees because they are hardly able to move around on the ground.

The eucalyptus tree's leaves constitute different chemical substances.
These substances are poisonous and dangerous for all animals except

for koalas. Before swallowing, koalas grind these leaves with their
teeth. The harmful elements in the leaves are filtered in the koala's