Page 55 - Engineering in Nature

Harun Yahya

But it's not enough for the eucalyptus leaves to contain large
amounts of water. It's also vital that the koala's bodily system be able
to make use of them. The koala possesses an utterly flawlessly created
water-loss control system.

Water loss in koalas is regulated by the kidneys, but of greater im-
portance is the water-retaining features of the koala's digestive sys-
tem, which ensures that the koala's body expels only a small portion
of the water it takes in. 16
Thanks to its digestive system's water-retentive ability, the koala
can easily assimilate eucalyptus leaves that, individually, contain low
levels of water, but are present in large numbers. If the koala's diges-
tive system did not possess this feature, the animal would have to de-
scend to the ground regularly to look for water—very dangerous for a
creature ill-adapted to living on the ground. Yet thanks to this special
feature of its body, it never has to face that danger.

• The Koala's Protective Fur
The main element that determines the koala's body temperature is
its fur, which can attain a density of up to around 55 hairs per cubic
millimeter and has been created with perfect heat-retention proper-
ties.
The animal's back hair covers some 77% of the surface of its body,
and has the highest insulation properties.
The stomach fur, covering 13% of the body surface, is only half as
dense.
The length of the koala's fur varies according to the seasons. In
summer, there is a greater difference between the long and short
hairs.

Adnan Oktar
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