Animal
Koala
The koala is a fluffy gray animal from Australia. It lives in trees, eats leaves and sleeps a lot. It is not a bear!
The koala is a tree-living marsupial from eastern Australia. It eats almost nothing but eucalyptus leaves, sleeps up to 20 hours a day to save energy, and carries its jellybean-sized baby in a pouch that opens toward its back legs.
Phascolarctos cinereus is an arboreal marsupial specialized for a diet of eucalypt foliage that is fibrous, low in energy and chemically defended. It lives in a patchy range across eastern and southeastern Australia and is listed by the IUCN as Vulnerable, with some populations endangered by habitat clearing, disease, dogs and cars.
Photo: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the koala
A koala has thick gray fur, a white chest and round, fluffy ears.
It has a big black nose. People sometimes call it a koala bear, but it is not a bear. It is a marsupial, an animal with a pouch.
Koalas look like teddy bears, with thick ash-gray fur, a white chest, a round head and fluffy ears, but they are not bears at all. They are marsupials, the group of pouched mammals that includes kangaroos, wombats and possums. Their closest living relatives are wombats.
An adult koala is about 68 to 82 centimeters long. Its fur looks soft but feels more like the coarse wool of a sheep. Koalas are wild animals and do not make good pets.
Phascolarctos cinereus is a marsupial whose closest living relatives are the wombats. The Australian Museum gives an adult size range of 68 to 82 centimeters; the thick ash-gray fur, white chest and round head with fluffy ears are diagnostic.
Its body is shaped for sitting in tree forks: a much-reduced tail, a curved spine and a rounded rump. The koala's pouch opens toward the rear, a trait shared with burrowing wombats that is thought to date from burrowing ancestors.
Quick facts
- Group
- Mammal
- Length
- 0.68 to 0.82 m
- Weight
- 7 to 13 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- 10 to 15 years
Where it lives
Koalas live in Australia.
They live in forests of eucalyptus trees. They sit high up in the branches.
Koalas live only in Australia, in the eucalyptus forests of the east and southeast. Their home stretches from northern Queensland down to southern Victoria and the southeast corner of South Australia, but only in patches where the right trees grow.
Koalas spend almost all their time in trees, wedged into the fork of a branch. They come down to the ground only to move to another tree. On hot days they pick the coolest trees and press against the trunk or sit on low, shady branches.
The koala has a patchy distribution from northern Queensland to southern Victoria and southeastern South Australia, restricted to eucalypt forest and woodland. The Australian Museum notes that it is no longer common around Sydney, though a significant population survives on the city's southern outskirts.
Most time is spent in eucalypt trees, but koalas travel on the ground between trees, which exposes them to dogs and traffic. Microhabitat choice regulates temperature: on hot days they rest in the coolest trees, against trunks and on low, shaded branches; on cool days farther out in the sun.
Continent
Its habitat
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Patchy eucalypt forests of eastern and southeastern Australia, from northern Queensland to southern Victoria and southeastern South Australia. Not in the west or the dry center.
Places: Australia.
Source: Australian Museum · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Australia, Japan, United States, Netherlands, Germany, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway and 2 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
Eucalyptus only, please
Koalas eat eucalyptus leaves.
They are very picky. They eat only some kinds of eucalyptus trees. The leaves are tough, so koalas chew and chew.
Koalas eat almost only the leaves of eucalyptus trees, plus a few flowers and stems. There are more than 600 kinds of eucalyptus, and koalas prefer about three dozen of them.
Eucalyptus leaves are tough, full of fiber and contain chemicals that most plant-eating animals cannot handle. Koalas can cope with these chemicals, grind the leaves with their cheek teeth and digest them in a very long part of their gut. The leaves are also juicy, so koalas get much of the water they need from their food.
The diet is highly specialized: foliage of particular eucalypt species, with some flowers and stems. Of more than 600 eucalypt species, koalas prefer about three dozen, and they avoid some trees seasonally when toxin levels rise.
Eucalypt leaves are high in fiber, low in energy and chemically defended. Koalas grind them with their cheek teeth and digest them with the help of a long caecum, part of the large intestine. The leaves' high water content supplies much of the koala's water. Because the diet yields few calories, koalas save energy by moving little and sleeping up to about 20 hours a day.
Hands made for climbing
Koalas have strong hands with sharp claws.
Each hand has two thumbs! That helps koalas hold on tight to branches.
A koala's hands are made for gripping branches. Each hand has two thumbs that work against the other fingers, plus sharp claws that dig into bark. Rough, ridged pads on the hands and feet stop it slipping.
On each foot, two toes are joined together, and the koala uses them like a comb to groom its fur. Another toe has no claw and works like a thumb. With strong arms and shoulders, a koala can climb about 46 meters to the top of a tall tree.
The hands have two opposable digits, giving a powerful grip, and sharp claws for bark. Each foot has two fused (syndactylous) toes used for grooming and a clawless, opposable first toe; ridged pads on palms and soles add traction.
Powerful forelimb and shoulder muscles allow koalas to climb trees as tall as about 46 meters and to leap between branches. Adult males have a bare scent gland on the chest, which they rub on trees to mark them.
Growing up
A baby koala is called a joey.
It is as small as a jellybean when it is born. It grows in its mother's pouch, then rides on her back.
Koalas breed in summer, and a mother usually has one joey a year. A newborn joey is only about the size of a large jellybean and cannot see or hear yet, but it climbs into its mother's pouch, where it drinks milk and grows for about six months.
Then the joey starts eating pap, a soft food made by its mother that gives it the gut bacteria it needs to digest eucalyptus. Later it rides on her back, and after about a year it can live on its own.
Breeding occurs in summer, and gestation lasts only about 37 days. The newborn is about the size of a large jellybean, blind and deaf, and climbs into the rear-opening pouch, where it attaches to one of two teats for about six months.
Weaning is gradual, from milk to leaves and to pap, a soft liquid feces from the mother that is thought to supply the microbes needed to digest eucalypt leaves. Joeys then ride on the mother's back and become independent at about one year.
Sleepy, solitary and loud
Koalas like to be on their own.
They sleep most of the day. At night they wake up to eat. Male koalas make a big, loud bellow.
Koalas live mostly alone, each in its own patch of trees. They are most active at night and spend most of their time sleeping and eating, sometimes sleeping as much as 20 hours a day.
Koalas make many sounds, from snores to screams. Males make a deep bellow that sounds a bit like a motorcycle revving mixed with a pig snorting. Males also rub a smelly patch on their chest against trees to leave scent messages.
Koalas are solitary and mainly nocturnal, with long periods of rest that conserve energy on a low-calorie diet. Males mark trees with a chest scent gland; researchers at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance identified more than 35 compounds in the scent and found males smelliest in spring, the run-up to the breeding season.
Vocalizations range from snores to screams. Scientists are still studying why males bellow: it may warn other males away or invite females to visit.
Did you know?
Koalas can sleep for 20 hours a day.
Koalas can sleep as much as 20 hours a day to save energy from their low-calorie leaves.
Up to about 20 hours of daily rest offsets the low energy yield of eucalypt foliage.
Helping koalas
Koalas need lots of eucalyptus trees.
When trees are cut down, koalas lose their homes. People are planting trees and protecting forests to help them.
The IUCN lists the koala as Vulnerable. In New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory, koalas are listed as endangered by the Australian government.
The biggest problem is that the forests they need are being cleared for houses and farms, which also cuts the remaining forest into small, separate patches. Many koalas are hit by cars or attacked by dogs when they cross the ground between trees, and disease is a problem too. People help by protecting and replanting forest and connecting patches together.
Listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, the koala is listed as Endangered in New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT under Australia's EPBC Act 1999. Clearing and fragmentation of habitat for housing and farming continue to shrink its distribution, and research reported by the Australian Museum warns koalas in New South Wales are at risk of extinction by 2050.
Vehicles and dogs are the most common direct causes of death; disease, including a koala retrovirus studied by Australian researchers, and declining genetic diversity add pressure. Conservation priorities include habitat protection, restoring connectivity between forest patches and maintaining genetic diversity.
IUCN Red List
How is the koala doing in the wild?
- Least Concern
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable (this animal)
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Vulnerable
At high risk of disappearing from the wild.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2
Amazing facts
-
Koalas have two thumbs on each hand.
Each koala hand has two thumbs that help it grip branches tightly.
Two opposable digits on each hand give the koala an exceptionally secure grip on bark.
-
A koala's pouch opens toward its back legs.
A koala's pouch opens toward its back legs, like a wombat's, even though koalas live in trees.
The rear-opening pouch is shared with burrowing wombats and is thought to be inherited from burrowing ancestors.
-
Koalas can sleep for 20 hours a day.
Koalas can sleep as much as 20 hours a day to save energy from their low-calorie leaves.
Up to about 20 hours of daily rest offsets the low energy yield of eucalypt foliage.
-
Koalas comb their fur with their toes.
Two toes on each koala foot are joined together, and koalas use them like a comb.
Two fused toes on each foot serve as a grooming comb.
Words to know
- marsupial
- a mammal whose babies finish growing in a pouch
- eucalyptus
- a kind of tree from Australia with tough, strong-smelling leaves
- joey
- a baby koala or kangaroo
- pap
- a soft food made by a mother koala that helps her joey digest leaves
- solitary
- living mostly alone
- vulnerable
- facing a high risk of becoming endangered in the wild
Discovery challenge
-
Is a koala a bear?
What kind of animal is a koala?
Which group do koalas belong to?
- No, it is a marsupial with a pouch
- Yes, it is a bear
- It is a bird
Show the answer
No, it is a marsupial with a pouch
A koala is not a bear. It has a pouch for its baby.
Koalas are marsupials, like kangaroos and wombats.
Koalas are marsupials; their closest living relatives are wombats.
-
What do koalas eat?
What do koalas eat?
Which food makes up almost the entire koala diet?
- Eucalyptus leaves
- Fish
- Insects
Show the answer
Eucalyptus leaves
They eat eucalyptus leaves.
Almost only eucalyptus leaves, from about three dozen favorite kinds.
Eucalypt leaves. They yield so few calories that koalas rest for up to about 20 hours a day to save energy.
-
How many thumbs does a koala hand have?
How many thumbs are on each koala hand?
How many opposable, thumb-like digits does each koala hand have?
- Two
- One
- None
Show the answer
Two
Two thumbs on each hand!
Two thumbs on each hand help koalas hold branches.
Two opposable digits, sharp claws and ridged pads give a strong grip.
-
What is a baby koala called?
What is a young koala called?
What is the name for a young koala, which spends about six months in its mother's pouch?
- A joey
- A cub
- A kitten
Show the answer
A joey
A baby koala is called a joey.
A young koala is a joey. Later it eats pap, a soft food from its mother that gives it helpful gut bacteria.
A young koala is a joey. After about six months in the pouch it is weaned onto leaves and pap, a soft fecal material thought to supply the microbes for digesting eucalypt.
Places where you might see it
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain why a koala is a marsupial and not a bear.
- Describe how koalas live on a diet of eucalyptus leaves.
- Describe how koala hands and feet are adapted for climbing.
- Explain the main threats to koalas and how people help.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might eating only one kind of food be risky for an animal?
- How could building roads and houses near forests affect koalas?
- Why do you think koalas sleep in the forks of branches?
Try at home or in class
- Two-thumb grip: tape your index finger to your thumb and try picking up objects, then talk about how koala hands grip differently.
- Leaf sort: collect a few different kinds of leaves, smell and feel them, and talk about why a picky eater might choose some and not others.
Key vocabulary: marsupial, eucalyptus, joey, pap, solitary, vulnerable
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Koala , Australian Museum
- Koala , San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 24, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.