Page 128 - An Anthology of Intriguing Animals (DK)

Koala

Y ou’re most likely to find a koala snoozing in the fork of a

tree. Koalas sleep or just sit for about twenty hours a day!

Even when alert, they mostly just cling to trees and eat. Koalas are

picky eaters. They only like the leaves of gum trees, also called
eucalyptus. There isn’t a lot of energy in a leafy diet, which is why
koalas doze so much.

People often think koalas are bears, but they’re not. They belong to
a group of mammals called marsupials. A newborn koala is the size

of a jelly bean and can’t see or hear anything, so, like kangaroos,

mother koalas carry their babies in a snug pouch on their belly.

Koala means “no drink” in one of the languages of the

Aboriginal people of Australia. Eating leaves gives

koalas most of the water they need.

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