The Lifestyle And Behaviors Of Koala Bears

1059 Words3 Pages

Blaine Dutrow
Ms. Spicer
English 105
2/11/14
The Lifestyle and Behaviors of Koala Bears
The phasocolarctos cunereus, also known as the koala bear, which was derived partially from the wombat and the sloth, does not play a huge role in the environment, but more or less a complex role that benefits the rest of the environment(New World Encyclopedia). Although the koala bear sleeps for nearly twenty hours, and spends around four hours or more eating, this benefits the rest of the environment and is part of the role it plays in the ecosystem. These interesting marsupials fear the grounds and also spend most if not all of their life in trees or high grounds and try to avoid the ground level areas as much as possible. When it comes to eating habits and food they are pretty general and specific and stick to one main food which is the eucalyptus plant and a few other non-eucalyptus plants. Koalas, being very harmless and simple animals still have a fairly important role in maintaining the environment and live a very complex and interesting life even while sleeping for three quarters of their day.
According to the New World Encyclopedia, “koalas spend seventy-five percent of their day sleeping which accumulates up to nineteen hours of sleep a day.” In the remaining five hours they use three of them for eating, this can occur at any given time but they prefer to eat mostly during the night. They have a very strict preference when it comes to find, for instance they strictly eat eucalyptus plants. Occasionally they will non eucalyptus species such as blue gum, and manna gum. Koalas are found only in eucalyptus forests of eastern Australia:
The animals frequent high eucalyptus trees, feeding only on the leaves and flowers of certain sp...

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...hs or wombats are made out to be. Their behavior is unlike any other animal but is also beneficial to the forest and ecosystems along with their populations of animals and species. Their role may not seem important but in retrospect, it plays a huge role in the development of botany and plants. They also can be an inadequate source of food to the dingo and many other invasive birds. So even though koalas sleep for nineteen hours a day and eat for five, they still serve a huge role in the ecosystem and are the start of the plant growing cycle and in some cases the start of the food chain.

Work Cited Page for Context Outline
"Koala (marsupial)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
"Koala." New World Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

“Koala.” (n.d.): Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. Feb.2014.

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