Koala

The koala is a small bear-like mammal native to the forests of Australia. The koala does not exist in western Australia but can instead be commonly found on the east coast of Australia. Despite the bear-like appearance of the koala, the koala is not a species of bear but is a marsupial as the koala has a pouch on its tummy in which the baby koalas are carried in. The koala is a seemingly fairly docile creature, with the koala spending its time sleeping in the tops of eucalyptus trees. The koala eats the leaves of the eucalyptus tree which accounts for the majority of the diet of the koala.

Koala Credit

The koala in southern Australia was very nearly wiped out by Victorian settlers in the 1800s. Koala conservation work is underway, as the koala numbers slowly repopulate the southern population of the koala. There are believed to be three different subspecies of the koala, although these koala subspecies differ very little from one another. The main noted difference between koala subspecies is the today less common southern koala tends to be slightly larger than the other koalas further north.
 

Female koalas are able to start giving birth to baby koalas when the female koala is between two and three years old. Healthy female koalas will then tend to have one baby koala every year for more than 10 years. Baby koalas are weaned from birth by the mother koala on both the milk of the mother koala and eucalyptus leaves and until the baby koala is about 12 months old. Female baby koalas will tend to leave their mother at this stage and will move to surrounding forest in order to begin starting their own family.
 

Male baby koalas will generally stay with their mother until they are around 2 or 3 years old, and the male will then leave the home of the mother koala in order to find a mate. When a baby koala is first born, the baby koala spends the first 6 months of its life hidden in the pouch on the front of the mother koala. During this time, the baby koala will eat nothing but the milk produced by the mother koala and the baby koala will also grow its fur, ears and eyes. The baby koala will then be ready to begin exploring the world outside the warm pouch of the mother koala. Source

Read More

Kangaroo

Kangaroo Credit

The kangaroo is a marsupial that is indigenous to Australia and and the Indonesian island of New Guinea. Although kangaroos are often seen congregating in groups, kangaroos are generally fairly solitary mammals but kangaroos are also known for being sociable animals when with other kangaroos. Kangaroos have a deep pouch on their front in which to carry their young. A baby kangaroo is called a joey. Kangaroos eat plants, nuts, berries and insects that the kangaroos rummage for in the arid wilderness.

Kangaroos are most well known for their ability to jump a phenomenal distance. The kangaroo is the largest of the marsupials, a group an animals that includes koalas and the common brushtail possum. Marsupials are distinguished by the pouch that these animals have on their bellies, in which they carry their young. There are three main species of kangaroo in existence today and these are the red kangaroo, which is the largest and most well-known of all the kangaroo species.

 

 Kangaroo Credit

 

The Eastern grey kangaroo is known to be the heaviest species of kangaroo despite the fact that the red kangaroo is taller. The western grey kangaroo can be found in large numbers and can be anywhere in colour from grey to brown. The kangaroo is the national animal and emblem of Australia. Kangaroos have large, flat feet which the kangaroos use in order to aid their movement which the kangaroos do by hopping.

Despite the fact that kangaroos do not move about in the conventional way, kangaroos can often be seen running at high speeds, generally when the kangaroo is scared or being chased by oncoming predators. Although kangaroos are not commercially farmed, wild kangaroos are often pursued by human hunters for sport, meat, fur and when farmers are conserving their grazing land for their sheep and cows. This method of sustainable hunting is said to have more health and environmental benefits than that of sheep and cattle. Source

Read More

Wombat

Wombat Credit

The wombat is a medium sized marsupial that is found only in Australia and it's surrounding islands. Wombats are burrowing mammals that spend most of the day under ground, coming out at night to feed. The common wombat is thought to be a descendant of the giant wombat that existed around 50 million years ago. The giant wombat's extinction is said to be caused by hunting and changes to their environment including pollution and habitat loss.

Wombat Credit

The common wombat is a nocturnal herbivore and gets to about 26 years old in the wild although some wombat individuals have been known to live for longer in captivity. Wombats eats grasses, shoots and bark which the wombat needs to keep gnawing on in order to keep it's continuously growing teeth at a manageable size. Like all other marsupials, the female wombat has a warm pouch on it's belly in which the wombat babies are nurtured for the first few months of life.

When the baby wombats are first born they are very small and undeveloped and crawl into the mother wombat's pouch almost immediately. The baby wombat stays in the pouch of the mother wombat until the baby wombat is around 5 months old. By the time the baby wombat is roughly 7 months old, it is able to care for itself. Wombats have long claws which they use to dig burrows. Wombat burrows can easily become an extensive network of underground tunnels leading to small chambers.

Wombats have a few natural predators including foxes and dingos. Although the wombat is relatively defenceless when it is out and about, wombats are generally well protected in their underground burrows as many predators cannot follow the wombat into the narrow, complex tunnels. Today the wombat is considered to be an endangered species of animal. Wombat numbers have been decreasing rapidly due to habitat loss and hunting by humans who believe the wombat and it's network of underground tunnels to be an agricultural pest. Source

Read More

Kowari

Kowari also known as the Brush-tailed Marsupial Rat, Kayer Rat, Byrne's Crest-tailed Marsupial Rat, Bushy-tailed Marsupial Rat and Kawiri, is a small carnivorous marsupial native to the dry grasslands and deserts of central Australia. It is monotypical of its genus.  The Kowari is a ground dwelling carnivorous marsupial, living either in its own dug burrow or in the hole of another mammal.

Sexual maturity in a Kowari is reached in the first year of life but breeding seldom takes place until the second year between May and December. The female Kowari (who may produce 2 litters per season) carries up to six young on her teats for about eight weeks and suckles them in a nest (of soft materials) for a further eight weeks. Young Kowaris may ride on their mothers side or back (2-3 months old). The young become independant 100 days after birth.

The Kowari is well adapted to life in the central desert and does not need to drink, as it derieves needed moisture from its food. When cold and food supply is scarce, the Kowari may become torpid (a form of hibernation). By day, it sleeps in a burrow (sometimes can be seen "Sunbaking"), and at night it is a fierce predator on insects, the larger arthropods, and small vertebrates (eg birds, rodents, lizards) The Kowari can stalk like a cat and uses a direct neck bite when killing large prey.

Its range seems to have contracted considerably in recent decades but it is not clear whether this is an indication of its impending endangerment or of cyclical changes in the density of an opportunistic species, self regulating its numbers to survive in a harsh enviroment. So at this stage its Status is listed as Vulnerable Distribution: 100,000-300,000 square kilometers. Source

Read More

Quokka

The Quokka is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat. Like other marsupials in the macropod family , the Quokka is herbivorous and mainly nocturnal. It can be found on some smaller islands off the coast of Western Australia, in particular on Rottnest Island just off Perth and Bald Island near Albany. Quokkas resemble a small wallaby, with small rounded ears, and brown or greyish fur.

In the wild, its roaming is restricted to a very small range in the South-West of Western Australia, with a number of small scattered populations on the mainland, one large population on Rottnest Island and a smaller population on Bald Island near Albany. The islands are free of foxes and cats. On Rottnest, it is common and occupies a variety of habitats ranging from semi-arid scrub to cultivated gardens.

Quokka weighs 2.5 to 5 kg and is 40 to 90 cm long with a 25 to 30 cm tail  which is rather short for a macropod. It has a stocky build, rounded ears, and a short, broad head. Although looking rather like a very small, dumpy kangaroo, it can climb small trees and shrubs. Its coarse fur is a grizzled brown colour, fading to buff underneath. Quokka feeds at night on native grasses and the leaves of shrubs.

There were once a lot of Quokkas, but they are now in danger of extinction. They are under threat from development that has destroyed the wetlands where they live and are also threatened by other animals that have been introduced by humans. Quokkas are preyed on by cats and foxes, who are non-native animals in Australia. Their wetland habitat is also disturbed by feral pigs. Source

Read More

Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo

 

Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo also called the Ornate Tree Kangaroo, belongs to the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos, wallabies and their relatives. The species is native to the rainforests  of New Guinea, and the border of central Irian Jaya in Indonesia.  Under the IUCN classification, the species is listed as Endangered, which is a result of overhunting and human encroachment on their habitat.

Like other tree-kangaroos, Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo is quite different in appearance from terrestrial kangaroos. Unlike its land dwelling cousins, its legs are not disproportionately large compared to its forelimbs which are strong and end in hooked claws for grasping tree limbs, and it has a long tail for balance. All of these features help it with a predominantly arboreal existence. Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo has short, woolly fur, usually chestnut to red-brown in color, a gray-brown face, yellow-colored cheeks and feet;

a pale belly, a long, golden brown tail, and two golden stripes on its backside.  It weighs approximately 7 kg.  Although it feeds mainly on the leaves of the Silkwood tree, other morsels are accepted when available, including various fruits, cereals, flowers and grasses.  It has a large stomach that functions as a fermentation vat, similar to the stomachs of cows and other ruminant  herbivores, where bacteria break down fibrous leaves and grasses.

Unlike other kangaroos, Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroos like to stay in the treetops rather than hopping around on the ground. They choose to live in the treetops to protect themselves from enemies on the ground. The New Guinea Island used to be rich in nature but as it became the major exporter of lumbers and minerals, the forests were destroyed by the human. The more and more safe places to live for Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroos are now disappearing. Source

Read More

Huon Tree Kangaroo

Huon Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei), also known as the Matschie's Tree Kangaroo is a tree kangaroo  native to the Huon Peninsula of North Eastern New Guinea. Under the IUCN classification, Huon Tree Kangaroo is endangered. With a body and head length of 20 to 32 inches, Huon Tree Kangaroo are much smaller than Australia's well-known red kangaroo. 

There is no particular season in which they breed. Gestation lasts 32 days and joeys of captive bred individuals leave the pouch after 13 ½ months. The average life span of the Huon Tree Kangaroo in the wild is unknown, but is at least 14 years. The life span of the kangaroo in a zoo is about 20 years. The Huon Tree Kangaroo can only be found on the Huon Peninsula on the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea. They live in forests that are usually foggy.Unlike other species of kangaroos, the Huon Tree Kangaroo spends most of its time living in trees. They even eat and sleep in trees.

The most distinctive trait of all tree kangaroos is the hair whorl they possess. It is a patch of hair that goes out in many directions and its location ranges from up near the shoulders all the way down to the tail. The Huon Tree Kangaroo is golden on its ventral side, lower parts of its limbs, ear edges, belly, and tail, and the rest of its body is a chestnut brown color, except for usually having a dark stripe down its back. Their faces are typically an array of yellow and white colors. The Huon Tree Kangaroos are similar in color and size to Dendrolagus dorianus, the Doria’s tree kangaroo.

The Huon Tree Kangaroo are mainly folivorous, eating anything from leaves, sap, insects, flowers, and nuts.  Since they eat high fiber foods, they only eat maybe about 1 to 2 hours throughout the day and the other time of the day they are resting and digesting their food. Their digestion is similar to that of the ruminants; they have a large, “tubiform forestomach”, where most of the fermentation and breakdown of tough material takes place at; in the hind stomach, there is a mucosa lining with many glands that help absorption begin here. Source

Read More