Koalas are one of the iconic species of Australia and are a very popular animal due to their comical "teddy-bear" appearance. They are now fully protected, but sadly this wasn't always the case. In the early 20th Century they were hunted extensively for their beautiful, warm, durable fur and 2 million pelts were exported in 1924 alone! The population was reduced to only a few thousand individuals by the end of the 1920s when legal protection was finally introduced. Since then, intensive conservation efforts have allowed a partial recovery but habitat destruction remains a major threat to their continued survival.
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Koalas spend more than 20 hours of each day inactive, and most views you get will be similar to the photo below: fast asleep propped between the forks of a branch...
Their diet is very restricted and comprises almost entirely of the leaves and young bark of about 12 species of Eucalyptus tree.
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