The history of Koalas

The History of the Koala

THE koala is the only remaining member of the phascolarctos cinereus (meaning an ash gray coloured pouched bear) family left in the world today. This particular family, in the evolutionary line, is a family of marsupials with its closest still living relative being a wombat.  A wombat however is destined to spend its life on the ground living in burrowed holes whilst its distant cousin, the koala, is domiciled high up in an eucalyptus tree, seldom to visit the ground except for changing trees when its food quantity starts getting low.

European misconception about the koala

Early Australian settlers mistakenly thought the koala to be a small bear because of its appearance, an appearance which saw the birth of one of the worlds most popular toys, the ‘Teddy Bear’ come into existence. It was this same misconception that led to its scientific listing as such.  It is not a bear however and it has been the practice in Australia in recent years to drop the word ‘bear’ and simply call the animal a koala. However, it is still widely accepted outside Australia as being a bear.

The name ‘koala‘ was derived from the sound used by aborigines living in the Sydney area during early settlement of Australia to describe it. The word was actually believed to mean that the animal didn’t drink, as it was seldom seen to come down from the trees to do so.  This was an erroneous perception however as the koala can often be seen drinking from puddles of water formed on the ground following rain.

Locations of the koala

The koala is found in most parts of Australia where there are eucalypt forests  except that of Tasmania and Western Australia.  It was almost hunted to extinction in South Australia  last century because of the demand for its fur but efforts to repopulate it from Victorian stock has generally been successful in more recent years.  The small tree bound animal is now found in the eastern and southern areas of Australia stretching from south of Cape York Peninsula to near Adelaide.

Differences between koalas

Although all koalas are derived from the same gene pool there has been some speculation that there are three different species living in Australia, this however, has been discounted as the differences found in a koala from Queensland to that of Victoria  is now simply put down to climatic adaptation.  Southern bred koalas, such as those found living in Victoria, have much longer and thicker fur than those found in other states.  Their fur is also a darker, softer gray color and sometimes has brown patches on the back and forearms including white fluffy tufts on their ears. 

New South Wales bred male koalas generally weigh around 12kg and about 8.5 kg for females, whereas in Queensland they are more likely to be lighter with the male averaging around 6.5 kg and the female about 5 kg.  The Queensland animal also has a lighter, scruffier gray fur which is both thinner and shorter than that of its southern counterpart. 

The differences ranging from one state to another has been found to be continuous while substantial differences have been found between individual koalas in any given area such as in fur colour.

Fossils of koalas

Koala fossils are quite rare, other than some found in northern Australia that have been dated back some 20 million years.  It is believed that at that time northern Australia would have consisted of considerable rainforest and that the koala did not then specialize on a diet of eucalypt leaves as it does today.  It is therefore believed that its unique diet of today probably occurred when the climate cooled and rainforest was replaced by eucalypt.  A giant koala fossil found in southern Australia has been dated back 50,000 years.  The koala origins are therefore unclear although some scientists believe they may have originally descended from an earth bound wombat like animal.