Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Diprotodontia > Phascolarctidae > Phascolarctos > Phascolarctos cinereusPhascolarctos cinereus (Koala)Synonyms: Lipurus cinereus The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus, or, inaccurately, koala bear) is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the wombats. The koala is found in coastal areas of the mainland's eastern and southern regions, inhabiting Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is easily recognisable by its stout, tailless body and large head with round, fluffy ears and large, spoon-shaped nose. The koala has a body length of 60–85 cm (24–33 in) and weighs 4–15 kg (9–33 lb). Pelage colour ranges from silver grey to chocolate brown. Koalas from the northern populations are typically smaller and lighter in colour than their counterparts further south. These populations possi |
Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) Unique (100) Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) Unique & Vulnerable (100) ED Score: 41.29 EDGE Score: 3.74 |
| Adult Weight [1] | 20.503 lbs (9.30 kg) | | Birth Weight [1] | 0.36 grams |  | | Diet [2] | Herbivore | | Diet - Plants [2] | 100 % | | Forages - Arboreal [2] | 100 % | | | Female Maturity [1] | 1 year 9 months | | Male Maturity [1] | 3 years | | | Gestation [1] | 31 days | | Litter Size [1] | 1 | | Litters / Year [1] | 1 | | Maximum Longevity [1] | 22 years | | Nocturnal [2] | Yes | | Snout to Vent Length [3] | 33 inches (85 cm) | | Weaning [1] | 11 months 12 days |
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| Name |
Countries |
Ecozone |
Biome |
Species |
Report |
Climate |
Land
Use |
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Australian Alps montane grasslands |
Australia |
Australasia |
Montane Grasslands and Shrublands |
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Brigalow tropical savanna |
Australia |
Australasia |
Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands |
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Eastern Australia mulga shrublands |
Australia |
Australasia |
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands |
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Eastern Australian temperate forests |
Australia |
Australasia |
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests |
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Einasleigh upland savanna |
Australia |
Australasia |
Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands |
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Eyre and York mallee |
Australia |
Australasia |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub |
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Mitchell grass downs |
Australia |
Australasia |
Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands |
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Mount Lofty woodlands |
Australia |
Australasia |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub |
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Murray-Darling woodlands and mallee |
Australia |
Australasia |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub |
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Naracoorte woodlands |
Australia |
Australasia |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub |
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Queensland tropical rain forests |
Australia |
Australasia |
Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests |
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Simpson desert |
Australia |
Australasia |
Deserts and Xeric Shrublands |
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Southeast Australia temperate forests |
Australia |
Australasia |
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests |
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Southeast Australia temperate savanna |
Australia |
Australasia |
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands |
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Tirari-Sturt stony desert |
Australia |
Australasia |
Deserts and Xeric Shrublands |
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| Name |
IUCN Category |
Area acres |
Location |
Species |
Website |
Climate |
Land Use |
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Bald Rock National Park |
II |
21998 |
New South Wales, Australia |
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Croajingolong National Park |
II |
217067 |
Victoria, Australia |
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Dunggir National Park |
II |
6402 |
New South Wales, Australia |
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Flinders Chase National Park |
II |
81245 |
South Australia, Australia |
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Girraween National Park |
II |
28978 |
Queensland, Australia |
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Grampians National Park |
II |
416373 |
Victoria, Australia |
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Kosciuszko National Park |
II |
1705480 |
New South Wales, Australia |
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Lamington National Park |
II |
50970 |
Queensland, Australia |
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Maria National Park |
II |
5735 |
New South Wales, Australia |
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Wilson's Promontory National Park |
II |
119279 |
Victoria, Australia |
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Attributes / relations provided by ♦ 1de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774 ♦ 2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027 ♦ 3Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109 ♦ 4KOALA FEEDING AND ROOSTING TREES IN THE CAMPBELLTOWN AREA OF NEW SOUTH WALES, ALAN F. SLUITER , ROBERT L. CLOSE AND STEVEN J. WARD, Australian Mammalogy 23: 173-175 (2005) ♦ 5Low-density koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) populations in the mulgalands of south-west Queensland. II. Distribution and diet, B. J. Sullivan, W. M. Norris and G. S. Baxter, Wildlife Research, 2003, 30, 331338 ♦ 6Species Interactions of Australia Database, Atlas of Living Australia, Version ala-csv-2012-11-19 ♦ 7Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database |
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0
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