What food do koalas eat?

Koalas are a very special arboreal animal. They feed on eucalyptus leaves and sleep for more than 20 hours a day. Koalas have very special sleeping habits and eating habits. Let’s learn more about them below.

First of all, the main food of koalas is eucalyptus leaves, and they especially like to forage on eucalyptus trees. Eucalyptus leaves are rich in nutrients, including protein, vitamins and minerals, but they also contain certain toxins, so koalas need a special digestive system to digest these toxins.

Secondly, koalas sleep for a very long time, sleeping more than 20 hours a day. This is because they need to repair the body, restore energy, regulate body temperature, etc. during sleep. The sleeping posture of koalas is also very special. They usually adopt a curled up position with their heads and limbs tightly pressed against their bodies to reduce energy consumption.
In addition, koalas will also daze or think while they are awake. This trance-like state helps koalas relax, reduce stress and restore their mental state. Sometimes koalas will also observe the surrounding environment and potential threats while in a daze in order to respond in time.

In short, the sleeping habits and eating habits of koalas are very special, which is to adapt to their living environment and survival needs. Although koalas may seem slow and sluggish in their movements, they are actually very intelligent and flexible animals with high adaptability and survival intelligence.

There are all kinds of strange species on the earth, and people can always discover their magic through constant observation and research. In order to gain more survival opportunities within the natural laws of natural selection, they have also found a unique way to survive in the long process of evolution.
Australia has always been isolated from the world, so the species here have also begun a unique evolutionary path. Koalas, as the representative animals here, also have magical skills.
People’s impression of koalas is that they are naive and extremely picky about food. Not only do they only eat eucalyptus leaves, but they also only eat 12 of the 300 species of eucalyptus trees that exist in Australia. This strict selection did not cause them to become thinner due to lack of food, but instead left other animals behind and had a unique diet.
In fact, this is because eucalyptus leaves contain a high concentration of tannins, which not only taste bad, but also have insufficient nutritional content to meet the daily needs of animals.
Therefore, koalas need to eat a large amount of eucalyptus leaves every day to meet their own needs for water and nutrients. As a result, a large amount of toxic substances accumulate in their bodies. Mammals themselves cannot resist the toxicity of eucalyptus leaves, but koalas have evolved unique “detoxification techniques.”
According to relevant research, koalas eat about 300 grams of eucalyptus leaves every day, and the tannin content in them is far beyond the tolerance of other animals. Because the intestines of koalas contain a large number of unique microorganisms, they can successfully break down the harm caused by tannins to the body. Therefore, they have to allocate time and energy to detoxify every day, and sleeping is the best way.

In other words, koalas’ lethargy is not due to laziness, but to survive better. They need the energy of eucalyptus leaves and rapid detoxification to maintain their own health. In addition, eucalyptus leaves do not actually provide much heat for them to move, so they can only stay “still”.
People can’t help but wonder why eucalyptus leaves are poisonous and require a lot of energy to detoxify. Why do koalas choose to feed on eucalyptus leaves for generations?
This is actually related to Australia’s natural environment. There are many kinds of animals here, but plants cannot satisfy the growing number of animals. Because of their small size, it is difficult for koalas to gain advantage in competition, so they can only resort to poisonous eucalyptus leaves as food. Fortunately, eucalyptus leaves contain a lot of water, so they don’t have to go down the tree to find water, so they avoid the risk of being hurt by other animals.
In addition, there are many strange things about koalas. For example, they rarely excrete and risk their lives every time to reach the ground to excrete the accumulated feces. When the baby koalas are born, they do not carry digestive eucalyptus leaves in their bodies. Tannin toxins in the bacterial community, so you can only rely on eating the excrement of other koalas to increase your own “immunity”… It has to be said that koalas do have a unique “detoxification technique”, and it is “ancestral”.