LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Koala: Koala Bear
built 644 days ago
The Koala has no relation to a bear. It is a distant cousin to the Wombat and both the Koala and the Wombats have fossil history over 15 million years. The Koala is Australia's most popular and most loved marsupial mammal.
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Like kangaroos and wombats, Koala Bears carry their young in a pouch. Their babies are called joeys (like kangaroos) and the babies remain in the Koala’s pouch for up to six months. What is amazing is that when the new Koala Bear, or Joey is born, he or she only measures a quarter of an inch long! When the Joey begins the journey to the mother’s pouch they have no fur, are blind, and have no ears. They grow and develop over the next six months and drink only their mother’s milk. Once the Joey reaches approximately six months of age, they will begin to leave the pouch.
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The name "Koala" is derived from the ancient aboriginal for "Dumb ass white man leave that fricken bear alone!" The Koala is a small bear-like animal which lives in most parts of Australia, as well as some other parts of the Universe. They can ... be found in Koalawalla land. A small fraction of the thousands of koalas spend their lives sitting at the tops of tall trees in bushland sleeping or taking drugs. But most koalas are incredibly aggressive and will attack any unfortunate person who happens to get in their way.
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The koala's nickname is a Native Bear. The koala is a mammal. They are warm-blooded. The koala's young is called a cub. The koala's young are born alive. Koalas drink milk from the mother.
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The koala family, Phascolarctidae, are believed to have diverged from their nearest marsupial relatives, the wombats, around 24 million years ago (mya). At least six different members of the koala family evolved. The earliest fossil record of a koala was a browser, Perikoala palankarinnica, some 15 mya. More recently, a giant koala, Phascolarctos stirtoni, was a third as large again as our present day koala, but is believed to have died out along with other marsupial megafauna some 40,000 years ago, at around the time that aboriginal hunter-gatherers colonized Australia. Only one species, Phascolarctos cinereus, survives today. Phascolarctos is from the Greek words for "leather pouch" and "bear," while cinereus means "ash-colored."
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Today habitat destruction poses the greatest threat to the koala bear. Legislation has been passed to protect the koala, but local governments are often unable to enforce the laws successfully. Also, as settlements spread, the danger of forest fires increases. Fires can wipe out 70% of the koalas in an affected area, from which their population seldom recovers.
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Koala Bear