Koala babys2/13/2024 Pap is a specialised form of faeces, or droppings, which forms an important part of the young Koala’s diet, allowing it to make the transition from milk to eucalyptus leaves, rather like a human baby is fed “mushy” food when it starts to eat solids. From about 22 to 30 weeks, it begins to feed upon a substance called “pap”, which the mother produces in addition to milk. At about 22 weeks, its eyes open and it begins to peep out of the pouch. The young Koala only drinks its mother’s milk for the first six to seven months and remains in the pouch for that time, slowly growing and developing eyes, ears and fur. P.Schouten, From ‘Koalas, the little Australians we’d all hate to lose’ Bill Phillips AGPS The mother contracts her strong sphincter muscle at the pouch opening to prevent the baby from falling out. This prevents the joey from being dislodged from its food source. Once inside the safety of the pouch, the joey attaches itself to one of the two teats, which swells to fill its mouth. The joey makes its way from the birth canal to the pouch completely unaided, relying on its already well-developed senses of smell and touch, strong forelimbs and claws and innate sense of direction. The newborn is tiny (at roughly 2 centimetres long and less than 1 gram in weight), and looks like a pink jellybean totally hairless, blind, with no ears. Once conceived, it is only 35 days before the birth of the baby Koala, called a “joey”. In the average female’s 12-year life span, she may produce five or six offspring over her lifetime. However, not all females in a wild population will breed each year some produce offspring only every two or three years, depending on factors such as age and habitat quality. This period is the busiest for Koala carers, as suburban Koalas are on the move, crossing paths with cars and dogs, and higher rates of stress-induced sickness.įemales generally start breeding at about three or four years of age, usually producing one offspring each year. This is also when the young from the previous year leave their mothers and disperse. This is a time of increased amovement for Koalas, with sound levels increasing as males bellow more frequently. The Nature Babies series, with its quiet tone-no bright colours, sidebars, or busy pages-is more subtle in its presentation than other books of its kind, and all its volumes are recommended.The breeding season for Koalas is approximately August to February. All too soon it grows to full size, when it establishes an independent life that mirrors the life of one of its parents. Young readers will learn about the life of the baby animal-its mother, habitat, eating and sleeping habits, and the dangers it faces. Further information about the species can be found in a “Did You Know?” section at the back of the book, which is followed by a glossary, an index, and brief biographies of the author and photographer. Each book begins with a brief one-page introduction, followed by pages of splendid colour photographs (large ones on the right-hand pages and smaller ones on the left)-all taken in the wild-illustrating in detail the content of the text. A koala and a sloth now join the baby animals featured in earlier volumes of this acclaimed series, which include a bear, a fox, a penguin, an elephant, a seal, an owl, a ground squirrel, and a lion.
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