Do you dream of locking eyes with a koala dozing in a eucalyptus tree? It’s a heart-melting moment when you gaze upon Australia’s most endearing ambassador. With their fluffy ears, spoon-shaped noses and permanently sleepy expressions, koalas have perfected the art of looking cuddly.

But behind that teddy-bear exterior lies one of the most extraordinary stories in the animal kingdom. Here at Melbourne Touring Company, we love sharing the secret lives of these iconic marsupials with our guests. Because once you know the quirks, superpowers and odd little habits of koalas, you’ll never look at them the same way again.

So join us on one of our private Great Ocean Road Tours and you will discover some fascinating facts about these adorable creatures. But before you slip into the comfortable seat of one of our VIP vehicles, let’s take a moment to climb into the treetops and discover what really makes Australia’s cuddliest creature tick.

Koalas - fussy eaters with a toxic taste

Koalas are famously fussy eaters. While Australia is home to over 700 different species of eucalyptus trees, koalas will usually choose to eat the leaves of only about 20 to 30 of them. Remarkably, any individual koala will tend to favour eating leaves from just a handful of specific trees within its home range.

It’s puzzling why they are so selective. After all eucalyptus leaves are tough, fibrous, and laced with toxic compounds that would make most animals violently ill. 

Yet koalas can easily tolerate these toxins. Their highly specialised digestive system includes an extraordinarily long caecum (a fermentation chamber up to two metres long) filled with microbes that break down fibrous leaves and neutralise toxins.

It’s a slow, painstaking process. A koala can eat up to half a kilogram of leaves per day, which they chew methodically and deliberately. They even have sharp ridges on their molars designed specifically for shredding leaves into digestible pulp. But if you watch them closely while they eat, you will notice they tend to momentarily sniff each leaf before they eat it, because they can tell the toxin levels in any individual leaf by smelling it. If it’s too toxic, they won’t eat it, because they don’t want to overload their system.

On a wildlife-focused private tour with Melbourne Touring Company, our guests are often surprised to learn that koalas rarely drink water. In fact, the word “koala” is thought to derive from an Aboriginal term meaning “no drink.” They obtain most of their hydration directly from the leaves they eat - though during extreme heat or drought, they will descend from their trees to drink from creeks, puddles or rivers. 

There was a famous photo a few years ago of a koala being rescued from a bushfire and drinking from a bottle of water provided by a fire fighter.

Why are koalas so sleepy all the time?

Koalas are renowned for sleeping between 18 and 22 hours a day. Yes, that is up to 22 hours!

Early European explorers at first thought that koalas were perpetually intoxicated from eating eucalyptus leaves. They assumed that maybe the leaves would ferment in their bellies.

In truth, their drowsiness is simply energy conservation. Unfortunately their food of choice – eucalyptus leaves - provide minimal nutritional value. In fact less than 5% of each leaf contains any valuable proteins, carbohydrates or other nutrition. The other 95% is just basically fibre and water. So koalas have learnt to conserve precious energy by resting for most of the day.

Their lifestyle is essentially a masterclass in energy budgeting: Eat. Digest. Sleep. Repeat.

When they are awake, they tend to move slowly and deliberately through the tree canopy, often feeding mostly at night and sleeping during the day.

Koalas are perfected suited for life in the treetops

Koalas are arboreal specialists, meaning they are designed almost entirely for life in trees.

One of their most remarkable features is that they have two opposable digits - often described as “dual thumbs” - on their front paws. This gives them an extraordinary grip on branches, because they are designed like birds’ claws to close when they are asleep. Their back feet also feature an opposable toe and fused grooming claws, which they use like built-in combs.

And then there’s their bottom.

Koalas have a tough, thick cartilage pad at the base of their spine, acting like a natural cushion. This allows them to sit comfortably for hours in the fork of a tree without discomfort.

So why don’t they fall out of trees while sleeping?

Between their powerful grip, sharp claws, low centre of gravity and that built-in cushion, koalas are essentially their own biologically engineered hammocks.

Whenever overseas guests join Melbourne Touring Company to explore the Great Ocean Road or nearby bushland reserves, spotting a koala wedged snugly into a gum tree fork is always a highlight. And one we focus on ensuring you get to enjoy.

Koalas - home sweet gum tree

Koalas are mostly found along the eastern and south-eastern coasts of Australia, including parts of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. In Victoria, they are particularly abundant in certain forested areas and coastal habitats - making sightings a guarantee on the right guided tour.

Each koala maintains a home range containing its preferred trees. Males typically have larger territories than females, and during breeding season, males announce their presence with surprisingly a deep, rumbling bellow that sounds more like a growling bear than a cuddly toy. (This may be where the myth of “drop bears” comes from! If you don’t know this one, most overseas visitors are usually told by at least one Aussie to watch out as you walk through the bush because vicious bears drop out of trees to attack you! Well if you’ve ever heard a male koala during the mating season you will freak out and run!)

Despite what people imagine, koalas are not colony animals. They are largely solitary, interacting mainly for breeding. Even mothers and older offspring part ways once the young are independent.

Baby koalas get on board

Koalas are marsupials, meaning their young are born extremely underdeveloped and continue growing in the mother’s pouch.

After a gestation period of just 35 days, a joey is born about the size of a jellybean - blind, earless and furless. It instinctively crawls into the mother’s pouch, where it attaches to a teat and continues developing for around another six months.

After emerging from the pouch, the joey rides on its mother’s back for another six months or so, learning which leaves to eat and how to navigate trees. During this stage, it also consumes a special substance called “pap,” a soft form of the mother’s droppings that contains essential gut microbes needed to help it digest eucalyptus.

Fathers? Sadly they do not stick around. Male koalas play no role in raising the young. They live up to that old Australian saying of “eats, roots and leaves”. (To understand the joke, you need to understand Aussie slang!)

No koala has ever been booked for speeding!

In trees, koalas are surprisingly agile climbers. They can move briskly up trunks using short bursts of strength and speed when they want to, however they are not built for speed like monkeys or possums. Most of the time they will climb slowly, not wanting to waste the energy.

On the ground, however, they can look decidedly awkward. While koalas can gallop on all fours when necessary, reaching speeds of up to around 30 km/h in short bursts - usually when moving between trees or trying to escape a threat. But they prefer to keep these terrestrial excursions brief, as the ground is where they feel most vulnerable.

Do koalas have natural predators?

Adult koalas have relatively few natural predators. Large birds of prey, such as powerful owls and wedge-tailed eagles, may occasionally take baby koalas, but this is rare if they stay close to their mothers. Dingoes can prey on koalas when they are on the ground, which is why they don’t like to stay down there very long.

Sadly, the greatest threats koalas face today are human-related. They include:

• Habitat loss due to land clearing and urban development

• Vehicle strikes

• Dog attacks

• Bushfires

• Disease, particularly chlamydia

In some regions, koalas are listed as endangered, and their populations have declined significantly over recent decades. Habitat fragmentation is especially concerning, as koalas depend on connected forest corridors to safely move between feeding trees. If koalas eat all the leaves on a small grove of their favourite trees, the next clump of similar trees might be on the other side of a river, roadway or farm. And it can be dangerous for them to cross it. Some koalas have been known to starve to death because they could not find an easy accessible grove of their favourite trees close by.

At Melbourne Touring Company, we are passionate about responsible tourism and educating visitors about conservation challenges. Seeing a koala in the wild is magical - protecting their habitat ensures future generations can share that experience.

Are koalas really as cuddly as they look?

Koalas have a coat of thick grey fur that is soft and dense, insulating them from both cold nights and scorching Australian sun. Their large fluffy ears enhance their teddy-bear appeal.

When you see photos of people cuddling up to koalas on visits to wildlife parks, you can imagine they are very cuddly. But these are koalas that have been raised in captivity and are used to be handled by humans.

Rest assured that wild koalas are not designed for cuddling. They have sharp claws, strong limbs, and can be surprisingly assertive if threatened. While they appear gentle, they are still wild animals deserving of space and respect.

The best way to appreciate their cuteness? By viewing them at a close but respectful distance - something we always emphasise at Melbourne Touring Company.

Koalas have a nose like no other

Here’s one final, delightful secret you might not know about koalas.

Every koala has a completely unique nose print, which is as individual as a human fingerprint. The patterns of ridges and creases on their large black noses are distinct to each individual. In fact, they are so detailed that researchers have suggested nose prints could theoretically be used for identification. (Which is why no koala has ever been accused of a major crime, because they know their nose prints left at the scene would identify them immediately!)

So the next time you gaze up at a koala peering down at you from a gum tree, remember - you are looking at a certifiable, one-of-a-kind Australian original.

The quiet achievers of the Australian bush

Koalas may not roar like lions or sprint like cheetahs. They won’t dazzle you with acrobatics. Instead, they have mastered a slower, quieter art: surviving on one of the most inhospitable diets in the animal kingdom, conserving energy with monk-like discipline, and carving out a life high in the treetops.

They are specialists. Minimalists. Leaf connoisseurs. Tree-hugging philosophers of the bush.

And when you join Melbourne Touring Company on a private tour through Victoria’s stunning landscapes, you might just find yourself sharing a quiet moment beneath a eucalyptus canopy, watching one of these remarkable creatures snooze peacefully above.

Cuddly? Absolutely.

Simple? Not even close.

The koala’s secret life is one of resilience, adaptation and extraordinary design - and it’s waiting to be discovered today. So why not use the booking link to book your tour with us today!