Koalas, one of those distinctive Australian animals, exclusively eats the leaves of the eucalyptus tree. It eats a lot of them. That tough, poisonous leaf provides the koala with most of their water, and all of the nutrients they need for the day, but just barely. The truth is their diet of choice, much like kids who eat nothing but plain hot dogs, leaves much to be desired as a well-rounded nutritional source.
Simply because the eucalyptus leaves do not provide many nutrients, the koala spends most of it’s day sleeping. Like 18 hours a day. That leaves it with just enough energy to wake up, eat another two and half pounds of junky leaves, before nodding off again.
Now, technically koalas don’t smell like cough drops. However koalas do smell like the eucalyptus trees that they spend their whole life in. It just so happens that eucalyptus oil has long been used as a herbal medicine, including use in cough drops as an anti-bacterial and phlegm loosener. (yum!) So really, cough drops smell like koalas.
Oh, and don’t go calling them koala bears. They are marsupials (young babies develop in mom’s pouch), and have nothing to do with bears. Well, both koalas and bears are fuzzy, oh so cuddly, and have giant long sharp claws that can rip your face off. So there’s that.
- Source: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/koala.html
- Inspired by the Life of Mammals documentary.
